I found some cans of coffee that came in metal cans, which seem pretty rare these days. I found a regular sized and a smaller one so I just tried it out to make biochar.
I just went ahead and made some holes at the top and bottom, for secondary and primary air, but after going through it I would say they are probably too small.
Filled the small one with small sticks and put it upside down inside the bigger one.
I filled the bigger one completely with sticks and set it ablaze with a torch. It was going pretty well for a bit but I'm pretty sure it wasn't able to pull in enough oxygen.
I ended up just putting the whole thing in my fire put and built a fire around it. I also placed a brick on top of the small one to hold it down hoping to hear some gasses escape, which I believe I heard some but it wasn't like I've seen in videos online.
This was the end result, a decent amount of biochar for the small can. It sounds like glass I would say, the black washes off of my hands quite easily, and I know I achieved very high temperatures, high enough anyways. I used a laser heat gun and got 600 degree F and above right around the can and I let it burn for a good while.
I also made sure to quench it down the sides to blast steam up through the biochar. I am told this opens up the pores really well and makes it better biochar.
I then dumped it on top of my lazy mans compost pile and turned it in. I plan on letting it hang out in there for several weeks to a month or more, whenever I get around to digging out my hugelkultur beds. I have a large collection of wood, and I have been setting aside the bottoms, the parts that look like they have had some breaking down/fungal activity and then some new stuff: a real nice mix. Then I was planning on putting that whole pile of compost in with it.
Next time I will be doing a much bigger burn. I am trying to decide on the technique. I have a 55 gallon drum that is about 3/4 full mesquite, palo verde, pine, ironwood, etc, cut into nice sized pieces ready for use in my next burn.
What have you all used and what gave you the best results? I have been interested in the tin man idea for a long time and wanted the stove pipe top but it seems people get really good results with TLUD's and cone kilns etc. I just like that once you hear that syngas coming out and the fire whooshing then you know the process is working, and I think it seems like you could be very sure that all of the matter inside the smaller drum was pyrolyzed completely.
Thanks for reading!
From The Cholla Co.mmunity Secret Activities Committee
#biochar #grownostr #gronostr #zap #zapathon #gardening #liberty #chollaco #secretactivitiescommittee #composting