Making charcoal first attempt

[johnnytheboy]

I do allot of BBQing and I have allot of wood due to the fact that I had rising damp and had to rip my floor out, also I have woodburning stoves so i keep a small woodpile.

Inspired by this video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_ZeO1bUiww

I decided to attempt to make my own charcoal. My wife has been moaning about turning the garden into builders yard so my last 210ltr oil drum went to the skip. However I managed to forage this little 60ltr drum from work.

I put a cut each side with and angle grinder and a plasma disc then gave it a wee dent with the hammer to create an air vent.

I then cut a wee drop kindling and started a fire in the base, it was a roaring sucess because of the cavity wax that was already in it, so it took along time to burn the barrel clean.

Eventually the barrel was clean and I had a good fire base in there.

So i set about a pile of floor joists and scaffolding boards that were lying about.

A little bit Estwing treatment had them sorted for the burn

Then i stacked the can full of wood, there was plenty left, might be a slow going with a 60ltr barrel

I let it burn for a long time until there was flames licking out the top of the can, not so much so that it was all glowing bright red, but enough that it looked like it was all burning. I then put the lid ontop and sealed it with block I had elsewhere in the builders yard, sorry garden!!!

There was piles of white smoke belting out the top, by this time it was getting dark and beyond the iphone photo capabilitys. So i tried to make a movie.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I25moAZ_mAA

The smoke was clearly flamable but I couldnt get it to burn well. Becuase it was dark, I couldnt get pictures of what was next. The smoke coming out the top seemed to be clearing up abit so I screwed the bung plug in sealed the bottom holes with wet sand, another handy thing in the yard. If this is right or not who knows, in the morning we will find out, any air getting in and its all ash and no charcoal. The lid had bits of smoke coming out so i wasnt sure that it was all sealed, but for a first attempt it seems to be going ok so far.

So whats the bets for the morning, charcoal, wood that hasnt burned, full of ash?????

 

[Nagual]

Damn it man, I was looking for results.. lol where's the next instalment?

 

[DaveBromley]

Damn it man, I was looking for results.. lol where's the next instalment?

LOL me too i'm really dissapointed now lol

 

[Stanleythecat]

Sorry to put a dampener on things but I thought softwoods were not apropriate for making charcoal?

Good method though. We now are lucky enough to have a proper ring kiln but in the early beginnings we used to use oil drums. We used a slightly different method by starting with the drum upside down and already full. You light the fire in the top and when it has taken hold you put the lid back down, flip the drum over and rest on 3 bricks. As above, when white smoke turns hazey blue its time to close the kiln down.

This method is only really suitable for material up to 2.5 inches.

Leo

 

[johnnytheboy]

This was the image from last night with my sand sealing the bottom holes

Progress report = Bummer!!!!!

It never burned down to charcoal, I think i sealed it to early, the wood was just charred, it seemed that the burning wood never really burned up much after I put the lid on and sealed it. Someways this is good news as it tells me my sealing method is good enough for making charcoal, it never turned all to ash. I did get about 1/3rd charcoal the rest looked like it needed burned that but longer.

Today I set the rest on fire and put the lid on with the bung hole out and let it burn slowly there was a serious amount of white smoke coming out, then it seemed to dye down, I'm hoping this is not the fire burning out and the right time for sealing.

Leo, I dont know about softwoods to be honest, I have never tried this before, I have a log pile of hard wood to use if push comes to shove, but the charcoal I got from the first burn looks ok. I have plenty of these joists to burn so I hope its ok, what is the problem with the softwood is it poor charcoal or not great burning material?

Further progress report hopefully latter on tonight.

 

[Nagual]

From the very very little I've done ( and a smaller scale too) the thing to watch for is when the smoke changes colour, and thats when you seal it all up. I think you got it right when you said you sealed it too soon. Still, this isn't a failure, it's a success in knowing that this particular way doesn't work..

 

[Ph34r]

apparently, when you do that with birch wood, you get tar! A noble effort (official thumbs up)

 

[johnnytheboy]

2nd attempt at burning the first lot is now finished, and I think a success, well at least about 80% success.

This is what came out of the barrell.

There were a few of the bigger bits that felt marginally heavier than the others so broke a few samples up to see how it went

The bulk of it was charcoal, however some of the bigger bits hadnt burnt right through, I think the key here will be to try to get the pieces more uniform sizes in future.

The proof is always in how it works in practice so no time like the present to test it out.

It burned just like normal charcoal as far as i could tell. I forgot I had put some lumps of half burnt hardwood in the can as well from the bbq from the last garden party we had. The hardwood charcoal seemed heavier, it was burned all the way through. It might be the case that the hardwood charcoal gives a better charcoal lump, it might burn longer and hotter?????

It would seem though that I can burn food just as easy on my own charcoal as shop bought stuff. Just a side note, but the chinese supermarket in Glasgow at the point has some super stainless steel utensils that are really cheap and last allot longer than the usual supermarket/garden centre rubbish.

The proof is in the eating, Lamb and mint burger, sliced mozzarella, with rocket and ketchup from ketchup in Ashton Lane Glasgow, washed down with some cobra beer, Life is sweet.

I think i was too keen to get the air snuffed out on the barrel the first few times as I was worried about a total burn through. Nag, I think this is what i seen this time around before i sealed it, the smoke went from huge clouds of white stuff to a very fine whispy smoke, it did seem to change.

I think I would like to find a source for brown paper bags to package my charcoal for easy use and storage, as the best charcoal you can buy is the ones in the parrafin impreganted paper bags, lights and burns easy.

The inside of the can is like tar, this must be the resin.