Making charcoal/ when to stop cooking

[Sparx88]

Hello.

 

Just registered and I have to say this is a fantastic place to have found. Been into it for 25 yrs but until about 3 years ago I started really trying to move from consumer grade to hand made. I like it a lot and wish I had gotten serious about it a lot sooner, thats probably most of us

 

-Anyway on the charcoal cooking. I have had mixed signals about when to pull the retort. Do I pull it just as the smoke stops and the flames start or wait until the flames stop too?- (burning off the volatile oils) Do we want oils or no oils?

 

I started doing this because after reading up on quality charcoal I found out that these 2 giant paulownia trees in my back yard just happen to be good for BP charcoal. I was always using goex and wanted a cheaper route with larger returns. This 1st batch I made I waited until the flames just stopped and pulled it and covered the hole let it cool etc. It looked great, no ash and fully carbonized. VERY lite and had a "snap" when breaking it up. I milled it for about 2 hours and it came out so lite that the slightest breeze would float it like a vapor. I guess thats what the term "airfloat" means? Any advice on this will be appreciated

Edited November 16, 2013 by Sparx88

[Arthur]

Tradition says to cover the vent hole with clay when the flame is gone, then cool the retort naturally. Try and refine the method that works for you.

[Bobosan]

The flame will become very small over the vent hole, about a half inch or less in height. Cover the hole with a piece of metal, pull the can from the heat source and let cool naturally.

 

Having a Paulownia wood source is a huge asset. Just collecting the fallen branches should provide plenty of charcoal. Check some Willow wood also.

[mikeee]

Sparx88,

 

Your process is right on the money, if you can stop the process a few minutes early by shutting off the

air supply to your wood/charcoal you will end up with some volatiles left in the charcoal. Some people

like to stop the cooking process a few minutes early to prevent the charcoal from moving into the ash

stage. If you run into pieces that are not cooked all of the way, you can always throw them into the

next batch of charcoal you cook.

[pyrojig]

I second Mikeee, Your process is the same as I do when cooking paulownia, and any other char. for that matter . I wait till the flame disappears , then the smoke becomes a small wisp. I pull the retort , put small rocks over the holes and let it cool . This has proven to make the best result. Some charcoals are a bit tough to get cooked all the. way through, and appear to be done (little smoke) , but some arnt cooked all the way through. Usually the culprit is not enough of a hot fire cooking the retort , or the fire dies down ( if using wood). Steady hot temps get efficient results.

As far as Im aware , getting a volatile-free ch is what your after. There is no gain to having oils in the ch. . Mostly I see this contamination sticking to the sides of the retort ( or the lid.) .

[mikeee]

The trick is stopping the cooking process, if you can shut off the supply of air quickly to

the retort or TLUD cooker you can control the quality of the charcoal.

When you shut off the supply of air the wood is still cooking and continues to cook the charcoal

until all of the oxygen is consumed in the retort or cooker.

That is the reason I try to time the process to limit how much charcoal starts to turn to ash.

Over cooking your charcoal starts to eat up the percentage of charcoal harvested per pound of charcoal.

After cooking several batches of a particular charcoal you learn how long it takes to cook and how

quickly a batch stops cooking. When using a retort one variable is the heat applied to the retort and

how long it cooks this is hard to control from batch to batch unless you have a high tech system.

When using a TLUD cooker the atmosphere, temperature, barometric pressure, humidity and wind can have

an effect on your cooking process. I have a non-touch infra-red thermometer that I use to check my

charcoal while it is cooking in my TLUD cooker, I can increase or decrease the draft on the cooker to

control the temperture of the cook.

[leedrill]

i use a large retort and cook 2.5kg to 3 kg of paulownia at a time {after the cooking weight that is } probably 6+kg before cooked and if you have tried paulownia or the likes of such a lite wood then im sure you know thats a lot volume the fastest stuff has some partial uncooked wood left in the middle but i try to keep that to a minimum

[Bobosan]

Sticks that fall apart when removed from the retort after cooking are overcooked. If the sticks come out in one piece, they should sound like porcelain china when dropped on a hard surface and not come apart.

[Sparx88]

Wow, thank you all for the fast response!

 

I'm happy that's cleared up. Now I can get to cooking with a smile. Thanks again!

[ollie1016]

One of the most important things when cooking charcoal this way is, to make sure that no oxygen gets into the charcoal once you've stopped cooking it. Of you'll have ash contamination, which will lower your charcoal performance.

 

Also try not breathe in the gasses given off from the wood, I find it gives you quite bad breathing difficulties if you, and makes you feel 'sh1t'.

[PyroAce]

This is an excellent tutorial I found useful: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otVhpDSbHZk

[LambentPyro]

Where can you get the propane heater? Besides a salvage yard, I want something new, so it's safe and reliable.

 

This is an excellent tutorial I found useful: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otVhpDSbHZk

I do not like that video, he stops it right in the middle of cooking it. Edited December 7, 2013 by LambentPyro

[Bobosan]

I agree with Lambent although he did say he cooked for about 1.5 hours. You really want the flame burnoff to just be a small lick of flame before you cover the vent holes and removing retort from heat source. I've tried the propane cook method and did not have great success....many unburnt large pieces due to uneven heating of the retort sides. BBQ briquettes that surround the can works best for me and evenly and thoroughly cooks large pieces.

 

http://youtu.be/k21Bo2-fQLc

 

 

Edit - there are many different ways to make charcoal. Whatever method works best for you and produces a satisfactory charcoal, that is the way to go. Once you find that method, keep it consistent.

Edited December 8, 2013 by Bobosan