Trying a new method of making charcoal.

[Missourian]

We'll see in the morning if it worked.

 

[Gabe Lackmann]

The way my father in law does it is to combine pit fire, and barrel.

He said that the problem with using just a barrel is even temperature control, and unequal burn, even after oxygen is cut off there is still an unequal distribution of heat from top to bottom that results in uneven burn.


Open pit

Top layer Kindling

Smooth logs

Bottom layer of small kindling, nutshells, leaves, and other brambles

 

[Missourian]

He said that the problem with using just a barrel is even temperature control, and unequal burn, even after oxygen is cut off there is still an unequal distribution of heat from top to bottom that results in uneven burn.

I noticed that as well. The bottom of the barrel was red hot but after putting the lid on i could easily place my hand on the top third of the barrel.

I usually use the barrel in barrel method...but I had been burning yard debris and figured I'd give this a try.

 

[Gabe Lackmann]

I noticed that as well. The bottom of the barrel was red hot but after putting the lid on i could easily place my hand on the top third of the barrel.

I usually use the barrel in barrel method...but I had been burning yard debris and figured I'd give this a try.

Right on.

Never done it myself.

Just watch him while drinking his beer.

Yeah he has been doing this since Moses was a road guard so I figured he had it figured out.

 

[Missourian]

Right on.

Never done it myself.

Just watch him while drinking his beer.

Yeah he has been doing this since Moses was a road guard so I figured he had it figured out.

You'll have to explain the barrel/fire pit method to me if you have the time.

The trouble with the barrel in barrel method is limited yield.

 

[Missourian]

Found a video...

Neighbors are gonna love me...

 

[Missourian]

This is what I was going to try next...

 

[Missourian]

Brief break in the rain...checked my barrel and I did end up with charcoal....but it looks like a similar yield to the barrel in barrel method.

 

[Missourian]

Still ended up with a pretty good haul...

Whether or not I cut the bottom out of my other barrel will determine whether I try the afterburner or the Gabe Lackmann method next...

 

[Missourian]

The interesting component of the one barrel method was the surprising lack of ash.

Thought I'd have a good thick layer of ash at the bottom as I literally burned all day and only loaded it up for charcoal for the last few hours.

They was only a gallon or two of ash mixed in with the very bottom layer of charcoal...not enough to bother sifting out.

Maybe the heat from the wood gas burned a lot of it up. Guess there will neither lye water made today nor will the Chickens be getting fresh dust bath materials.

 

[DGS49]

The commercial charcoal industry was born out of Henry Ford's demand that scrap be minimized with the Model T. The spoked wheels were made of wood, and it drove Ford crazy that the voluminous scrap couldn't be turned into a commercial commodity. One of his minions named Edward G. Kingsford came up with idea of turning the scrap into charcoal, and marketing it as a picnic item - cook your food on a charcoal grill.

And the rest is history.

 

[Shawnee_b]

Retort burner.

55 barrel on 3 cement blocks.

Hard pipe from the hole in the lid, up, out, down, under.
Cap it, drill holes in the horizontal bottom leg, (truyere)

When the hardwood chunks are cooking, starter fire underneath, volatile gasses will travel the pipe to the truyere and cook the coal.