Making Charcoal

[amatureBBQer]

Your neighbors must love you?

[PyR0Star]

now all i need is a 50 gallon drum with lid that didn't contain some radioactive material...... I am beginning to dislike my paintcan crucibles, which I use 3 at one time in my fire pit, or 1 at a time on a lobster propane cooker and some bricks.  Everytime I see a 50 gallon drum, all I can think about is whether or not its empty and if I can have it..... Finding a lid shouldn't be too expensive..

[killerkane19k]

I have a stupid question, could I use mahahgony for charcoal? I live in nevada and pinion pine and juniper are what we mostly burn in the fireplace. Could I use mahahgony for charcoal as it is the closest we have to a hardwood out here

[PyR0Star]

@killerkane19k if you google a few questions about which charcoal is good for fireworks, one of them has a list of the best, medium, and worst types to use in fireworks. Went looking, couldn't find the list, but i'll keep looking it was a very informative website.

[Dercommandingofficer]

Do you have to contain the wood to make charcoal? I saw a knife making video and the guy just made a normal fire in the open ... let it burn and smolder then put it out and used the charcoal in there. Would that be acceptable and pass as charcoal? Thanks!

[ghjjfsbf]

That is one hell of a beard.

[firelord3377]

how long does it take, to reduce such big wood peaces into charcoal??

[darkfang77]

did you have to rotate the barrel to make the burning more even?



[ioherbalalchemy]

@darkfang77

no - rotation is not necessary - and infact not possible due to the retort pipe

[darkfang77]

@ioherbalalchemy

I have just made my first batch of charcoal today using pallet wood.

The end product (charcoal) seems to be super-light.

Why is homemade charcoal lighter then commercially available lumpwood charcoal??? =S I want to make sure I'm doing this correctly.

Thanks!

[ioherbalalchemy]

@darkfang77 I believe it is lighter because of a couple of factors:

1. commercial charcoal in briquette form is made from compressing powders and makes a dense product

2. I think they are able to monitor somehow the gassification either through timnig or heat or some such and stop the conversion earlier than a home maker is able to.

I have discovered, though, that for blacksmithing, home made charcoal is preferrable because it does not spark when air is applied

[darkfang77]

@ioherbalalchemy

so super-light is normal? Thanks for the re-assurance.

I'm making a second batch tomorrow using thicker pieces of wood (i used smashed chunks today.) Hopefully they'll yield similar results.

Oh, and one more question, is the charcoal I have made from pallet wood suitable for BBQ purposes? Reason I am asking is because I am sick of paying quite a lot of money every year for BBQ charcoal if I can make it myself.

Thanks! =) =)

[MrSuRvIvAlmAn]

@darkfang77 i wouldn't recomend it, your food might taste funny. if u want to BBQ with it then use cherry or a wood known for smoking meat or grilling with

[obeyance]

@darkfang77 You used pallet wood, pallets are made mostly out of Pine. Pine is light and airy. If you wanted charcoal like you can buy at the store "Natural charcoal" or "Lump charcoal" your wanting to use hard wood. When i make charcoal for forging stuff, i make it with Horse Apple (Osage Orange, Hedge apple ect ect.. same stuff). Its SUPER heavy and SUPER dense. In fact.. it is the most dense wood in north America. But its not good for cooking, it gives off TONS of sparks and stuff taste bad.

[obeyance]

@darkfang77 Try your next batch with some Oak or other hard wood. Make sure the wood is dry first, you can use dead wood from the ground if its still hard. The reason i love using horse apple is because it takes forever a day day to rot. Bugs dont like it and it weathers super well. They used it here in the south/midwest ever since fences were put up because its better than ceder and it grows everywhere.

[darkfang77]

@obeyance

Yeah, I thought it was chemical additives that made it smell of pine - at least I know what wood it is!

I don't have as big a garden now so I may not be able to do it as much, chopping trees down is pretty illegal in the UK, so I'm not sure how I'm gonna get some hardwood.

I've given up using home charcoal for purely BBQ, it makes a great heat base for starting a BBQ on, but as said, too light, and too ashy, so I have other purposes for it.

How do I identify a "hardwood" btw?

[obeyance]

@darkfang77 Hm, well. I know the trees in my area and can tell by bark or leaves. We dont have any laws about cutting timber here really besides in national/state parks, but picking up felled timber is not frowned upon. You can tell by weight or density if you have something to compare it too, being a novice of forestry =p. Pine trees are the ones that are always green and have long needle like leaves.

[obeyance]

@darkfang77 Heres a list i found of hardwood trees, as listed by a site called "Hardwood Trees of Britain". Oak, ash, elm, beech, sweet chestnut, walnut, and Robinia or false acacia. You could identify them by looking up pictures online. Since it is illegal in your area to cut trees down, i would suggest picking up fallen limbs or breaking off dead branches. If that is acceptable. Find a hardwood tree and see if there are any below it. You would want one that is somewhat "fresh" or has little

[obeyance]

@darkfang77 decomposition to it. Some is ok, but you would want to knock off the soft parts to get to the nice good wood underneath. The wood you want to use in making charcoal is dense and mostly dry to dry. If you cut a tree you would need to let it sit for months before using it. Thats why i like hedge apple so much, a fallen limb will sit for a year or more before even the bark starts to wear away. Limbs that have been dead for a VERY long time often have to be sawed off, they are so hard.

[obeyance]

@darkfang77 But i dont think you have any trees like that there. If there is a limb trimming company that you know of, here in America we have trimmers that come and cut down limbs that get in the way of power lines or remove fallen trees after storms. If you could talk to your local trimmers maybe they would let you get some of their cuttings. Though, around here i know they put them in a chipper on site, but you might be able to stop by one doing some cutting and ask for some hardwood limbs.

[obeyance]

@darkfang77 They may even cut them into pieces you can carry if your nice enough to them, or they are nice enough back. Best bet would be to identify a hardwood tree and check for dead branches though. ALSO! Making charcoal does not have to be done on such a large level. What i have done is: Took 2 coffe cans, cut the bottom off of one with a can opener and put it over the top of the other as a lid. It should fit in where the plastic lip goes over.

[obeyance]

@darkfang77 I then put it in a fire and keep the fire/coals around the can until the smoke coming out of the can is not flammable anymore or is not smoking at all. The flammable smoke is Woodgas, and could be used to cook with, run your car or other engine. It was used as a form of petrol in Europe during WWI or WWII or both due to shortage of gasoline. If you have any more questions feel free to ask.

[justinrockhold]

awesome!

[Mudwiggler]

How long do you cook the wood in the barrel for.

and is all the wood charred to perfect charcol.

Love your Beard.Well done

[imants666]

why do you make it if you can buy it?

[dapickleman33]

why spend money if you can make it for free?

[imants666]

is it so simple to make it? well,it looks just very difficult...

[TARTANTERR0R]

Another way to think of it, making charcoal is a skill and should the proverbial ever it the fan then you would have a skill that will allow you to make efficient energy for cooking and warmth...

[imants666]

still this all looks odd.... one video of some guy making charcoal, where everything that happens is wood turning into charcoal.... and still there are people who comment it,and do it with some kind of strange interest....

[Vajrasiddha]

well if we enter a great depression and lose all our electricity, and the electric pumps that power the water to the water tower would cease, wouldn't it be nice to have some water to drink, specifically charcoal purified water?

Steam Distillation removes dirt but not poisons.

Not to mention, it's kind of a Heritage thing, learning how to do things Old School, in case Shit hits the fan and we all have to go Old School.

No lighter, or matches, just you and the wilderness, could you make fire?

[xeronicus]

I could make smokey the bear cry :)

I love survivalism.

[mythril4]

@imants666

Sometime there is no coal supply even kind ofclose buy, and store charcole is costly for forging and does not last long.

[xeronicus]

why make home cooked meals if you can just eat ramen?

[whatthemessman]

if the hole for the gases has a flame coming out of it for a little while while your making the charcoal is it ruined, even only if there is a flame for a short amount of time?

[JesusChrist97]

No, your suppsoed to see a flame. With larger quantities, especially if its pine, that will happen the entire time.

[ioherbalalchemy]

I have also given up on this method since we live in the city proper I have had the fire department called on me several times, and while they haven't told me to stop, I think it's only a matter of time.

I get about 35 lbs of completely converted charcoal out of each burn. the burn time is never more than 3 hours (sometimes less) and the fuel burned to get gasses going is less than 30lbs. The gases start in less than 45 minutes usually. The drum holds probably 150 lbs or more of raw wood.

[purgatoryironworks]

As a man who fuels his business with home made charcoal, Im going to throw in that after having seen many variations of the retort method, that the direct method is superior when it comes to net gain. I have tried, personally, several variations of both methods and I simply cannot get the retort method to produce higher yields nor higher quailtiy of coals. Id like to ask also, where bouts percentage of brands do you get out of your burn?

[ssyarien]

I've done this method 8 cycles using coconut shell as raw material. Net charcoal weight yields vary from 30% to 33%. I don't know about charcoal quality but I assume this method results higher quality because not much ash produced using indirect method.

The biggest advantage from this method is you don't need special skills and shorter lead time to produce charcoal! Once the gas driven off the retort you can take some rest and let the fire stop and cool down by itself.

[sw8741]

damn unions even ruin santa!

[tomandjj]

That guy at the end is Santa. Because the worlds coal has become to expensive he has had to make charcoal to put in naughty children's stockings instead.

[cheaphardwarez]

I have often wanted to make a stove to heat my shop with that made charcoal at the same time and then use the charcoal to burn till its white hot then inject steam to make hydrogen and store the hydrogen gas in a large bag for burning in a burner at a later time.

[ioherbalalchemy]

um, you could heat your shop with this retort method for sure. However I don't think that injecting steam into the hot coals would make much hydrogen... Also storing hydrogen in a bag would not be successful for long since hydrogen molecules pretty much go through most materials. Also to get the charcoal white hot you would need to blow air on it constantly, it burns orange just on it's own.

good luck, though, sounds cool.

[ioherbalalchemy]

Injecting air underneath caused the barrel to oxidize and burn, so that's where we are now - time to make a new container... I am probably going to weld a new one square from 1/4 or so steel.

The argument I have against natural gas or propane is that I am trying to keep this process carbon "neutral" and not burn any fossil fuels... just my thing

Once we rebuild the retort, we will do more effeciency experiments

[HomeDistiller]

good idea but the amount of fuel you used to get it working would outwheigh the gain of this method i would have thought

[ioherbalalchemy]

sort of. I have improved the technique to the point that I can produce around 30 LB of charcoal by burning about the same amount of wood as fuel (the wood in the drum before conversion weighs around 150LBs or so depending on wood)

[HomeDistiller]

i saw the new design and it looks better but it like to see how much you would get if you just burnt 300lBs of wood in the old barrel method (im asuming you mean 150lBs in the barrel and burning 150lBs under)

also has you tryed injecting air into the burner underneath to get it to burn hotter and cleaner? you should get a quicker conversion that way.. or evan useing a natral gas burner underneath instead of wood?

[Vernichtungslager666]

Where can i buy a bag of soft wood charcoal??? anyone please respond =D

[willowsnap]

What are those non-flammable panels you use on the sides? Asbestos?

[BlenderFreak777]

wow that actually works??? so you dont have to light the charcoal wood itself in this one? thats awesome, im assuming it has a lot less waste?

[dotchoo]

ive got a question, it might sound stupid, here goes: does the charcoal that you can buy in stores burn with a flame or does it just get glowing red and really hot? pls answer anyone

[agungk]

flame is the result of burning gaseous substances. the process of making charcoal has driven out all compounds that convertible to gas in woods leaving only carbon and some ash producing chemicals. so the will be no flame when burning charcoal.

[dotchoo]

yeah, i know now, thx :D

[saxonhaste]

cool that looks like a real affective way to make charcoal next to a charcoals cilm that is this is just a smaller version

[keaton1256]

dried cow shit works good.. lol

[ioherbalalchemy]

As the fuel or for the charcoal? If I had a supply I would surely burn it.

[ratgreen]

you just watched that shit in pakistan video didnt you

[ioherbalalchemy]

dude,

No, in this case we burned about the same amout that we got in charcoal

[leondelasierra]

dude dont you waist more wood in buning the barrel?

[linkaefei]

Is the end we can't see open,or is it closed??

[ioherbalalchemy]

the end we can't see is closed. The whole container is sealed except for the pipe which channels the wood gasses underneath to be burned

[KEIWADO]

How many minutes do you take to complete the whole charcoal making process? Is the charcoal inside the barrel really completely turned into charcoal?

[ioherbalalchemy]

we burned for about 6 hours and probably 95% of the wood converted completely