David Hillcat

Taking this all a step further - what if all could dump to a pit, that could be hosed down as needed and wide enough for a 4in1 front end loader bucked to collect from?

I made a post a while back outlining my take on this method here:  Tilted barrel biochar making   I really like it.  You can get high yields with little smoke, much more than I get from my retort.  I like your idea of making the barrel easy to tilt to different angles.  The one issue you may have is figuring out how to build the swinging mechanism.  This will be especially critical if you quench it with water.  The barrel full of charcoal and water is going to be very heavy, several hundred lbs.  The mechanism for tilting it will need to be pretty robust.

good one - thanks!

Mark Brunnr wrote:I used the tilted barrel method last year at the lab, and it was super effective! We used trimmings from junk poles and even feeding in green material that was still wet worked, so long as you didn't put in a bunch at once. I highly recommend a barrel and a rock or two for propping it at the right angle over anything fancier or more expensive.

Edit: and if you have the cool down time to wait, putting the lid on to smother the burn when done works well. You come back later when it's cooled and no water is needed.

Idea: I could the tilt and empty/tip hot biochar straight into a water-containing vessel, that is on the lower level (metal wheel burrow containing some water)? Then tilt the (still-hot) drum back to 60o and go again? I suppose I am thinking that I would like to build up a large pile of feedstock, then have a day of producing many batches, in a constant stream of batches that I walk past and tend to periodically.

This means labour must be reduced as much as possible, both on the feed and product sides.

Mark Brunnr wrote:Thanks for that Chuck, definitely the best combo of cheap/simple/portable I've seen! A person could use a dolly, attach a metal wire around the barrel to hold it, and make a simple tripod from a few sticks to lean it on.

Hello - I am new to the forum and new to biochar. I have been reading up a bit over the past few months.

This angled barrel design seems the easiest and cheapest I have seen, yet seems effective and has a decent volume. So I was thinking - would having multiple of these allow easy big batch creation if needed?

My property has plenty of sloped areas. Easy to create a small retaining wall ~2 feet high. It seems it would be possible to create multiple drum models, each on single swinging stands that would allow three (3) primary positions:

1) upright (out of use/cooldown)
2) 60o for pyrolysis
3) -120o for easy unloading into a wheelbarrow

I created a (poor) SketchUp to show what I mean (see attachments)

I am sure I could create this very easily, and be sure to strategically place it on and area with:

- easy wheel barrow access to front, lower section
- upper section good to piling feed stock

thoughts?