If you insulated the outer drum and covered the top of it with only an exhaust / chimney to let the smoke out, then feed the gasses from the retort drum, you would get a much hotter fire and use less wood to make your charcoal. The gasses would take over. Ideally if you made three rocket stove entrances and welded director fins on the inside of the outer drum, you would get a good circulation of heat with very little wood needed to burn. Temperatures would be up in the 1000 deg Celsius range.
Thanks to everyone who has commented. Yes, the gas could be reclaimed for a number of uses, but this was my first try and I wasn't even sure if it would work. I was happy enough to just have charcoal and not ash at the end!! There is a lot of fudge-work that can be done with the vent holes and other details. I've run this design one other time and the only issue I ran into was my inner drum burning through. The final yield looks like 2/3, but it was actually closer to just over half when I finally used it all. I primarily use this for metal forging. It could also be used for activated charcoal in gardens or even for water or air filter applications.
I liked this method, it's simpler and seemed to work well. Yes you can pipe the gases back down to fuel the fire and save wood but if you don't have the pipe or can't afford it these days... I've been thinking of one similar to your method. Thanks for the video.
Great job. Thank You Loader. You check out what others did and improved it a bit. You must have watched the guy who welded a pipe on the side of the il barrel and filled it with wood and set it on top of an open fire. He go very good results. I'm sure you will to. You remembered every step. I'm at the end of the flammable gases just before you close off the air supply, but how will you smother the rest of the fire?
You can decrease the cooking time by using the flammable off-gassing as more fire fuel by installing a 1" or larger "T" at the bung hole and redirecting the pipe back down under the 30-gallon drum. That's what I do. Same setup, except I built a reusable ring to tighten off the 30-gallon lid. I wait until the gasses coming out of the tee fitting will ignite, then drop a plug into the hole, redirecting that wood gas. Try it.
Off grid folks can clean there own water with this. Also if you use a stainless steel drip tube inserted in the bottom of the wood pile, the water will run out of the wood pile and would quicken the process.
Using the vented gases to feed the fire would also help regulate the flame in the outer barrel better. It's a pretty big task to keep that fire going hot enough and constant enough through the entire 4-5 hour process. The quality of the charcoal leftover is worth the work though!
I whould seal the top of the inner can and drill holes in the sides a few inches from the bottom. The vent gases can now be burned to help in the heating process .
Nice Video thank you, By the way if you would just turn that little barrel upside down you would have that flame shooting out the bottom and heating ITSELF instead of blowing up into the sky. Don't burn good cordwood to maintain the fire around it. The moisture near the start will not hurt your heating fire much but when the good dense gasses start coming out your process will accelerate greatly with not much additional wood in your outer barrel. Just sayin
How many, and what size holes did you put in the bung? It looks like 2- 1/4" holes maybe?? What was the total yield? It looks to be about 2/3's full, is that correct? And what do you do with the charcoal dust and small pieces? Do you have a way to make briquettes, or do you just discard it? Nice video, I think I'll try it.
I drilled two holes in the removable bung cap. I think they are around 1/4 or 3/8 in size. My next build, I plan to drill a couple holes near the bottom of the barrel to help feed the fire instead of just venting it all off. After doing this a couple of times now, I would always recommend having at least one small vent hole near the top so that you can see what stage the you are at in the conversion process.
I'm asking this a little late, but I got impulsive. Should I douse the fire once the wood gasses stop burning? I'm using a 55 gallon barrel with a 10" Chimney coming out the bottom. Pipe directing gases into the chimney. It's sitting on a fire pit/ stacked up pavers. I still have some smoke coming out of the gaps at the top, but the gas stopped burning about ten minutes ago. Basically, when should I stop feeding the fire? I think I should douse the fire a couple times to save the coals and also to insure it's all cooled off in the morning. I'd like to BBQ tomorrow.
Once the gas isn't burning, you can kill the fire. I usually let it die down before the vent holes finish flaming and then I can pull the barrel full of charcoal out. Don't open the barrel until it has cooled off. The inside wants oxygen right out of the fire and if you open it, you risk igniting your charcoal.
Luke Z Thank you very much for your quick response. I love the good internet people. I doused the fire and pulled the coals out. Going to eat good tomorrow.
i build gasifiers........this vid gives me a good idea....... I can see that it would be possible to make char and at the same time recycle the wood gas for using in propane and natural gas devices (cloths dryers, on demand water heaters, cooking stoves ect)
+Darrell Hughes What do you compress it with? I assume you would somehow filter it, but would you just use a regular air compressor? Sounds interesting.
Believe me, if wood gas was marketable, it would have been done a thousand years ago. Unfortunatly, woodgas (syngas) has several properties which make it unmarketable, unlike more commercially exploitable natural gases (like propane). The only real niche that woodgas has going for it is the gee-whiz factor Tommy Townhouse and Donna Dupe have when realizing that Oak in the back yard could fuel the washing machine. Woodgas doesn't compress much at all, converting and then deconverting from liquid to gas requires more energy than commercial competitors, etc. Let's just say that man has been making charcoal for 50,000 years (it's longer, but for argument's sake 50,000 is enough to make my point). Which is that man has been around and keenly aware of the combustive properties of wood gas for a VERY VERY VERY long time, could very well be that the charcoaling process is what tipped proto-scientists and natural-philosophers into researching hows and whys concerning other gases, and for the last 75 years the U.S. government has dumped BILLION, through the forestry commision, to research wood gas in a desperate attempt to get us off foreign products, and we're barely any better off now at harnessing woodgas than the vikings making charcoal and pitch out in the woods 10,000 years ago.
@@maxdecphoenix 50k years later human still cooking on charcoal... the only thing we have to show is how we ruined the steak with A1 sauce before optimizing and harnessing the energy of woodgas.
This was my first time! And yes, it was wasted. I need to look for better designs that allow me to collect the gases or use them while the the retort is burning.
+BrandtCreekFarm Just an insulated can/small drum open on the ends will let it escape fine, but hold enough locally to do some forging, since I see you have an anvil there.
+Gavin Jenkins That is barely an anvil...lol. I have a nicer one now. There are plenty of other options for the use of the gases. This specific setup is not a gasifier though. There are a few important elements missing that prevent me from using the gas for other things.
In fact during wwii wood gas was used in some countries to run car engines. (Like in Finland and Sweden.) However, the power was significantly lower. Additionally impurities included were not good for the engnes.
Im not quite sure how it works but my old man has a lid on the top of some sort and all the gas from the inner barrel will burn up and heat the whole barrel by doing this he can burn in the outer barrel 1 load of twigs and kindling and the fire will burn for atleast 3 hours or somthing crazy on full blast from the 1 load.
There was zero "retort" in the process as the whole gas was wasted and burned. Your barbecue will sue you for wasting that flame, LOL. Good start anyway. make an update showing how that gas will be used to make charcola, or some cooking or heating. As a knowledgeable/useless youtube commenter , I feel pretty "entitled" behind my keyboard and I say as I please, as I cannot lift my finger neither afford to make a better version, so, ignore my comment if it sounds offensive.
DANGER ! ! I realize this is a beginner. You've probably learned a lot since this first attempt. Look at the pressure with which that gas is flowing out of that bunghole. People, how much prrssure do you think is in that can ? ! TOO MUCH ! Could easily use twice as big of a vent hole(s). These retorts can explode if done improperly. EVERYBODY, watch several other videos so you know what you are doing before attempting this. BE SAFE. "I thought . . . " won't replace an eye or a finger, etc.
I'm surprised no one insulates the outer barrel... You should be venting downwards. OMG sealing it is a VERY bad idea. It should always be able to ventm
If you insulated the outer drum and covered the top of it with only an exhaust / chimney to let the smoke out, then feed the gasses from the retort drum, you would get a much hotter fire and use less wood to make your charcoal. The gasses would take over.
Ideally if you made three rocket stove entrances and welded director fins on the inside of the outer drum, you would get a good circulation of heat with very little wood needed to burn. Temperatures would be up in the 1000 deg Celsius range.
Just flip 30gallon barrel with the vent down and those Vocs will help heat and allow you to use less fuel to make the charcoal.
Exactly... thats how we have done for 18 yrs now
Thanks to everyone who has commented. Yes, the gas could be reclaimed for a number of uses, but this was my first try and I wasn't even sure if it would work. I was happy enough to just have charcoal and not ash at the end!!
There is a lot of fudge-work that can be done with the vent holes and other details. I've run this design one other time and the only issue I ran into was my inner drum burning through.
The final yield looks like 2/3, but it was actually closer to just over half when I finally used it all. I primarily use this for metal forging. It could also be used for activated charcoal in gardens or even for water or air filter applications.
Thank you for showing the process!
I’ll be sure to give it a try
I liked this method, it's simpler and seemed to work well. Yes you can pipe the gases back down to fuel the fire and save wood but if you don't have the pipe or can't afford it these days... I've been thinking of one similar to your method. Thanks for the video.
It’s off gassing flammable gas which you wasted, should have fed that back in at the bottom to heat the fire!
Your video tutorial is the best.
great vid
Beautiful, easy to understand, straight to the point. Great job!
Great job. Thank You Loader. You check out what others did and improved it a bit. You must have watched the guy who welded a pipe on the side of the il barrel and filled it with wood and set it on top of an open fire. He go very good results. I'm sure you will to. You remembered every step. I'm at the end of the flammable gases just before you close off the air supply, but how will you smother the rest of the fire?
You can decrease the cooking time by using the flammable off-gassing as more fire fuel by installing a 1" or larger "T" at the bung hole and redirecting the pipe back down under the 30-gallon drum. That's what I do. Same setup, except I built a reusable ring to tighten off the 30-gallon lid. I wait until the gasses coming out of the tee fitting will ignite, then drop a plug into the hole, redirecting that wood gas. Try it.
Do you have a video or pic of this "T" and plug you speak of?
@@Skypilot3764 no
To burn the steam and fumes put the 30 gal. up side down and it will help you in the combustion
It helped me understand better the process thanks
That's not steam that's wood gas! It's flammable!
This was an awesome video followed this one well compared to others. I'm just curious how much coal are you left with after the whole process is done.
Off grid folks can clean there own water with this.
Also if you use a stainless steel drip tube inserted in the bottom of the wood pile, the water will run out of the wood pile and would quicken the process.
thanks for posting friend , you helped alot. im gonna biuld one that uses that flare gas to heat things up even hotter
Using the vented gases to feed the fire would also help regulate the flame in the outer barrel better. It's a pretty big task to keep that fire going hot enough and constant enough through the entire 4-5 hour process. The quality of the charcoal leftover is worth the work though!
I whould seal the top of the inner can and drill holes in the sides a few inches from the bottom.
The vent gases can now be burned to help in the heating process .
Very gooooood job eh. BTW, nice anvil, is it an Record??? Ü
Nice Video thank you, By the way if you would just turn that little barrel upside down you would have that flame shooting out the bottom and heating ITSELF instead of blowing up into the sky. Don't burn good cordwood to maintain the fire around it. The moisture near the start will not hurt your heating fire much but when the good dense gasses start coming out your process will accelerate greatly with not much additional wood in your outer barrel. Just sayin
yah, it cal reort stage
Recover the gas and feed it via a pipe to the lower fire box.
The process will be more efficient.
Thats some solid advice right there. Let it burn its self essentially?
what do you think about gases especially, (CH4) freeing to the atmosphere, and how to manage this GHG emission?
👍👍👍👏👏👏
what do you use the charcoal for??? it seems like a waste of wood and heat
pro tip when recording with your phone video in landscape mode
Jesus science is amazing
How many, and what size holes did you put in the bung? It looks like 2- 1/4" holes maybe?? What was the total yield? It looks to be about 2/3's full, is that correct? And what do you do with the charcoal dust and small pieces? Do you have a way to make briquettes, or do you just discard it? Nice video, I think I'll try it.
I drilled two holes in the removable bung cap. I think they are around 1/4 or 3/8 in size. My next build, I plan to drill a couple holes near the bottom of the barrel to help feed the fire instead of just venting it all off. After doing this a couple of times now, I would always recommend having at least one small vent hole near the top so that you can see what stage the you are at in the conversion process.
I use the charcoal for forging and the dust gets mixed in with my garden soil.
+Lucas Zdenek Well that's handy, my garden is right next to where I'd be doing this.
I'm asking this a little late, but I got impulsive. Should I douse the fire once the wood gasses stop burning? I'm using a 55 gallon barrel with a 10"
Chimney coming out the bottom. Pipe directing gases into the chimney. It's sitting on a fire pit/ stacked up pavers.
I still have some smoke coming out of the gaps at the top, but the gas stopped burning about ten minutes ago.
Basically, when should I stop feeding the fire? I think I should douse the fire a couple times to save the coals and also to insure it's all cooled off in the morning. I'd like to BBQ tomorrow.
Once the gas isn't burning, you can kill the fire. I usually let it die down before the vent holes finish flaming and then I can pull the barrel full of charcoal out. Don't open the barrel until it has cooled off. The inside wants oxygen right out of the fire and if you open it, you risk igniting your charcoal.
Luke Z Thank you very much for your quick response. I love the good internet people. I doused the fire and pulled the coals out. Going to eat good tomorrow.
i build gasifiers........this vid gives me a good idea....... I can see that it would be possible to make char and at the same time recycle the wood gas for using in propane and natural gas devices (cloths dryers, on demand water heaters, cooking stoves ect)
+Darrell Hughes How do you store the wood gas?? Or do you have to use it as it's made?
compress it into a 5lb propane cylinder
+Darrell Hughes What do you compress it with? I assume you would somehow filter it, but would you just use a regular air compressor? Sounds interesting.
Believe me, if wood gas was marketable, it would have been done a thousand years ago. Unfortunatly, woodgas (syngas) has several properties which make it unmarketable, unlike more commercially exploitable natural gases (like propane). The only real niche that woodgas has going for it is the gee-whiz factor Tommy Townhouse and Donna Dupe have when realizing that Oak in the back yard could fuel the washing machine.
Woodgas doesn't compress much at all, converting and then deconverting from liquid to gas requires more energy than commercial competitors, etc. Let's just say that man has been making charcoal for 50,000 years (it's longer, but for argument's sake 50,000 is enough to make my point). Which is that man has been around and keenly aware of the combustive properties of wood gas for a VERY VERY VERY long time, could very well be that the charcoaling process is what tipped proto-scientists and natural-philosophers into researching hows and whys concerning other gases, and for the last 75 years the U.S. government has dumped BILLION, through the forestry commision, to research wood gas in a desperate attempt to get us off foreign products, and we're barely any better off now at harnessing woodgas than the vikings making charcoal and pitch out in the woods 10,000 years ago.
@@maxdecphoenix 50k years later human still cooking on charcoal... the only thing we have to show is how we ruined the steak with A1 sauce before optimizing and harnessing the energy of woodgas.
man look at all that good gas waste!!!! dude use that for running some engines!!!
This was my first time! And yes, it was wasted. I need to look for better designs that allow me to collect the gases or use them while the the retort is burning.
+BrandtCreekFarm Just an insulated can/small drum open on the ends will let it escape fine, but hold enough locally to do some forging, since I see you have an anvil there.
+Gavin Jenkins That is barely an anvil...lol. I have a nicer one now. There are plenty of other options for the use of the gases. This specific setup is not a gasifier though. There are a few important elements missing that prevent me from using the gas for other things.
In fact during wwii wood gas was used in some countries to run car engines. (Like in Finland and Sweden.)
However, the power was significantly lower. Additionally impurities included were not good for the engnes.
turn the retort insert upside down... and toss the screw in plug away... burn like you did, I promise more charcoal and less hassle
How long does the cooking process take. Is it true more than 10 hours
Turn the retort upside down with the hole down. The methane from the smaller drum will help cook ot
Im not quite sure how it works but my old man has a lid on the top of some sort and all the gas from the inner barrel will burn up and heat the whole barrel by doing this he can burn in the outer barrel 1 load of twigs and kindling and the fire will burn for atleast 3 hours or somthing crazy on full blast from the 1 load.
it's Gass coming out
Good job sir repost backwith inner bar upside down
There was zero "retort" in the process as the whole gas was wasted and burned. Your barbecue will sue you for wasting that flame, LOL. Good start anyway. make an update showing how that gas will be used to make charcola, or some cooking or heating. As a knowledgeable/useless youtube commenter , I feel pretty "entitled" behind my keyboard and I say as I please, as I cannot lift my finger neither afford to make a better version, so, ignore my comment if it sounds offensive.
رائع جدا
wat time?
vico59 If you mean how long did it take me, total run time was about 4.5 hours.
storing wood gas is very dangerous.
Зачем вообще нужен древесный уголь? В чем его ценность? Где его используют?
Для отопления, при изготовлении фильтров, лекарств, красок. Интернет Тебе в помощь, там ищи, а не в комментариях
Sy produksi arang batok Sulawesi kapasitas 300 Ton/bulan
DANGER ! ! I realize this is a beginner. You've probably learned a lot since this first attempt. Look at the pressure with which that gas is flowing out of that bunghole. People, how much prrssure do you think is in that can ? ! TOO MUCH ! Could easily use twice as big of a vent hole(s). These retorts can explode if done improperly. EVERYBODY, watch several other videos so you know what you are doing before attempting this. BE SAFE. "I thought . . . " won't replace an eye or a finger, etc.
I'm surprised no one insulates the outer barrel... You should be venting downwards. OMG sealing it is a VERY bad idea. It should always be able to ventm
Your losing all gas , it's not steam
not a retort thats just a kiln retorts use the off gas to fire
That don't look right