Great video mate! I reckon after watching your biochar videos for the past couple of years, I'm not too far off giving it a crack for the first time ourselves!
I'd rather love your videos I've watched them in the past. And reference to biochar I thought I'd seen you used to stand up better A couple years ago. I am friendly ready to do it. I'm watched a lot of videos I decided you're my biochart guy Lol I was ready to dig a small hole now I'm ready to cut a barrel longways but then I just saw this video that you made 9 months ago I've checked the dates Of your videos so it seems that you're newest way is the stand up barrel can you tell me which way you think is better am I right in my assumption have you switched to the standup barrel instead of the 4 or 5 barrel's laying down. Enjoy your show thank you very much May our precious Lord bless your days
Thanks very much for watching. Both methods work good. The barrel cut sideways is better for smaller wood or shorter wood. The upright barrel is good for longer wood with the ring it will self feed to an extent. When I say longer I mean longer than the barrel The upright method takes a bit more managing but if you do it right its quick and you can get a full barrel of char. I would start with the barrel cut sideways and use smaller stock when you get a bit of time under your belt then experiment a bit. I am doing experiments all the time with it and having a lot of fun finding out new things. John
As I understand it if you can have the original shape of the feed stock that means you have removed moisture and gases. So it's not actually about burning the feed stock but creating enough heat to have the feed stock release its gases to continue the cycle.
Guess you could reburn the store bought charcoal to bring it up to the higher temps. To make Biochar from it. But the cost maybe higher. Have noticed stores in may area put their charcoal on clearance at the end of the Barbecuing season. They usually sell two types. One that is pressed together to make bricketes. , and one that looks like wood chunks.
Yeah I have seen both types charcoal in Australia. Barbecuing with charcoal is not such a big thing here maybe in the cities. There is plenty of wood in the country and no one gets real worried if you get some. I guess if you had no other feed stock to make char out of, it may be worth trying to reburn the bought stuff. Because we have so much wood I have never even thought about reburning the store bought stuff.
@@farminglifeaustralia6716 Was not suggesting you reburn charcoal. But those who do not have a source of wood. Maybe they could use it . For a small garden, or pots in a city setting. It is expensive to buy already made biochar.
I will ask a charcoal manufacturer. Already talked to Grillman checking - they used no fillers or additives - and they burned Hardwoods - They said yes to both (no idea of course if they are telling the truth). Now asking them at What temperature do they make their charcoal? (Not briquettes obvs!) Is it between 400 and 500°C? Will let you know.
Well who writes the rules? Generally from everything that I have researched Biochar is made at temps higher than traditionally made charcoal. The figures bantered around is hotter than 400C. I don't think the powers that be have a set of rules about it all. The concept seems to come from the Amazon and I cant imagine they made charcoal in drums If I had to guess I would say put any wood on the ground and lit it then put it out with water. maybe they dug a pit at the most. Science has done a fair bit on it and I think the rest has come from people who have taken the idea and run with it. I got interested because we had plenty of timber to clean up. John
I think you are 100% right from my own experiments. Still experimenting with charred rice hulls mixed with chicken manure and some mixed with horse and soaked for a week in big tubs. Results are pretty good so far but rather labor intensive. Good video
Also it’s not just about emissions. If you look it up the sun plays a major role not just carbon. The mini ice age in the 17th century and before that froze the Vikings out of Greenland. That was a huge climate change without human intervention. But like Iowa in the US they have black soil and some think it’s probably from the native Americans doing fires every year burning off dead grass. That creates emissions sure but some of that was then charcoal and stayed in the soil. Natives in California clear to New York did fires yearly to keep down fire hazards and ensure the forest was clean. Today the US has put out fires for a century so now you have massive fires that you can’t control. They say logging is bad but at least logging you have removed the carbon as a form of wood. The issue with massive fires is it will kill most trees where as with prescribed burns to clean it up if you have a major fire come through most trees can survive as the overall temperature is lower. I’ve pondered the climate issue and it’s interesting. If it was an existential threat Obama would have promoted nuclear power plants. The U.S. still has nuclear power plants in use from the sixties. Obama promoted a solar farm by Las Vegas that went bankrupt like seven years later. And California is closing their last nuclear power plant. And they buy wind electricity from Wyoming. A lot of people don’t realize that you lose a huge amount of electricity shipping it long distances. Governments actions don’t necessarily agree with their words. Like in Utah I had to laugh. They’re turning a coal power plant to burn natural gas. So now the coal mine will ship coal to China. Like that’s worse cause you now have to ship it thousands of miles. And then they want to store hydrogen in the ground in a cavern to burn at the power plant. Like they could have just kept burning coal and then pumped the carbon into the ground to sequester into rocks. It’s really suspicious why they never tried that, but then say it’s perfectly environmentally friendly to store hydrogen gas in a cavern underground. That seems dangerous storing a flammable gas.
None of it adds up we have big bush fires in Australia burning out millions of acres of old growth forest. One of the hottest states Queensland hold hazard reduction fires every year in the colder months and has the least bush fire problems. The other states won't hold controlled fires and when it burns it takes everything. John
Activated charcoal has gone through a process that makes it like the raw charcoal before it is made into biochar. You can turn activated charcoal into biochar.
The studies or experiments I’ve seen showed the absorption of charcoal or biochar that’s made in high heat like an open pit fire is way better then store bought charcoal that’s just oxygen deprived and cooked at a lower temperature. Yes there’s a difference when it comes to absorption between cooking charcoal and charcoal that’s brittle made not for cooking.
I had my brother dig a four foot by twelve foot by three foot trench with a excavator and that way I burnt a trailer load of wood within like five hours. It’s way faster then having to cut wood down to size for smaller burners like a rock crusher blade I used to burn in. The trench method from the RU-vid channel skillcult is really good! It saves a ton of time but it definitely gets hot if you add to much wood at a time.
When you buy a lot of cooking char or char made in low temperatures the black you get on your hands will not wash off without soap because it still has wood oils and impurities. The black residue from biochar made at high temperature will wash off easily with just water. Its a good test to see what you have. John
No I don't I just built it as I went. If you or anyone wants some detail I would help you out. I am not worried about trying to make any money from my ideas I am happy to give out details. John
@@farminglifeaustralia6716 I first had dairy cows to milk, since it was becoming less and less worthwhile here, I switched to beef cattle and farming. But I have a dairy farm in Tasmania waiting for my labor and would like to come to Australia..
I think everyone has a different opinion. The objective is to make charcoal at a hot temperature to get rid of the bad by products. Traditional charcoal is made in a very low oxygen low heat long drawn out method that leaves a lot of undesired residue. There are other objectives as well if you are a purest. Cause as little gas and smoke while its being made. Use only organic materials to charge the char etc. My opinion is if its made at above 450 C and its charged to make it work its ok. John
Hey man great insight.. Can you advise me on the paint/ rust prevention. I have a barrel and the heat quickly did away with whatever paint was on it originally, so now a light, dusty rust has formed on it.. Did you use spray paint or anything on the outside to prevent rust? Yours looks great but I always see these drums with holes and so want to avoid this and keep my barrel as long as possible.. Thanks for the video
Hey John. Keep up the good videos. I’m just sharing a similar method for making charcoal, you may be interested to try. I think it is simple and pretty smart. This is the video link. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-b04UUhYB12A.html Matt uses one drum in the ground to catch the charcoal and a drum above it to do the processing. There is a grate and air gap between the drums. The grate has big spaces between the bars. I haven’t tried it myself yet, but I intend to when it stops raining for a while. All the best. Regards. Stephen
