Forget everything I have said in the past about homemade charcoal.

For the last few years I have made tons of charcoal simply and quickly. No multiple container retorts, or constant monitoring for hours on end.

All I use is one 55 gallon steel drum with removeable lid. The only modification is a bunch of 3/8-1/2 inch holes drilled about 1 inch up from the bottom spaced maybe 9-12 inches apart. Note: it ain't rocket science.

How to use:

• cut wood ~16" long x 4" x 4"
• cross stack a layer or two in the bottom of the drum
• light it
• come back when it is burning good, and stack another couple layers on top of it
• Repeat until drum is full, or you have whatever level you want.
• when everything is fully burning seal the top, and cover the bottom holes with soil, ash or whatever.
• When it is cool to the touch, the next day or so, you will have your charcoal

Yeah a lot of the lower levels are ash, and some of the upper levels are charred wood. But the stuff in the center is perfectly good charcoal, made brain dead simple. The unfinished stuff is a perfect starter for the next batch and the layer or two of waste makes up for the simplicity.

Nothing better than grilling over charcoal!!!!!!! This is great info!!!

Grilling, smoking, forging, bonfires, don't know what I'd do without it.

The resulting charcoal burns faster and hotter than store-bought briquettes. But, you get used to it; and it is so cheap, you can keep tons of it on hand. In fact, often when I make it, I have a couple drums going at the same time.

I have made my own for years out of scrap from my cabinet shop. I love how it cooks but there is a little learning curve on temperature control. It burns hot

I have been making my own on a much smaller scale for powder mix. Appreciate the info of the grander scale!

Make sure your wood is aged and not still green.
You really don't need the holes in the lower part of the barrel , but it helps get the wood going.
I tried it with a hole in the lower part of the drum , and without , both worked , but green wood caused water droplets to put the smoldering out.
It works either way , as long as there's no open hole in the lower part of the drum. Once the lid is sealed on.
It will smolder more than a day if done right.
I don't open the barrel for three days, but know it can be sooner.
Just how my time worked out from other projects.

I've always wanted to make some, just never have.

good info


my burn barrels for burning stuff up never used them for charcoal.
I use the angle grinder to cut V then bend the bottoms in I do that all the way around leaving about 6 inches then taking about 6 inches

they burn like an inferno but could still get the bottom vents covered with dirt easy enough I wonder if more are at the beginning would get your temp up and get more wood burning at once and give a higher ration of finished charcoal.

I'm not too particular on the wood I use. Obviously, never use treated, painted wood, and avoid species that may contain toxins, like black walnut. Moisture level? It really doesn't much matter, except each batch should be somewhat uniform for burn quality.

The more holes the better the burn.

You just need to be able to seal them up, somehow.

"Leña por el carbon Maruja" One of my favorite cumbias. Transalated: Gathering firewood to make charcoal, Maruja".

Question is. . . the VALUE of YOUR time + wood material + effort would = XX # of pounds produced? vs the cost of buying charcoal?

If you only grill a couple steaks a year; that may very well be a valid question.

For the rest of us, it's a no-brainer.

Would love to see a good YouTube video of this process.

You Tube : "making charcoal." There's a few to watch :-)

OK, I'll bite:

• Cost of my time: $0.00 since I'm cutting and splitting for the outdoor boiler, anyway
• wood material: $0.00 since I get free block wood from tree services in the area. The stuff for charcoal is the culls- not suitable for boiler wood
• effort-included in the first point.
• lbs produced: just guessing-probably 20 lb/batch
• cost of buying equivalent bulk lump charcoal on Amazon $144.00/12 lb or $12.00/lb plus tax and shipping

Not a bad deal $240 value. Even if you deduct the $20.00 drum that you forgot about, it's a screaming deal.

Since you're cutting wood for a boiler system, then making charcoal is secondary to the initial effort, not the primary reason. Would you still make charcoal if you weren't doing it for a boiler? . . . and I do much more than a few steaks in a year :-)

We still have a local guy who has a kiln and sells it. I think the last 40 lb bag I bought was $30. There is no way in (This word is unacceptable on Trapperman) I would pay $12/lb

Charcoal is .62 to $1.25 a pound at Wally World. I just looked. $12 a pound must be liberal charcoal. I quite buying it years ago. But I never even paid a dollar a pound when I was buying it.

I'll tell you in the spring when I move into a city lot.

Me niether.