How to Make some Charcoal

Step 13 Video of new kooker burning

So This is a definite improvement - once I lit the fire below, after 10 minutes, gas was burning from the tube. After 2.5 hours gas had stopped coming out and I let the fire below die completely.
In the morning I discovered that 100% of the contents had converted to charcoal!!

The pile of wood in the picture below is what I took from to burn in the firebox. It is mostly still there!
So I don't know for sure, but I think I burned less wood in the firebox than was in the barrel, which is a huge improvement! The next burn will have more science. We will weigh the wood placed in the barrel, and note the type of wood. We will also weigh the wood burned in the firebox and then weigh the charcoal produced and time the process again. This process should give us a much better idea of the efficiency of the improved process.
Thanks for watching!

Comments

[Memyselfandjustme]

Ethol and Methol aside, it is quite legal to distill your own consumable alcohol as far as the federal government is concerned, as long as you fill out the proper paperwork and pay taxes on it. My uncle did this for a few years. (As far as I understand, beer, wine and cider are exempt for this. Only distilled spirits are at issue.) Likewise, it is quite legal to produce biodiesel. If, however, you use this biobiesel for vehicular transport (tractors may be exempt) you must fill out the proper paper work and pay taxes on it. You may also be subject to state taxes. (Some people claim that this is untrue, but the federal government says that you must.)
It is my guestimate that there are more modern people avoiding the revenuers via biodiesel than moonshine.

[butcherboy]

If you were to forego the chimney and the gas retort/burner and instead routed the gas into a basic distillation apparatus you should get primarily methanol, which, I think, could probably yield a more efficient return of energy to the system (in regards to a supplemental heat source).

[romedeiros1970]

I do not think that is correct, butcherboy. With all due respect, I believe the primary outputs are carbon monoxide and hydrogen gas, both of which are highly flamable. They can be collected and used as fuel, or can be redirected as fuel for the carbonization as done here. I guess it depends on the goal of the process.

[butcherboy]

Good point, though IMHO, if not redirecting the gases for system efficiency, distilling the methanol might be easier to accomplished than gas storage for the purpose of getting a second fuel product, at least as far as a backyard charcoal set-up is concerned that is. A simple reflux still vs. pressurized tanks is the scenario I'm envisioning.

[romedeiros1970]

Sorry, but I think I was unclear. One of my points is that I do not think that methanol is produced in pyrolysis. I think some methane is produced, but I could be wrong. The reason I want to be sure about that is methanol can be used to make biodiesel, and I would not want any of our biodiesel making members to think methanol can be produced by pyrolysis. Again, I could be wrong, but I have not found any references to methanol production in the literature. I do like your points about either using a reflux or a pressurized tank. I wonder if armature pyrolyzers can produce more gas than is needed. That would be great!

[butcherboy]

Actually methane is the main volatile released during pyrolysis. Most of the CO released occurs during gasification, which actually occurs after combustion (which occurs after pyrolysis given an oxidizing agent). Methanol is also known as wood alcohol because it used to primarily be produced in a still similar to the charcoal set up. The key was sequestering the wood from as much O2 as possible and thus minimizing combustion and allowing the volatiles to be distilled. Another useful product of the process is of course charcoal, which is essentially the remaining carbon matrix of the wood (less O2, less CO, more C...carbon that is!)

[Darrell Knight]

So is there a way to make moonshine (for fuel purposes) at the same time we are making the charcoal?

[ironsmiter]

most definately yes!

All you really need to do is route the exhaust gases from the fire, to the under side of your kettle.

The rest of your moonshine setup is as normal.
Just using one fire to do 2 different kinds of work.

If you are thinking about trying to make ethanol(aka NOT moonshine) from the wood byproduct... then the simple answer is no.

[romedeiros1970]

Theoretically, perhaps, but not in an economically feasible way to my knowledge.

[Darrell Knight]

LMWAO, I understand, but while we're making charcoal, wouldn't it be more feasible to bottle the spirits of the ummmmm, vehicle, or not? Just wondering, I am not able to make charcoal as of yet. Something in the lease at the apartments that say no making of charcoal on the grounds or something, lol. I was just wondering, thanks and have a great day.

[thirtyfivefox]

Moonshine production is still highly prohibited in most areas! That said throw some pears in there and use a mason jar like a real shiner... Awesome ible by the way.

[Darrell Knight]

I just might have to do that, lol, thanks.

[prushik]

I believe that is not correct in this case. Maybe the word "moonshine" should never have been used. Methanol is not the stuff that gets you drunk, methanol is the stuff that makes you go blind and kills you. So, if you tried to make moonshine this way. you would end up with something far more toxic with very little to no drinking alcohol in it. So it wouldn't technically be moonshine.
On top of that, we are not talking about drinking it at all, we are talking about using it for a fuel, which further reduces its similarities to moonshine.
Now, making moonshine is unconditionally illegal in all 50 states as far as I know. However, I believe it is 100% legal to distill alcohol IF and ONLY IF it is being used exclusively for fuel purposes.

[Darrell Knight]

Yes moonshiner is totally 100% illegal in all states,because the government can't regulate it well enough to be able to tax it. It is money and keeping us slaves to their every whim. But I, OF COURSE AM A LAW ABIDING SHEEPLE AND WOULD ONLY WANT IT FOR FUEL.

[prushik]

According to this site that I found: http://homedistiller.org/legal.htm
It is legal to own a still if it is under 1 gallon, and you only use it for distilling water and extracting oils from plants.
Producing distilled alcoholic beverages requires some serious paperwork and fees (I looked into it, they are substantial). Distilling alcohol for fuel still requires permits and paperwork and fees, however, as long as you don't produce over a certain amount per year, and it never leaves your property, then you do not need to pay taxes on it, nor does it need to be denatured.

So, basically, its much easier to just do it illegally, they make doing the right thing unfeasible.

[Darrell Knight]

Yes they do, as they do everything, anytime the feral gub'mint gets its hands in it, it is harder for the citizen to do anything.

[prushik]

Oh my goodness, I'm so so sorry!
Allow me to make a correction: Making moonshine is unconditionally illegal in all 50 states of the United States as far as I know, I have no knowledge of other countries' laws however.

I did not mean to assume that everyone here is American, my mistake.

[macvrem]

Making Moonshine is not "unconditionally" illegal. I have a legally purchased fifth of Midnight MOON with Junior Johnson's signature. It is produced and bottled by piedmont distillers in Madison, NC. Like any other distiller, they applied for and received a license, and pay the taxes. I can personelly atest to the fact that this is 'not' wood alcohol. http://www.piedmontdistillers.com/

[prushik]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moonshine
A moonshine-like beverage is not illegal if it is produced legally, with registered and licensed stills at a properly licensed distiller, however, since moonshine is by definition illegal (the definition of moonshine is an illegally produced and distilled alcoholic beverage), any moonshine-like beverage is not moonshine, although it may be chemically identical to moonshine, whether or not it IS moonshine is dependent on whether or not it was produced illegally.
So yeah making moonshine is unconditionally illegal, the same way that crime is unconditionally illegal.
This type of definition is not unprecedented in the world of alcoholic beverages, many types of spirits and wines are named after their content AS WELL as how and where they were produced, Champagne and Tequila and Bourbon being three good examples.

[Marcos El Malo]

Wood alcohol (i.e., methanol, not ethanol) is deadly poisonous. If it doesn't kill you, it will permanently blind you. So, if you want to be blind drunk (without the drunk part) for the rest of your life, have at it.

[blazingpencilsdotcom]

The charcoal can be an awesome additive for compost & gardening, see terra preta on Wikipedia. You would need to soak the charcoal in urine, or compost tea or something (grey water?) and then work it into your soil, supposedly it will start a natural carbon capture / sequestration cycle that lasts hundreds of years.. Also might look into having the gases escape the cooking container downward so they get burned in the fire & contribute to the fire energy - good news -instead of offgassing into the atmosphere - bad news. I wanna try using an old 275 gal oil tank (like a pig smoker) as the outer fire box, and have (2 or 3) 55 gal drums inside it with feed stock. I would like to use wood chips from tree trimming for the feed stock, as it is in plentiful free supply. i would like to rotate the drums out of the fire box as soon as cooked and insert newly filled ones to keep the process more constant. any comments appreciated.

[comander01]

I'm not sure if this would work, but try making a rotating stand with about 3 55 gal drums. As the wood burns, it releases gasses, making the resulting charcoal light than wood. The heavier weight of the wood on top would rotate it down into the burner.

[Superstormj]

That's a good idea, all that would require is the weighing of the wood put in each barrel to be the same, and then just stand back and let it do it's thing.

[Muzhik]

If you want to make activated charcoal for filtering water, etc., take the charcoal from this process, soak ("treat") it in sulfuric acid for a few minutes, then put it back in the kooker for another few hours. (You can get the sulfuric acid from old car batteries.) After this, crush the resulting charcoal into granules. NOTE: you don't need ACTIVATED charcoal to filter water, air, etc., but it is more efficient and effective.

[ijt25]

Out of interest, how efficient was the new burner in comparison with the uninsulated one?

[maxa]

that is so cool i am going to make one how do you know if it is done

[Rishnai]

It would seem that when gasses have stopped coming out of the tube, that means it's all gone from the charcoal, therefore it's done. I assume that if you open it and find anything that's not totally charcoal, it's not done.

[lucek]

you don't want to open it up till its completely cool (not saying you dumb but there are people who would and I'd prefer they didn't go to the emergency room with 3rd degree burns from a flair up.)

[Rishnai]

Excellent point. I should have mentioned that. I've lost eyebrows just from opening the grill. Wouldn't want to find out firsthand what happens when you open a hot charcoal cooker.

[gillibiabtiag]

The other danger with opening it before it is totally cold is that the only thing keeping the charcoal from turning to ash is the fact that there is no oxygen in the tank. If you open it while still warm, the charcoal can start turning to ash VERY QUICKLY. This is a lame way of losing a load of charcoal. One interesting thing that you can do with these is to put gnarled wood into it (old pine roots are awesome). When they turn to charcoal, all the twisty bits of the grain show up really nicely, and when properly coated, makes an awesome living room ornament (especially above the fireplace :D).

[crcarter]

Have you had a chance to collect yield information on the updated design?

[maxa]

thanks