attempt at home made lump
 

thanks to MAKINITOUTOFWOOD's help, I decided to try my hand at making some charcoal at my cabin

after a few tries at it, I think I have the process figured out. I used the double barrel method. It was actually real easy and I can see myself pumping out a tom\n of this and getting rid of scrap wood in the process.

This was made with apple, that just what I had handy to try it with

Details?

there are threads here on the process

basically you take a 55 gal drum and put about 16 1" holes about 6" up from the bottom

cut about a 6" hole in the top of the drum and put a stovepipe adapter and about 6ft of 6" stove pipe on it

take a smaller barrel, 30 gal is best but I could not find one so a 16 gal will work.

Stuff the 16 gal full of wood and put it in the big drum open end facing down

stuff scrap wood between the barrels. Put kindling on the top, light it, put the lid on the 55 gal drum (use welding gloves since you have created a jet engine) and let it burn. Takes about 6 hours. Let it cool overnight and pour it out. You have charcoal.

Here is a pic of it, the top I put on crooked so this was before I straightened it out. Be careful as it gets fuggin hot!! When it was burning at first I could not touch the pipe even with welding gloves on, so I let it burn down some before I straightened out the lid

nice thing about this method is once its lit, thats it you dont add any more wood, just let it burn itself out

this pis was when I first tried it, I cleared out all that brush and debris in the pic when I realized how hot the thing got, but it stayed self contained

and...the result

I've been wanting to try this for a couple of years. I need to do it, but the trouble is getting the 30 gallon barrel like you said.

a 16 gal works fine

I actually used a old garbage can at first. It worked too, but it was so rusted it had air leaks and the charcoal ended up almost burning up

Then I used a 30 gal garbage can after burning off the coating. It works pretty well. I just dont know how long it will last.

You didn't use galvanized garbage cans, did you?

yeah. after one test burn the coating is lonnnng gone

Thanks for this post, I've been wanting to make my own charcoal for a while now. I'll certainly do a little more research on the web as you suggest, but this method sounds simple and cool. Sometimes I'm a little dense so please excuse me for a couple questions:
Does this method have a name - what do I search on?
So you fill the inner drum, leave the top open, invert it with the "open" top sitting on the bottom of the larger 55 gallon drum and fill the space inbetween with the burn wood?
Do you light the burn wood on the top or bottom?
What size wood chunks did you use to make the charcoal?
Thanks again, this is uber neat, at least for me.

Here is the link, its from another site so I am not sure if I can post it but I will and they can slap my _ if needed

http://www.thesmokering.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=37313

Thanks, I am so gonna do this. I currently burning a ag of Cowboy limp every couple weeks.

Its really cool and satisifying

I really would not recommend using the garbage can though. I did it since I did not have the 16 gal can at first, and I made sure the coating had burned off and was no where around while it was burning

Just a couple tips. You can get the 30 gallon can at the fast lube places usually for free. Fill it 3/4 not full. Use fist size pieces. I put saw dust and a little diesel in the bottom of the big barrel. No need to fill it completely or cover the top with burn wood. Three ft. chimney not six. Since good lump has no flavor of it's own save the cherry, apple, etc for smoke flavor. Good hard oak makes good lump. The burn wood is for heating the wood in the smaller can to release the combustible material. (as gas). The gas is burned off as it comes out the 'bottom' of the barrel. Too much heat caused by too long a chimney, too much burn wood, and too much wood in the little can causes the chunks to break down into smaller pieces. The batch is not done until the barrel can be lifted with no gloves. This slow down period also reduces the amount of moisture in the finished product. Rum is better than beer when making lump.

SWEET!!! Never even thought about doing this. I love do it ur selfers. From a homemade UDS, to homemades lump. All I need now is to raise a cow and everything I cook will be made by MY hands.

You can't get any better than that! Good smokin ButtBurner