Wall of text and pics to follow.......
One day last week while replying to someones post, I mentioned in passing that I might try my hand at making Homemade Lump Charcoal this weekend.
I did and it seems to have worked great!
I have a 50 gallon barrel with lid and sealing ring. The lid had a rubber seal which I removed. I think melted rubber might taste worse than creosote. Also the lid had two plastic bungs which I removed and resealed the holes with folded aluminum foil and covered that with a nice thick layer of wet mud. I half expected the aluminum foil to melt away but it didn't. The barrel has a single 1 inch diameter hole in the side at the very bottom. This hole is to let the volatile gasses escape once heated.
Thursday afternoon I filled the barrel with a mix of logs 16 inches long and big around as my forearm and chunks 3 to 5 inches long of varying diameters. Once filled I started a small fire all the way around the barrel to drive off the moisture. It has rained a lot here recently and my wood was damp. I just let the fire die out on its own and left it for the night.
Friday morning I repeated the small fire until the steam/smoke escaping the hole changed from a yellowish tinge to mostly white/clear. At that point I began piling the logs on the fire and kept piling them to crank up the heat inside the barrel.
You know it is right when the gentle rush of gasses turns into a steady noticable whoosh.
About thirty minutes later, while adding more wood, the whoosh chuffed a few times and changed tones to something more akin to a blow torch which steadily rose to the sound of a jets afterburner. I'm surprised none of my neighbors came to investigate the noise.
The reason for the change in tone is that the volatile gasses ignited which added more fuel to the fire which brought up the temperature which produced more volatile gasses..... a self feeding system at that point.
This is the point where the wood is being converted to charcoal.
Once the tone of the escaping burning gasses reduced I added more wood to the fire but the tone did not increase. The volatiles are nearly gone.
I let this fire burn down until there was no more noticeable gasses escaping. I mixed up about 5 gallons of mud to pour over and around the side hole to seal it off. If I didn't seal it at this point oxygen would begin to be sucked back into the barrel and the carbonized wood would burn to ash.
I left the barrel sitting like this until Saturday to be sure it was completely cooled before opening. The results were amazing, at least to me anyway.
The full barrel of wood reduced to just over half a barrel of charcoal. The wood didn't burn up, it looks to have shrunk. Tiny twigs that I had piled on top inside the barrel were still there and pure charcoal. A two inch diameter piece that felt heavier than it looked like it should snapped in half when hit against the rim of the barrel...... charcoal thru and thru.
I will be trying it out in my grill this evening when I burn some burgers beyond recognition.
There are more efficient methods out there using two barrels, smaller one inside the larger. This would use much less wood BUT it would need to be sized accordingly to fit between the walls of the two barrels. I had plenty of wood that I needed to get rid of anyway so I gave this a try. I will do this again once stockpiled with fallen limbs!
The finished product looks and feels as good or better than any store bought lump charcoal I have had. It is not that super light and "tinkely" like some nor is it still nearly as heavy as the original wood, just nice dense charcoal.
If you look closely you can see the hole in the barrel
these turned sideways for some reason
It was too hot to stay this close for more than a few seconds
cooled and ready to open
note the mud seals on top and
the puddle of mud at the bottom left
Charcoal level.... second ring from the top, just over half
maybe two thirds full?
Every detail of the bark is still intact
This is the felt heavier than expected piece that I broke on
the edge of the barrel.... count the rings anyone?
This was fun!
Thanks for looking and reading!
One day last week while replying to someones post, I mentioned in passing that I might try my hand at making Homemade Lump Charcoal this weekend.
I did and it seems to have worked great!
I have a 50 gallon barrel with lid and sealing ring. The lid had a rubber seal which I removed. I think melted rubber might taste worse than creosote. Also the lid had two plastic bungs which I removed and resealed the holes with folded aluminum foil and covered that with a nice thick layer of wet mud. I half expected the aluminum foil to melt away but it didn't. The barrel has a single 1 inch diameter hole in the side at the very bottom. This hole is to let the volatile gasses escape once heated.
Thursday afternoon I filled the barrel with a mix of logs 16 inches long and big around as my forearm and chunks 3 to 5 inches long of varying diameters. Once filled I started a small fire all the way around the barrel to drive off the moisture. It has rained a lot here recently and my wood was damp. I just let the fire die out on its own and left it for the night.
Friday morning I repeated the small fire until the steam/smoke escaping the hole changed from a yellowish tinge to mostly white/clear. At that point I began piling the logs on the fire and kept piling them to crank up the heat inside the barrel.
You know it is right when the gentle rush of gasses turns into a steady noticable whoosh.
About thirty minutes later, while adding more wood, the whoosh chuffed a few times and changed tones to something more akin to a blow torch which steadily rose to the sound of a jets afterburner. I'm surprised none of my neighbors came to investigate the noise.
The reason for the change in tone is that the volatile gasses ignited which added more fuel to the fire which brought up the temperature which produced more volatile gasses..... a self feeding system at that point.
This is the point where the wood is being converted to charcoal.
Once the tone of the escaping burning gasses reduced I added more wood to the fire but the tone did not increase. The volatiles are nearly gone.
I let this fire burn down until there was no more noticeable gasses escaping. I mixed up about 5 gallons of mud to pour over and around the side hole to seal it off. If I didn't seal it at this point oxygen would begin to be sucked back into the barrel and the carbonized wood would burn to ash.
I left the barrel sitting like this until Saturday to be sure it was completely cooled before opening. The results were amazing, at least to me anyway.
The full barrel of wood reduced to just over half a barrel of charcoal. The wood didn't burn up, it looks to have shrunk. Tiny twigs that I had piled on top inside the barrel were still there and pure charcoal. A two inch diameter piece that felt heavier than it looked like it should snapped in half when hit against the rim of the barrel...... charcoal thru and thru.
I will be trying it out in my grill this evening when I burn some burgers beyond recognition.
There are more efficient methods out there using two barrels, smaller one inside the larger. This would use much less wood BUT it would need to be sized accordingly to fit between the walls of the two barrels. I had plenty of wood that I needed to get rid of anyway so I gave this a try. I will do this again once stockpiled with fallen limbs!
The finished product looks and feels as good or better than any store bought lump charcoal I have had. It is not that super light and "tinkely" like some nor is it still nearly as heavy as the original wood, just nice dense charcoal.
If you look closely you can see the hole in the barrel
these turned sideways for some reason
It was too hot to stay this close for more than a few seconds
cooled and ready to open
note the mud seals on top and
the puddle of mud at the bottom left
Charcoal level.... second ring from the top, just over half
maybe two thirds full?
Every detail of the bark is still intact
This is the felt heavier than expected piece that I broke on
the edge of the barrel.... count the rings anyone?
This was fun!
Thanks for looking and reading!
