FoodBanter.com - How to Make Charcoal

On 7/5/2013 11:30 PM, Ed Pawlowski wrote:
>
> How to make Charcoal
>
> Hello fellow smoker/bbq/grillers!
>
> Here is the recipe, as requested, to make your own Lump Wood Charcoal
> (thereby saving yourself tons of cash, and successfully robbing the
> "Kingsford Mafia"..)
> To make 30-40 lb of charcoal, you will need: ( yes, Jeff... more
> equipment..) A clean 55 gallon metal drum with the lid cut off
> roughly (you will be able to reuse this drum many, many times)
>
> Enough seasoned wood to fill said drum, chopped into big fist-size
> pieces (ok, say 5"x5", and the wood just needs to be a couple months
> seasoned, although the dryer the wood, the faster the process..)
>
> A bag of sand
> 3 or 4 bricks
> A case of beer(optional)
> Time and patience
>
> Start by punching/cutting 5 holes in the bottom of the drum which are
> each 2" square. Try to keep them towards the center. Put the drum down
> on the bricks, placed so it is off the ground and fill it with the
> wood.
>
> Start a fire in the drum. When it is going well, put the top back on
> to reflect back the heat. Since it was cut off roughly, there will be
> slight gaps to allow the a draft. Now, turn the whole thing over,
> placing it back onto the bricks. (This is where you might need the
> case of beer to convince several men to help you lift the sucker. It
> will be heavy. And mind the lid doesn't fall off!) Wait, consuming the
> beer as necessary.
>
> The smoke will start out white. This is the water vapor burning off.
> Next the smoke will go blue/gray which is the alcohol and phenols
> burning off. Then the smoke appears yellow, which is the tar burning
> off.
>
> Finally the smoke will clear and you will just see waves of heat. When
> this happens, Carefully remove the bricks out from underneath. Take
> the sand and make a pile around the bottom lid, plugging up the bottom
> draft. Also, cover the top with either a piece of turf or a large
> piece of metal. Use the sand to seal around the turf/metal so no air
> can get into the drum. We are trying for a closed system here. If
> air/oxygen/fire-fuel DOES get into the drum, the charcoal will just
> burn up. Not what we want. Also, try not to let the sand fall down
> into the drum through the holes.
>
> Allow the drum to cool (2-3 hours). Then turn back over, pry off the
> top and remove your charcoal. If there is a spark, the charcoal may
> "catch", but just douse it with some water. The charcoal will still be
> hot enough to dry out. Repeat above process as necessary.
>
> Thanks to my Bodger brother-in-law, Don Whiting, who taught me how to
> do this.
>
> (P.S. A "bodger" is a pole-lathe wood turner. He makes nifty besoms as
> well...)
> Best of luck to you all with the above process.
>
> Hogs and quiches from Cheshire (by way of Palm Desert!)
> Belinda
>

That's on Eagle Quest, http://www.eaglequest.com/~bbq/faq2/18.html

There was a fellow that rigged up a metal pipe coming out of the top of
a bbl, bbl was off the ground, he burned wood under the sealed bbl and
the pipe brought the amazingly flammable fumes to under the bbl where a
jet flame added to the high temp until most of the off gas was used up,
the off gasses are extremely flammable, I tried it once and it works!
But mostly used the Eagle Quest / Belinda approach.
Mike