You might recall, about a week ago I wrote this post asking you to guess what was happening based on two pictures I shared. The answers were pretty awesome and while some people came close, no one was spot on with their guesses.
I wrote this post the other day explaining one of the pictures and I would have to say @bigtom13 was probably the best guess on that one.
Today I am going to tell the story about the other picture.
It all started with this post I wrote a while ago about an article I read discussing how the ancient inhabitants of the Amazon area made their own charcoal and worked it into the soil to enrich it and provide nutrients. Thus over the years the Amazon river basin came to have some of the richest soil in the world.
As is often the case, my buddy Mike and I were sitting around one night drinking. The main difference with this occasion was that we were each at our own houses because of the whole social distancing thing and we were texting each other.
One thing you can always count on when Mike and I are together drinking is that one of us will have a crazy idea and the other one will have everything we need to try it out. That was the case this time.
Mike and I were talking about grilling when I texted him and said "hey, we should make our own charcoal". Knowing the traditional method that I read about online and @wesp05 outlined in this totally awesome recent post was going to be too complicated I found a video on Youtube that did something similar using barrels.
I shared the video with Mike and next thing I know he sends me this picture.
Turns out he had the barrels he needed already. He also lives on about twenty acres of wooded land, so the necessary fuel was readily available.
The next morning he texted me this picture:
And then the one you see at the top. He said he needed to try it a couple of times because at first he wasn't able to get the wood to keep burning. It kept going out.
Finally he got it going and eventually he added the second barrel to the top and covered it up to keep the oxygen out. Uncapped the wood would just continue to burn down to ashes instead of becoming charcoal.
He let it burn for a full day before he removed the top and the upper barrel.
As you can see, he did get some good charcoal. It wasn't the big lumps that we were hoping for, but it still did the trick.
He also ended up with a bunch of wood that didn't quite do what we hoped it would. I am going to share his thoughts on the whole process now:
On his first attempt he felt the wood was sticking too far above the top of the barrel and because of that the lid did not fit on properly. He knows that was a huge mistake. To fix the situation he had to cut some of the logs while they were still burning.
He says the second lesson he learned is that the wood needs to be seasoned before trying to make it into charcoal. He feels that some of the wood he used was much too wet and still too green. That is probably a big part of why it didn't work out for him.
There is a different way to do this where you lay the barrel on its side and build the fire around it with a stand pipe sticking out of the barrel. I think if he were to try it again he would probably do it that way.
In the end, he used some of the charcoal he did get to grill brats the next week and he said it worked out really well. We are still on the fence about whether the time is worth the saved expense, but it was a fun experiment to try!
All pictures were taken by Mike and used with his permission.
Sports Talk Social - @bozz.sports
Whaaat, it's very interesting this way, I never imagined that with two barrels you could do it. The truth is that this is the first time I have seen this, and I will share this publication with the people of the field where I took the photos.
You know that reading your post, at the end you mention that not everything turned into coal because the wood was wet or very green, and it's true in this you are right. The wood shouldn't be too green, you should cut the tree and leave it piled up in a non-wet place for a few days to dry out a bit, my family cuts the wood and leaves it in the same place for about 5-7 days, then they start moving it.
Mostly you don't mix different trees either, because the wood is never the same, and some pieces may burn easier and faster than others.
Also as you saw in my post, the biggest pieces of wood are stacked underneath so that the smaller ones don't turn into ash.
You should try to make a kiln in the traditional way, piling up some wood and covering it with earth, I think it would be a nice experience for you. Although your way is much easier and faster, I really liked it, it's an innovative way.
By the way thank you very much for mentioning me, I'm glad to know that you liked my post.
Greetings and have a nice day. Any doubt, or any post regarding this, write me or you can mention me I would be interested to see it
Wow. How very cool. I'm seriously impressed with the whole deal.
I know some Mexican people that make their own charcoal using a really common fuel around here, mesquite. I've never been part of the making process, but I can tell you he eating part works out fine!
From your part of the world. Henry Ford was notoriously tight with his money. In the early days the cars all had 'bows' of oak to support the roof because they didn't have any way to stamp a piece of steel big enough to do the job. At Henry's urging they found out how to splice the oak to use a larger fraction of it, but that wasn't enough so Henry commissioned one of his engineers to figure out how to use it ALL.
The engineer's name was King. So was born Kingsford Charcoal.
I knew that about Ford, I am not quite sure how, but I do remember reading that somewhere. I was pretty excited about this post and then I read that other post I referenced and he did a really great job at showing the process. I felt like mine was a little inadequate after that. I bet that mesquite wood is awesome!
Nice .. i must say, you guys complement each other. Atleast an experiment yielded something
Yes, I was pretty excited! Thanks!
#posh proof of share on Twitter:
This is awesome @bozz. Isn't it fun to experiment with things like that? I found a YouTube channel the other day that focuses on what life was like in the Middle Ages. They said most people cooked indoors with charcoal during those times. I always imagined them cooking over a big hearth but I suppose charcoal would have been more convenient, especially when they didn't need the fireplace for warmth.
That is very interesting. They were probably very familiar with using it for blacksmithing and stuff like that too. I am hoping he gets a chance to try it out the other way sometime this Summer. I would be cool to have my own private source of high quality charcoal!
I bet blacksmiths did use it! We used to buy the pre-bagged hardwood lump charcoal and I noticed pieces of wood trim in the bag. The manufacturers probably buy untreated wood scraps (that have already been seasoned) as a short-cut.
My last bag of "premium lump charcoal" had rocks in it. I messaged the company and they said it was due to the artisinal way they craft the charcoal :)
Awesome, never thought of doing that. Now with a pellet-grill it's not usefull but it's awesome to experiment that way. I also have the thought of trying to melt some cans into a piece of aluminum. Just to try it :) There are some great YouTube vids on it too. Great work !!