John Suavecito

I tried this Monday. It was partly inspired by the likes of Trace Oswald and others' experiments.  I didn't tilt the barrel, but I started it half full.  I couldn't really replicate Trace's version, because his had no holes in the bottom of the barrel.  Mine has holes.  Holes in metal are hard to put back.  

The main motivation was that it seemed that often, I will start a biochar burn and at some point, the fire wants to choke and go out.  My main interpretation of this is that there is condensation that builds up too much and the combo of water vapor and smoke makes the fire go out.  

I have made some steps to decrease this effect. I went from a 5" wide chimney to a 10" one. That helped a lot.    When I have the chimney on, I also now usually lift the chimney to place the wood in quickly. Then I let the chimney down quickly and let it start to burn before adding another one.  I also took Douglas Alpenstock's idea of a metal bar connecting the bottom to the top, so that air can always travel from the bottom to the top and vice versa.  All of those helped but I would still get sputtering after awhile-maybe 45 minutes to an hour.  

My theory was too much smoke and condensation at that 45 minute time.  For my new experiment,  I would start with mostly skinny sticks and only about 1/2 full.  There is less condensation in skinny sticks and they burn quickly.  I have done this a few times now.  Because they burn quickly, I have to actively add a lot more wood at the beginning.  There is a period of about 45 minutes now, when I am adding wood, a bit by bit, until I can actually fill the 55 gallon barrel.  

It is more work, but so far, I have not experienced a choking from smoke and condensation.  It seems that starting this way may prevent the sputtering from condensation and smoke.  

John S
PDX OR

I'm still old. Tired and sick too. I am recrunching it the next day once, and then the next day after that once.  Otherwise, too painful.

I have noticed that when I drive over it, sometimes, my wheels miss the big bunch of uncrunched biochar again and again.  Our pickup has a wider distance between wheels than the car so it's harder to accurately target it.  I drove almost exactly up to it, got out of the car, then checked for extremely detailed alignment accuracy and it helped.  

Also, if I keep missing, I can just physically crunch that tiny wedge with my shoes.  I couldn't do the whole thing with my shoes, but I can get that part with my shoes.

John S
PDX OR

I think that it's valuable that each of us is sharing somewhat different methods.   We need to take into account the scale of what we're doing.  I"m just in a suburban lot, so I can't make the biochar on the same volume as some of you can.  Also, there are various restrictions in certain areas: legal, practical, and financial.

John S
PDX OR

Compost tea can be a great thing to add to the biochar for inoculation.  My concern is that all of that life will die unless it has food.  It's also a lot of work to make.  If I were going to add it, the best time IMHO is right before you put it into the ground.  Then it is part of a living system, and the positive microbes can go to work in a sustainable ecosystem.  

John S
PDX OR

Hi Pavel,
I liked that video.  Yes, all of the eating of microbes, etc., was what I was talking about. Now I think we're both mostly talking about the same thing.  I use compost tea, but on living plants.  That way they are entering a dynamic living system immediately. There is no worry about undernouishing the microbes, or overfeeding them in the delicate actively aerated compost tea.    I know that some people charge their biochar with compost tea, but IMHO, it seems too much work and too easy to mistime the application.  I prefer adding food and microbes my way, because it feels like the microbes will have a more harmonious transition to the living soil conditions.  

Thanks for explaining,
John S
PDX OR

These look like great strategies to raise pigs and avoid the smell.
John S
PDX OR

You certainly have a way with inciting dramatic arguments.  

Adding only a large quantity of flour to biochar would be a mistake. We agree on that.  

Some people add only compost tea to the biochar.  That is adding only the microbes and no food for them.

I think that is also a mistake.

You are using a static model to describe something that is quite dynamic.

What we need to add is a diversity of microbes and food for them to eat.

Even during the week that I inoculate the biochar, I can see differences in the volume of the biochar plus inoculant.  It gets bigger at first for a day or so. Then over the next 5 days, it steadily gets smaller.  I think that is because the microbes are eating the food and making the biochar their housing. The soil food web is getting set up.  Some microbes are eating others. Some are eating the excretions of others.  Some are just eating the food. If there is no food, the microbes will die off. That is not my goal.  

I only add a cup of whole wheat flour to the mix.  It is well known as a food for fungi.  I believe that manure is also a good inoculant.  I use "worm manure", also known as worm castings as part of my mix.  

I add a diverse group of inoculants, because I want a diverse soil food web. When they are added to the soil, they are already being digested, especially because it is a liquid form of inoculation.  

John S
PDX OR

Great clarification, Pavel. Now , you have me curious about what Suavecito means in Czech.
John S
PDX OR

I completely disagree.  Charcoal has wood inside it. It's made for burning. BIochar is made for agriculture.  When you crush charcoal, the wood comes out. It will rot fairly quickly. Biochar stays the same for hundreds of years.  Biochar is a home base to set up healthy microbes that will help your soil.  Charcoal still has lots of tannins and other chemicals in it. BIochar is mostly just carbon, which is being sequestered.

John S
PDX OR

I think that we are all trying to make practical trials on what we think seems to work. If someone doesn't want to call it an experiment, I am ok with that.  I like the work that you are doing.  We can share the results and methods with others and it provides insight into possible ways of living and growing better.  I don't care what people call it. I'm glad you are doing what you are doing.
John S
PDX OR