# Homemade Paint Can Charcoal



## greechneb (Dec 4, 2013)

Thought I'd show the process of making a little batch of homemade charcoal. I didn't get any pictures of the beginning, but its pretty easy to explain. Take a paint can (thoroughly cleaned) and fill it full with scraps of wood, then tightly put the lid on. Punch some vent holes in the sides (two or three nail holes is all it takes). Then throw the can in a fire. Simple enough, right?

Here's my two cans loaded up, and the fire started:













burn1.jpg



__ greechneb
__ Dec 4, 2013






As you can see in the first picture, it's in the first stage of heating up. You'll notice the steam and smoke starting on the right can. The can on the right is pine scraps, the can on the left is oak scraps from wood working projects. The softwoods go faster than hard woods. Keep adding wood to get the fire going, and you'll start to hear the steam venting harder out of the cans, and evenually the wood gas will exit and you'll have flames shooting out of the holes. The cans are under the pile here.













burn2.jpg



__ greechneb
__ Dec 4, 2013






As I said, the wood gas really vents out, and you will have flames shooting. I tried to get a good picture. At the best point, the flames were shooting out almost a foot, and sound like a torch. In this picture, notice the flame circled, that is from the hole in the can.













burn3.jpg



__ greechneb
__ Dec 4, 2013






Once the flames stop coming from the cans, the process is pretty much done. If you want to, pull the can from the fire, and let it cool, preferably overnight. Do not open while it is hot, it will ignite!

And here is the finished product:













results.jpg



__ greechneb
__ Dec 4, 2013






The can on the left is the oak, the can on the right is the pine. I'm just doing some small scale testing right now, I plan to ramp up to doing a 35 gallon drum at a time.


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## sqwib (Dec 4, 2013)

Awesome, I have made some lump as well, but using a 55 gallon drum in the city was a bit too much!


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## oldschoolbbq (Dec 4, 2013)

Cool , Greechneb. Thanks for the tutorial , good Q-view.

Stan


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## jockaneezer (Dec 5, 2013)

I did some in a 205 litre drum, it's just so painfull watching all that good timber go up in smoke, to get a measley amount of charcoal at the end.

Jock


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## bigtrain74 (Dec 5, 2013)

Thanks very much for doing this. Maybe we can get a more thorough presentation (not saying what you showed and typed up was not perfect) and make it a sticky.

Just an idea.

Great work!


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## smokingohiobutcher (Dec 6, 2013)

jockaneezer said:


> I did some in a 205 litre drum, it's just so painfull watching all that good timber go up in smoke, to get a measley amount of charcoal at the end.
> 
> Jock


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## fixnwrecks (Apr 4, 2014)

Hi Ya'll

Here is my homemade charcoal Propane burner setup. I use a 50 gallon drum and in the bottom of it I have a turkey fryer burner that I cut the legs off of. The burner sets in the 50 gallon drum then I place a 30 gallon drum on the burner. Cap it with a 50 gallon drum lid with a vent hole to allow the gasses to escape and light up the turkey fryer burner. This process takes about 3 hours and cost about $10.00 in propane. At completion I have a 30 gallon drum of perfect charcoal. Here are some pics so you can see how it is set up. Check out the last photo that shows the completed charcoal, ready to use on the grille or in my egg....

Jim













propane burn set up a.JPG



__ fixnwrecks
__ Apr 4, 2014






Wood is starting to gas off after only 15 minutes on the burner













propane burn gassing off 2.JPG



__ fixnwrecks
__ Apr 4, 2014






The best thing about using a propane turkey fryer burner is that I can regulate the temperature inside the wood drum. I have found that Hickory wood best converts into charcoal at 500 - 525 degrees and the propane setup allows me to raise / lower the internal temperature as needed.













propane burn temp 505 degrees.JPG



__ fixnwrecks
__ Apr 4, 2014






After 2 hours the pyrolysis process has started and the gasses are burning off. I let it burn for about an hour and then shut down the burner, cap the pipe vent on the wood container drum and let it cool for 24 hours













propane burn pyrolosis.JPG



__ fixnwrecks
__ Apr 4, 2014






24 hours later and here is the final product ready to be used. So it takes time, but what the heck - my time cost nothing, and it keeps me entertained and out of trouble. All I use is free hickory wood, ten bucks of propane, and I get the best darn charcoal I have ever used. And just think, If I went and paid for this charcoal it would only cost me about 16 -20 dollars. But there aint no fun in buying it when I can make it myself !!!!!













final product from propane burn.JPG



__ fixnwrecks
__ Apr 4, 2014


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