Living Off The Grid

Charcoal can be used for a great many things. Most commonly it can be employed to provide a steady slow-burning heat for your home, but can also be used to cook with and as a craftsman’s fuel for furnaces. Most people are put off however by the idea of making it at home, thinking that they need specialist equipment and training to get it right. The truth is, there is a simple method that can be used to make very high quality charcoal lump, which is free of impurities and without the need for expensive apparatus or advanced skills.

The “indirect” method of making charcoal involves cooking hardwood within a contained, airless chamber that is allowed to vent at the base. This container can be heated in a number of ways, but if you don’t have a furnace, the easiest way is to use a steel drum. Here is how to do it yourself:

1. First you will need to get hold of a 250Ltr steel drum. Cut a window towards the base in the drum wall. This will be for keeping an eye on the fire and maintaining. The window should be around 30cm wide and 20cm tall. You will also need to cut the top off the drum so that it is open at one end.

(picture 1)Image credit: http://peplers.blogspot.com/

2. Next you will need to get hold of another 100Ltr steel container. Make sure this container is cleaned thoroughly and burn off any oil residue before using. Cut around 6-8 smallish holes in the base and then pack with air-dried hardwood. Roughly speaking, the harder and denser the wood, the higher the quality of the charcoal will be. Once full up, seal the lid onto the small container well.

3. The smaller drum will go inside the larger, but you will need to light a fire underneath it, so you will need to lift the small drum from the base of the larger. This can either be done using some form of steel stand, or alternatively by resting the smaller drum on two metal skewers, run right through the larger drum.

4. Place the small drum inside the large one and pack wood and newspaper underneath and around it. Use some fire lighters to get the fire going and place the lid on top of the larger drum, propping it open a little to vent the smoke.

(picture 2) Image credit: http://peplers.blogspot.com/

5. Keep feeding the fire for around 3 hours. The holes in the bottom of the small drum will allow the vapors from the hardwood to escape and this will not only make the fire burn hotter, but result in a charcoal free from impurities.

6. After 3 hours of burning, stop feeding the fire, let it go out and give the drum a couple of hours to cool down. Remove the smaller drum, open up, and you have yourself some high-grade charcoal

It might take a bit of experimenting to get it just right, but this charcoal will keep indefinitely and is a great way to use up old hardwood and wood scraps that would otherwise go to waste.

BIO: Duncan is an experienced marketing and environmental blogger who works for a team building company in the UK.