2011/4/29

Bio-Charcoal: Wood and Grass 手工木碳與草碳

BBQ with Bio-Charcoal (English)
Water Ram 自製水力幫浦 (English and 中文)












How to improve garden soil with Bio-charcoa
如何用碎炭改善菜圃土壤 (中文)
Bio-Charcoal 手工炭過程 (中文)










Videos:
Gas burning (part 1)製炭爐 1
Gas burning (part 2)製炭爐 2
TLUD Bio-Char Oven 自製過濾炭爐


 








Making Charcoal 製炭
Hay Charcoal 草灰炭











Hay Charcoal (Part 1)草灰炭 1 
Hay Charcoal (Part 2)草灰炭 2











 

Demo for Master Garden (Video 1, 10/22/2011) 
為園藝教學課程示範製炭
Demo for Master Garden (Video 2) 
為園藝教學課程示範
 









Home Made Food Recipes 中西食譜
Process of Development 山林開發經過
My artworks
(English)
Triplets of Apple 蘋果媽媽的三胞胎











Videos of goats 山羊錄影
Videos of baby goats羊寶錄影








Videos 短片:
 
Hide-and-Seek in Mom's feather 小雞在媽媽翅羽間捉迷藏
This is how I fall asleep 羊寶在野餐桌上午睡
Flying Pumpkin 小南瓜跳我背上玩飛天









It is a perfect day to make charcoal: sunny, not rainy, not windy, not hot or cold. The temperature is just right.










The wood to use for charcoal needs to be dry.









 

There is a hole underneath the barrel to allow the air to circulate up and the humidity to escape.












The lid notched to fit the edge of the barrel.







 



The charcoal cooker is a 55-gallon barrel with a 16 gal retort inside it.

































The old chimney is worn out and the new one is handmade of leftover material. We try to recycle material and hand make most of the things we have here.













 








Fill the retort with dry wood, fist-size pieces and smaller.




















Close the lid and lock tabs




















Clean out ashes and put big logs on the bottom
























Pile with some kindling and waded paper underneath to be easily fired











Insert more wood to the
side of retort










There are two kinds of bricks which make the front of the block oven: the plugged one is on the top and the hollow one is on the bottom to control the air flow




















The sheet metal pieces are used to cover exposed holes.










The 1 and 1/2 " brick is positioned to regulate the airflow into the bottom.










Install cover lid and chimney. A chimney is optional.













Leave the wood to be cooked for about 4 hours.










Go to do something else or play with goats like me.


 





They like to follow me or watch me working.  
Baby goats love to help although they can't.


 





It must be boring to wait. Pumpkin and twin boys fall asleep finally.












 






The cooker is hot when the charcoal is just done. Don't take the retort out of the barrel until it cools down. When out the barrel, let the retort cool to air temperature before opening.










Cover the cooker to keep out the rain and save charcoal in a can or bucket for future use.













The process to make grass charcoal is similar. Simply substitute grass hay for the wood. Hay charcoal can be used for improving garden soil.