making lump charcoal

old truck man

I recently made a drum full of hickory charcoal. It took 2 days to make about 4 five gallon cans and some was fully "cooked" and a few pieces still had some brown. I used a few pieces of the brown to get extra smoke for flavor and it worked quite well. Anyone else tried making their own? Care to swap ideas?

old truck man

I recently made a batch of lump charcoal from Hickory wood. It took 2 days and gave me about 4 five gallon cans of charcoal, some of which was black and some only brown. I used a few pieces of the brown to get more smoke flavor and it worked quite well. Anyone else tried making their own? Care to swap ideas?

RRP

I would assume you don't live "in town" where burning like that is prohibited. :laugh: How did you control the burn?

old truck man

I do not live near a town, much less in one.
I built a stand and placed a 55 gallon drum with removeable lid on the stand horizontally. I left about 2 ft of space between the ground and the barrel for the burn fire. The drum has a pipe which vents the escaping gases back into the fire to burn them. The lid has a plug which can be removed during the early firing so that moisture can escape. When the escaping vapor turns from white to almost clear I replace the plug. I split the hickory to about 3/4 to 1" thickness and filled the barrel. I used old firewood and debris to heat it. I don't know how to post a pic on here yet.

Capt Frank

I wish I still lived on my old place in Kentucky [well, not really] I would be all over this project. My "Adult Retirement Community" here in Florida would go ballistic with setup humming away on my nickel sized lot :ohmy: :evil: :P

Capt Frank
Homosassa, FL

RRP

ah go for it Frank! Those ol' Q-tips need something to b*tch about! :woohoo:

Capt Frank

I would love too! :evil: Problem is I don't own 120 acres of Oak, Hickory, Wild Cherry, Sassafras, and Maple any more I guess I could try some Hurricane damaged Palms! :P

Capt Frank
Homosassa, FL

cookn biker

Ask dubah, he has made some.

dubah

Old Truck Man,
I've made my own, a couple of times, used a 55 gal drum with a 30 gal drum inside it, on a couple of fire bricks. Kept a fire going under the 30 gal, for hours and hours, then sealed it up and let it cool. It might have been that the quality of the "hardwood" I used wasn't "great" as lump was pretty lightweight. I'll try again when I get some "real" hardwood. A fun project, but not necessarily worth the effort.

old truck man

It certainly was a lot of work for not much charcoal but the flavor of the meat was tops! I plan to make some charcoal from applewood this fall. I am doubling the size of my "cooker" to 2 55gal drums.