Making Charcoal with the Exeter Retort
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ก.พ. 2017
- Alan and Jo Waters are expert charcoal makers with many years experience of this traditional skill from the land they coppice. Here they speak about the benefits of charcoal production using the Exeter Retort. They join with Geoff Self and Robin Rawle, designers and manufacturers of this Retort, to explain their experiences of the benefits of this method compared to traditional ring kilns - that the Retort produces more charcoal, that it has a shorter burn time, is cleaner, more efficient, easily accessible and transportable, and that it ultimately produces better quality charcoal - ideal for small woodland owners. wildwoodcoppice@btinternet.com www.carboncompost.co.uk/ An Adliberate film www.adliberate.co.uk for WoodlandsTV www.woodlands.co.uk/tv
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In days of old , charcoal makers were known as the Carbonari. They travelled across Europe making charcoal and were sought by kings , queens and the wealthy for their news of faraway lands.
The Carbonari were a guild and secret society complete with secret writing and symbols much like the stone masons . When gunpowder came into use , the rise of the Nitre men came to fruition.
Men who collected materials from which potassium nitrate was made.
Thanks for a most interesting video and all the best.
I'm watching this video from New Zealand and I've got this fierce desire to buy British Charcoal all of a sudden. What lovely people Alan and Jo seem to be.
Didn't you hear them? You should be buying local charcoal. We don't want that international junk imported here.
@@crmags lol. Don't take it too seriously. All I'm saying is they sell it well. Pretty sure everyone in NZ uses American briquettes anyway.
@@crmags @dongan187 As it happens, I used my Webber this week using (heavily discounted) US Briquettes. When I lived in Mozambique I bought charcoal made in my neighbourhood, and it was loads better. Where can I get same in NZ? I can't! But want to.
@@suckfuldodger see my reply
Would you buy Manuka/ kanuka charcoal and how much would you pay for 20kg worth of lump
I can't get enough of the sound high quality charcoal like this makes!
Thought I was the only one :-)
I'm doing a similar thing in Australia, but on more of a micro scale. I direct the gases back into the fire box so as to heavily reduce the amount of wood fuel needed to perform the pyrolysis function needed to convert the wood into charcoal. The solid lumps of charcoal I use in my blacksmiths forge and the smaller and powdered portions get put into the garden beds and compost heaps, although not too much or it unbalances things to the point of it not working.
Alan and Jo got me started in forestry twenty-odd years ago. Great people!
They've been hugely supportive of me too. :-)
As someone who buys from Alan and Jo, I can honestly say I won't ever go back to imported substandard charcoal. This stuff burns for hours and the clarity reflects in the foods I cook.
Such a passion in the eyes and voices. Beautiful results.
Pure carbon has a silvery sheen to it and a metallic sound when you pile it. Your charcoal fits the description. Good work gentlemen.
Fantastic. What an encouragement to see this.
Thanks for the wonderful video!
I'm just now starting to learn the craft, but it is so rewarding in the end.Thanks for the info an for sharing
It's a wonderful job. Thank you.
Superb video. Very interesting and informative. Well done.
Most excellent video.You are so damn rite that your efforts are forgotten,but the memories of an era that are still braved, today's society seems to overlook what simple things really are.Job well done
Loved it!
Great video guys. Could watch you guys for hours making and taking about your life style
beautiful video!! thank you!!
Using a hookway style retort at the moment, dreaming of using an Exeter in the future :)
Having just made my first batch of charcoal in my retort, I can agree with his comment on the sound of charcoal clinking.
Brilliant film.
Just ordered some bags for 2017. Maybe one day I'll have enough sales to buy a retort.
what a great job would love to do that
The sound of the charcoal dropping is beautiful, it's like glass tinkling. I wonder how much that kiln would cost, and how many burns you'd have to do to make your money back...
hot damn ive been dreaming of a similar retort on wheels. glad to see someone has already done it i hope i can get one for myself.
Love your video
To Alan & Jo, or anyone else who may know, where can someone buy this Exeter Retort either new or second hand? Are they expensive and how many years does it take to pay for itself? How long would one last?
Have you tried to make wood vinegar as a natural pesticides? when making charcoal, the smoke goes through a condenser and the liquid is left to settle. It is expensive, you could make a better living. Just an idea. Great Video
Super presentation
Thank you
Great idea.
This is a lovely video. Good editing, impeccable people, good subject. hot damn.
Wonderful
Much respect.
Watching from eastern Canada 🇨🇦. As a small woodlot owner I can see and imagine the life style this could support. Here we have been devastated by industrial logging. The little guy has been pushed out of the woods. Clear-cuting, herbicides and replanting is now what we have even on public lands, controlled by large forestry corporations. It is a shameful exercise in greed and disrespect for our resources and environment. We had a multimillionaire on TV a few weeks ago crying, " if herbicides are banded from public lands his empire would be destroyed beyond repair." What a joke.
very nice rig.when i hit the lotto i will buy one.
Brilliant!
This is something that I have been looking into - a small unit to convert limbs and wood from storm damage and landscaping scraps to saleable product. Seems the hard part will be convincing stores to sell local products.
Great charcoal.
great to see charcoal made In different ways keep up the good work the best charcoal is British made thank you guys.
"the best charcoal is British made"
-Not to be a stick in the mud American, I support the patriotism.
But. . . . . The retort kiln itself was made in Ohio.
exeterrallc.com/
Hi Brian
The retort was developed and manufactured in the UK.
American machines are made under licence. The retort is also made under licence in Australia and several other countries.
Geoff Self
Thank you for the information. I was unaware.
Proper job! that's all I need to say!
Dynamite! Just built my first Gasifier.. Retort is next.
Such a good idea with it being on a trailer, you could take it on site if you were hedgelaying or something like that and turn all your waste material into fuel.
Charcoal added to aquaPanik fish crap and you now have high-quality soil for a growing anything and then you add some woodland soil to it and you will get all the microbes you need in a few weeks as they multiply
thank you.
thank you for this video, please tell me process and optimum temperature for produce gases
Good people with good machine,
01243 - is that chichetser area?
i wouldnt mind coming over to film this and get some interest if you like.
excellent work chaps
Hi Funky. It is, yes. www.thomsonlocal.com/Wildwood-Charcoal-Coppice-Products/1485199/01243778106/
I'm totally with you. GO LOCAL
Great idea making it all about waist high! Easier on the old back!
quiet interestin , even for us als off grid living..
would you guys have plans for building such thing and even for gas cooling and storage for later using for machinery..
thank you so much
I’ve seen some videos where the wood gas is fed into the fire chamber to reduce the need for retort fuel. It seems to work. Any thoughts on this? If it is burned at the top of the chimney why not use the heat in the fire chamber?
one of the best videos i have seen.
anyone know where i could see this retort running?
Come to Devon. We'll be happy to show it in full swing. Robin.
Freedom is yours for the taking. You need only grasp it.
I would really love to shadow you guys to see how its made
Good video. How much of the energy in a piece of wood is lost by turning it into charcoal? I'm just curious because I know how much easier it is to run a vehicle on charcoal than it is on raw wood. Charcoal is so much cleaner.
Stop waiting for the government to tell you how you have to live your life. The people should be TELLING the government how they ARE going to live their lives.
In the UK the only people who tell the government what to do are not the indigenous peoples who are being gradually displaced and genocided.
@HappyandAtheist going wonderfully actually.
How long does a load take to burn..what temp is need for wood to convert to charcoal
Just a question what trees are used to make coal
Hi this is my dream can I purchase this unit
So tell me something about the build how it was made this is interesting if your selling the unit but tell us something about the unit
That's all well and good but were can I bye this?.
From the Carbon Compost Company if you're in the UK. Contact us at admin@carboncompost.co.uk
Yes! Use what you have!! Why get from somewhere else what you can do or make yourself?
You won't be rich but you'll be happier. That means you're rich!
We had cars made in Australia to run on wood gas too during WWII.
I have made a few wood gasifiers, there are lots of DIY wood gas videos on TH-cam with everybody learning from each other, it is actually very simple to run a petrol engine on most things that will burn not just wood, someone said of this technology that even a dead cat collected from the roadside will get you several more miles down the road if your running on empty!
Years ago a couple of our techs ran out of fuel in the middle of nowhere.
So one got a large bottle of LPG gas from the back and ran a tube to the carburetor.
With the bottle at his feet in the passenger seat, he adjusted the gas valve and they drove back to town.
Wood gas burning trucks are making a bit of a come back in the states but the lit stove is in the back of there trucks.
I usually hate intros, yours is well engineered by someone who knows how to record nature sounds
Agree! My cat comes running to get the bird whenever the intro comes on!
Brought a dream piece of land recently, I am sure you wont be able to. Would love if you could come and visit to help and advise me how to produce Charcoal. I would guess this is something you might not want to do. Perhaps you would help me to produce some more uk Charcoal. Richard
Charcoal is THE best product for stoves.
How effective is using forestry commission waste i.e. windblow etc, Sitka, Larch and maybe some Scots pine
The thing about charcoal is it's almost pure carbon, so regardless of the input ingredients, the end result is virtually the same, and when sold by weight, there's really no 'best' charcoal. Obviously denser woods make a longer lasting /hotter charcoal per unit of volume, but it is what it is. I've watched more videos about charcoal than one person probably should, from videos of Amazonian and South American tribes making it with slash to people in more developed areas with nice electric steel retorts, and one thing is common: people use what's availiable to them. That's the point. Pacific islanders use palm fronds, bamboo and soft woods, in Africa i've seen them use comunal bio-waste, in Japan they use white oak, in Europe they use what's local, in the States we use what's local. I've seen guys make 'tlud kilns' out of 55-gallon drums filled with shredded utility-line trimmings with all manner of tree and plant material.
Not quite true, maxdecphoenix. Different woods offer different carbon densities as you've pointed out. For biochar it makes little difference but it does for BBQ charcoal. Nobody wants carbonised sausages so supplying somebody with a charcoal that burns very hot and fast is not a good idea. Dense, long lasting charcoals are ideal for cooking and, with a few exceptions, this usually means a hardwood charcoal. Softwood FC waste such as GlenislaGhillie suggests will make an excellent biochar.
@@marioschutrumpf9463 Having to guess what you're saying--I am typically English and speak very little in other languages. But briquetting softwood charcoal would make it more useable although it does mean adding another process in its manufacture as well as another material to bind it.
So could you use the gas being produced to heat the wood once up to temperature?
Thats exactly what i was thinking
That is how it works, the gas is burnt in the outer container to heat the wood in the inner container. The excess is what flames through the flue pipe.
Would it be more efficient to use the charcoal instead of using wood as the fuel?
No.
It's a hell of a lot cleaner.
If there was a good fishing spot close by. . .
What is a CHP unit
CHP means "combined heat and power" - A system that burns fuel to generate electricity (the power) and harvests the heat to do something useful. I think their plan here is to collect the excess gases that you see flaming off the flue stack, and using them to run an internal combusion engine to generate electricity.
I thought this was an interesting video....And then an old guy tells me this thing has an app.
Mind blown!
if this ever takes off, what you HAVE TO DO is make sure at least 5-10% is turned into powder or pearock sized consistency and put back into the ground to turn into biochar, you could use/add a bunch of sticks trigs and dead leaves. That will rejuvenate the forests soil.
Also make sure you ONLY do select harvesting. By doing so, you will also help preserve the forest.
We're happy to tell you we have a biochar business too. It's where the fines go. All the harvesting is carried out in accordance with an approved forestry plan. Most of our wood we fell ourselves (both Alan and Carbon Compost Company) and obtained through hardwood thinning exercises or coppicing.
Robin Rawle nice, would love to see a video of the fines turned into biochar
@@robinrawle5909 you could use that excess heat to dry your next batch
@@shexdensmore Nothing to it really. We just mix them with a high quality compost locally produced, wet the mix and sell it as a soil improver. It works very well. Makes me wonder what the point of adding loads of stuff to it is.
@@mikha007 We certainly could. But we're doing rather more than that. We'll be taking it off, cooling it, cleaning it, storing it and running a genset/CHP unit with it. Development is happening with the help of the UK government.
I am a charcoal holic.
you won't be rich but you will be happy. The most happy people is the richest.
Everything ran good except that you did not show how to build that quality of tort you preumed and you talked about.
Well what you've got there is Biochar ! Seed it with microbes and you'll make a fortune selling it to gardeners
I can't helpo myself from being pedantic. What they've got is charcoal. Seed it with microbes and/or amend soil with an THEN what they have is biochar. I don't know why that bugs me so much but it does.
I can't figure out why any of the carbon monoxide is being wasted? is it just a matter of preventing over heating?
It's correct that we flare off excess wood gas to control the retort temperature to 450degC.
We are working, with the help of a government grant to clean up the excess gas and use it to drive a CHP unit. More of this later.
Geoff Self
#
@@carboncompost does it matter if the temp is higher ie redirecting the woodgas back to the fuel source for a hotter quicker burn?
@@mikha007 Not for the charcoal i guess. But if you get steel to above that temperature it will start to scale and your retort will slowly burn away. Then you would have to either make it from much more expensive metals like stainless or from ceramic refractories, which are poor conductors of heat and are only suitable for a plant that stays hot 24/7 and has maximal heat transfer surfaces, like a large coke oven battery....which is i dont know how many thousand times larger than this....
@@mikha007 An updraft gasifier might be something you would like. They can also be used for carbonization, yield a high quality gas mix and do it all in one go and without separating walls, so can be built from firebrick even in small size.. Not sure why they are not in more widespread use, there must be some problem you cannot immediately guess or see from tiny backyard setups when going larger. Or industry is just lagging behind 30 years - which is also all too common.
Is it true or a myth that you can live full time on your woodland if you're making charcoal ?
Myth. Unless you really like literally living off the land. And working hard and being poor. Most charcoal makers here in the UK combine this activity with other woodland/wood fuel work. Then it makes sense.
how much wood do you burn?
Missed this one mikha007. The retort chamber takes 1.6 cubic metres, all of which gets pyrolysed. To start the process off you need between 70-100kg of waste softwood. The amount of initial fuel varies on the wood or other material you have in the retort chamber and its moisture content. Something like reed needs barely 20kg of waste wood to convert.
@@robinrawle5909 so 1.6 cubic meters per 900kg...that seems a lot
@@mikha007 Not sure I have made myself clear. You can convert 1.6 cubic metres of wood (about 900kg with hardwood by the time the air space between wood pieces in the retort chamber is accounted for) for an initial fuel component of waste softwood in the firebox of perhaps 100kg to get the feedstock in the retort chamber up to retorting temperature.
@@robinrawle5909 ah ok
@@robinrawle5909 Very clear and useful, thanks
Why don't you burn the Gas inside the retort?
They do, that is how the heat is maintained once it's up to temperature. The excess gas burns out of the flue - there's is a highly controlled system where the roasting temperature is maintained at 450˚C by adjusting how much gas is allowed to escape and burn out of the flue.
:)
Hello alan Roger from sweden her Nice kiln you built hug smokie Joe from me😊
I am an ex coal miner and have no problem for these people been called wood colliers.
But do you have a problem with being called a dinosaur s*** collier? :)
what on earth are you talking about ??
You know that shiny black stuff you have been digging up? some of it would have contained dinosaur poop.
is that right wow ,, you mean similar to the shit you talk
Your not that bright are you lad? You should learn to type/write correctly first before attempting insulting people with your childlike text, take a look at your scrawl man, does that look normal to you?
People don't understand the 2nd Order Effects of things, and that leads to ruination more often than not. All that talk about "mandatory minimum wage" and other such stuff necessarily meant putting people out of work. Look at the bodgers and hedge-layers and coaliers, and remember that they have to get paid for their work, but also have to pay for the things they use in their jobs. So even if they didn't want to charge the minimum wage for their own labor, they had to raise their costs just to cover the expenses incurred in the process. As a blacksmith, I'm all too familiar with this silliness, but getting it across to people is like pulling hen's teeth! Think about the people you put out of work because you drove up the cost of doing business. Every new law you support. Every new tax you vote for. Every new regulation you applaud. All of that adds up. Everyone talks about the straw that broke the camel's back, but they never think about the million straws that came before it, and how they prevented the camel from doing camel things.
Isn't it a shame that in virtually every historical novel, as well as the made-up worlds of fantasy, always refer to the charcoal makers as if they were the lowest of the low. Benjamin Franklin started Kingsford Charcoal. Not not a very good fit for the stereotype, is it?
You need an apprentice.
It's time to take our country back. Bring Back A Free AMERICA. Vote Jared William Landry For President 2020. Vote for the American Party. I need your help.
And the environment will suffer in the end in time all because of greed for money.
: )