Anybody making charcoal?

[Orange Hill]

I have been thinking of making my own charcoal for BBQ'n and I was curious if anybody here rolls their own? I currently buy Lazzari mesquite lump charcoal and throw in some oak bark. It gets a bit expensive and like the taste of the oak better. I will be making it out of live oak if I ever get off of my butt and just do it. What is better green or seasoned wood? Any advice will be much appreciated.

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

Been wondering that myself, but last summer I had steak cooked over oak kindling, and MAN was that good! I'm thinking I don't need to go to the trouble of making charcoal.

I've got some black cherry I'm anxious to try on a good steak, too.

 

[irishcountry]

I remember seeing somewhere on the internet a site that explained how to make it with a 55 Gal. drum. Basically you get the fire going the choke it out by covering the top and putting dirt around the air inlets you drill in the bottom. Always wanted to do it never got around to it but I did put some ash chunks on my weber this summer and man did that sucker sear the meat it got super hot which I always had a problem with before. In my opinion nothing like good old wood coal for a good cut of meat. If any of you get a chance pick up a Tri-tip cut our local store now carries them pre-seasoned and it is awesome I think theres only a couple or maybe one per cattle you won't be sorry!! Happy grilling now i'm hungry!!

 

[046]

an easy way to make charcoal ... if you have a smoker... load her up with good hickory or pecan.

smoke your brisket or what ever... then shut off air... makes lots of charcoal.

 

[Orange Hill]

I remember seeing somewhere on the internet a site that explained how to make it with a 55 Gal. drum. Basically you get the fire going the choke it out by covering the top and putting dirt around the air inlets you drill in the bottom. Always wanted to do it never got around to it but I did put some ash chunks on my weber this summer and man did that sucker sear the meat it got super hot which I always had a problem with before. In my opinion nothing like good old wood coal for a good cut of meat. If any of you get a chance pick up a Tri-tip cut our local store now carries them pre-seasoned and it is awesome I think theres only a couple or maybe one per cattle you won't be sorry!! Happy grilling now i'm hungry!!

Good to hear a central coast mainstay is catching on else where. Though to be authentic you do need to cook it with live oak. I work from home for a company in Chicago and I plan to ship back a few tri-tips this summer and a bundle of oak for our company's annual meeting/paintball grudge match. Nobody back there has ever heard of tri-tip. I like to cook my tri-tip to 129 degrees internally and rotate the meat to cook it evenly on all sides. Also let your tri-tip come up to room temperature before you grill it. I like to get the charcoal up to temperature and then throw small oak wedges on the coals and then throw the Weber's lid on to smother the flames and the the whole thing smokes like hell and helps to moderate the temperature of the grill, though you do have to open the top every so often to rotate the meat and allow the wood and coal to get some oxygen or it will go out. I am a tri-tip fanatic.

Thanks for the feedback. I did do a search and found loads of information. I am going to try the 55 gallon indirect fire method where you us the flammable gasses from the charcoal barrel piped back to the fire to help fuel the process.

 

[AOD]

I was thinking about this, couldn't you have a fire going in a stove and then just at the point where the wood is about to fall apart into coals, yank it out and seal it in a steel drum?

 

[treeslayer]

I used to sell wood specially cut for Colonial Williamsburg to make into charcoal the old time method. They built a stack, lit it, and covered it with dirt. took days and a lot of work.

I use my burn box, pictured below.build a fire with white oak and hickory, and burn it to coals, then shovel them into a grill. incredibly good.

To speed it up, I have an electric blower to fuel the fire. in 30 min, the coals are ready, I only needed to fan a couple of 5 min bursts. or just burn an hour or two, depending on how much heat is needed.

I cook or smoke all types of meat and vegetables, to perfection.

 

[irishcountry]

Tri-tips are fantastic!! I will try some with oak sounds good to me any excuse to get one is fine with me and my wife too it become a family favorite!! I forgot awhile back on the history channel they showed Jack Daniels distilery (sp?) they made their own charcoal for filtering purposes they would stack up small long squares of wood almost looked like a square stack of pallets then use some alcohol to douse it and lit it up let it burn to a charred point then douse it with a firehose to put it out then collect the leftovers they have a certain outside area dedicated just to making it for their operation. Guess that way you could make enough for the whole year!! Ha neighbors might need to get clued in so the fire dept. doesn't show up!! Anyway good thread!! have a good one

 

[treeslayer]

I live a half mile from a firehouse, and they have showed up several times during the burn bans. I got the water hose, and a fire extinguisher handy, and the steaks marinating nearby, while I 'm sipping a chilly one supervising the burn.

They leave shaking their head and wishing they could stay,
cause I always offer to feed em.

 

[irishcountry]

I bet they do want to stay! Real wood BBQ and a cold one how could you not!! Any fire and drink makes me want to grunt and drag my knuckles evokes some primal force thats what I love about summer whether its a bon fire or the BBQ if it smells like summer it must be, thats why I BBQ all winter too good cure for the cold weather blues!! Happy New Year everyone irishcountry

 

[cjnspecial]

Here's a few links:

http://www.connerprairie.org/HistoryOnline/fuel.html

http://64.176.180.203/charcoalretort.htm

http://www.clt.astate.edu/elind/charcoalvalentine.htm

http://www.nakedwhiz.com/makinglump.htm

http://www.eaglequest.com/~bbq/faq2/18.html

http://www.puffergas.com/historic/rules/rules.html

 

[rtrsam]

I usually do the same thing as the fellow with the burnbox, except I jsut do it in my cheap Wal-Mart grill. Get a bunch of wood sticks about the same size (one or two inches), either split them down from firewood or rip them on a bandsaw. Make a big old fire in the grill, and let it rip for a half hour or so until it burns to coals (enjoying a beverage while it happens). Once the fire's right, all coals, spread them out and put the meat on. I even managed to grilll up a couple tri-tips on Christmas day between rain squalls this year. I usually cook over madrone, apple or manzanita coals.

While I'm burning wood, wife puts a paste of salt, pepper, and some sort of other stuff on the meat. Agreed on getting the meat to room temperature before grilling. Sear the meat over a hot fire, all sides of it, then raise it up and let it cook under a closed lid until it's about 130 degrees. I try to let the slow cook part happen with the fatty side up. Let it sit about ten minutes, good stuff!

This year we had too much for the family to eat, so we had to take a bunch of leftovers, slice them really super thin when cold, then cooked them up a couple days later with some au-jus and some grilled inions for tri-tip dip sandwiches. I beleive my wife liked it better that way than eating it sliced hot off the grill.

When I take the meat off the grill, I close the lid and shut down all the vents. I invariably end up with quite a bit of leftover charcoal, whcih I scoop into a bucket for sometime when I don't want to mess with wood, or to add when the cooking takes longer than I planned.

 

[irishcountry]

HUNGRY!!!!!

 

[oneoldbanjo]

I believe my OWB can make good charcoal for use in the grill. Over the weekend I was burning a lot of limb sized wood as it was very warm out and I didn't need much heat. l threw in a bunch of wood that was 36" long and abut 2" in diameter, and as the wood burned it quickly lost it's strength and collapsed into a thick bed of coals with very little ash. I shoveled some of the coals into a metal bucket and put it in my metal trash can where I keep my ashes and put the lid on to smother the coals. When the coals cooled off they looked like really nice charcoal.

If you wanted to have some specific kind of charcoal for grilling like Cherry, Hickory, Pear, etc. just load those limbs in your OWB and shovel them out before they burn up - then smother them to convert to charcoal. This won't make you a 55 gallon drum all at once - but I had no problem getting about 10 gallons in one loading.

 

[irishcountry]

Good idea! I noticed charcoal like that also burns very hot which in my opinion is good!!

 

[kodiakyardboy]

I forgot awhile back on the history channel they showed Jack Daniels distilery (sp?) they made their own charcoal for filtering purposes they would stack up small long squares of wood almost looked like a square stack of palletsQUOTE]

The wood they used is bourbon seasoned- used aging barrels for the whiskey. My friend runs a brewery and uses jim beam barrels to age his oatmeal stout in. I used to get the barrels when he is done, but I am now 3500 miles away That would make some mighty good charcoal!

 

[Coldfront]

Reading this thread I swear I can smell steak cooking. I am now thinking of making a long handle grate of some kind and cooking a steak inside my wood furnace in the basement, it's too cold outside. Now that's an idea I have to work on, cooking steaks inside my wood furnace.

 

[oneoldbanjo]

There is another thread about a guy cooking his Jalepeno Poppers in his OWB. He just wrapped them in tin foil and set them on a log at the front of the firebox.

If people can cook stuff on their engine blocks......you should be able to cook something in your woodburner.

 

[kodiakyardboy]

Add dishwasher salmon and you have surf and turf!

 

[Coldfront]

Yes I have cooked fish before in the dishwasher, it is more like steamed fish. I wish I still had a automatic dishwasher. What am I talking about I still do have a dishwasher, my wife.