How to Make Biochar in a Cone Pit | My First Attempt
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- čas přidán 29. 08. 2024
- Today on the smallholding I am attempting my first charcoal burn using the cone pit method to make biochar.
I am looking to start making my own biochar from my own waste coppice trimmings and brash. I am hoping to make enough biochar to add it to my composting process which I hope will improve the overall quality of my compost and in turn improve the quality/yeild of my no dig vegetable garden.
#Biochar #Smallholdinguk #NoDig #Smallholding #SelfSufficiency #Homesteading #Smallfarming #Growyourown #Planting #Sowing #Vegetables #Softfruits #Fruit
I've made a couple of biochar burners, retorts are a pita, beer barrel (see living web farms) is simple and good for (very dry) woodchip, or think sticks the same size, not so good for different size, or thicker wood, I've swiched to a simple 50 gal oil drum on it's side with a 10" slot cut in the side, it'll take different size wood, thicker wood too; you have to keep topping it up when you see ash forming on the top wood, and wet it down with a hose when it's full to put it out before it turns to ash, but it makes a lot at once and is much less faff than anything else I've tried. I put mine thu the Globe Gardenmaster hammermill shredder to get a nice even ~1/4" size before charging/activating it. Tried different activations, urine, aerated compost tea, and cyling though the compost pile which seem the best, urine is not so good, CT works well but unless you're making areated CT it's another long prep stage that makes it more hassle than just adding to the compost pile to about 10% by volume.
I was thinking of trying the retort burn at some point, this just seemed so simple and easy
I’ve just finished a video on activating the crushed biochar for next week, I didn’t use my bubblers in the end I just soaked it with worm castings and molasses
@@SmallholdingUK I've tried LAB with molasis but tbh it didn't seem as good as just using LAB/Mol as a soil drench, I'm sure your worm tea/molasis will be effective, the benefit of the oil drum besides the volume of char it produces is you don't have to seal it in any way, there's no holes underneath so it only gets secondary air from the slot in the top (side of drum, drum is laying on it's side) each layer of fuel starves the wood underneath from oxygen, it's not a light and forget method tho, you have to put it out by filling with a hose when it's done (or you end up with a pile of ash) but that means no dust to breath in when you crush it down.
Yeah I did have to wet mine down when crushing it, I do have a 40 gallon drum so I might try that method 👍
Did you say you cut a 10” wide section out, was that top to bottom?
@@SmallholdingUK I just nipped out to check/measure it, it's an 8" wide slot down one side (yeah top to bottom) too wide allows too much air in, then lay the barrel on it's side so the slot becomes the top (sorry I realised that sounded confusing before lol) light a small fire inside to get it going then add ~4-6" layer of wood, when that's good and going add another 4-6" when you see white ash forming on the top add another layer etc. until it's full, let it burn down a bit and top up again, then wait until you see no yellow flames comming off it and a good even layer of white ash on top, it's time to quench. You'll get the hang of timing it better after a couple of burns.
I have seen a couple videos using the side cut out seems to work well
I’ll need to get my water pump running as got no mains water at the holding just stored rain
Well that was an interesting video, I didn't think it would work but it did so well done, so now you have all that biochar, one place you don't want to put it unless it's like dust or the size of sugar is in a Carrot bed, Thanks for the vid see you again soon.
Thank you
Interesting 😊👍
Thanks
My pit is much the same except I lined it with brick. I got the dimensions for a kon tiki style kiln on line, scaled it to a good size and marked the circle diameter on the top of the grass, dug a hole in the center to the right depth, widened that bottom hole to the right width and connected top and bottom with a shovel at an angle like a funnel. I swear I had it done bricks and all in an hour. It works great, smoke free when cranking and a tornado like fire - it’s awesome. I had loads of bricks to circle around it and it's lasted years so far in one piece. If you get those kon tiki dimensions on line you can scale it to whatever convenient size works for you.
Nice one sounds awesome
Great vid and great result. I’ve made biochar in various ways for a few years now. You asked for pointers, so I’ll share what I found.
Finishing by quenching rather than smothering is better for a few reasons.
Firstly, this is what “activated” actually means. Quenching fractures the structure of the char, and vastly increases its porosity, and ability to absorb/hold onto things you inoculate it with. Tim from Way Out West channel does a great video demonstrating the difference between quenched (activated) vs smothered.
Secondly, there’s no dust to deal with when crushing. I’m far from being a health and safety guy, but you don’t want charcoal dust on your lungs.
Another reason, quenched char takes on your inoculant easier/faster, as it’s surpassed the hydrophobic stage.
Another pointer, to avoid the unfinished logs at the end, you can use a final layer of thinner material. I found pinecones work very well as the final layer.
Good luck with it, and I’m looking forward to see how you inoculate👍🏻
Thanks for that, I’ll have a watch of Tim’s video 👍
I've learned all that and it makes a big difference, great tips! One thing I do is save up gallons of pee to start the quench. The steam and heat will sterilize the pee and the nitrogen gets crammed into the pores to get a jump on inoculating before it even gets cold. I add Epsom salt a little and some bone meal to my quench buckets to get that fracked in too.
Dust after sifting can be added to your worm bins, the worms will gladly use it for grit. When removing the charcoal (it's not biochar until it is "charged") from the pit, use the shovel to break the coals up before removing it. Then you will not have to break so many of the larger pieces after removing it from the pit.
👍
Great video, thanks, but I would suggest fine if you don't have close neighbours. I would not encourage urban gardeners to make the stuff. Too many garden bonfires already creating anti-social polluting smoke.
Leaf blower. get that flame back ASAP to keep the "flame cap" going faster. Equal size material is good too. finish with small bits. I have a few vids if you care to look
I’ve done a few batches now and also a 40 gallon drum burner, I really enjoy it
I’ll take a look at your vids 👍
Me to, all waste stream materia,so win win@@SmallholdingUK I like the dirt round the edge.
isn't this more of a charcoal than biochar...
Well biochar is activated charcoal so yes it’s charcoal until activating but there is a difference in temperature charcoal burners I believe cook it cooler whereas for biochar it’s a hotter burn
I’m new to it but it’s the way many people do it and it seems to work well