hello today I'm going to show you how to
make charcoal by using the retort method
this is utilizing a paint can as a
retort this is the advanced version I
will be putting up a simpler version
because this one uses propane which is a
little different than using charcoal
because you can control the temperature
in what you want to cook your charcoal
so let's go over the materials you're
going to need the most important thing
you're going to need is the bottom of a
heater you can buy any of these at a
hardware store usually around 40 to 30
dollars you're also going to need a
propane tank a pair of channellocks or
some other way of grabbing the hot pink
and you're also going to need a charcoal
chimney and of course the paint can make
sure you poke three holes in the top
first you're also going to need wood now
depending on what kind of wood you're
using it will perform differently if
you're making black powder the best
kinds of wood to use are willow pine
grapevine and softer wood charcoal is
like balsa and Aspen this is a piece of
pine you can get this at Home Depot
anywhere and one knows what pine is it's
one of the best woods I'm fortunate
enough to have willow so I'll be using
will on this demonstration if you can
get your hands on willow and use it
because it's one of the best it performs
very well in stars and black powder okay
when you're filling your paint can make
sure your thicker pieces of wood are
along the walls of the can well the
thinner pieces are more in the middle
this ensures an even cooking of the
charcoal okay here's how this works
we turn the valve on for the propane you
take your charcoal chimney I just try to
balance it on the burner
next take your retort full wood in the
middle
to turn it on all you do is uh turn it
up turn the button release the safety
and there you go
I turn it down a little bit now we're
gonna let this go for about an hour and
a half maybe don't cook your charcoal
too fast or it won't turn out very good
okay now you can see this is the first
step of dry distillation the gas is
coming off of it now are pretty much
steamed there's a little bit of resin in
there but eventually it'll turn gray and
a brownish color this is the resin this
is the next step but first we're going
to put it on low and let the steam be
driven off as you can see it's pretty
balanced down there you can see the
flames wrapping around the can you can
tell you're done when you start seeing
flames shoot out of the holes now this
means that the oils essential oils are
being burned off the wood this is about
time where you take it off the burner
now you want to prevent oxygen from
getting into the canister so what I like
to do is flip the can over and leave it
for that about an hour an hour and a
half way so we've cooked our charcoal
wait an hour for it to cool off now
let's see what we have this is perfect
so you can see that these pieces here
nice and black uniform blacken now when
you break them they should have a nice
snap to them these are all evenly cooked
now I like to do is just throw them into
a larger retort or bucket
I'll put this in and try to wear it once
when you're doing this this coal tar is
a carcinogen cause it's cancer and that
was the advantage making charcoal next
time I'll show you how to make charcoal
using a simpler way this is just by
starting a fire and heating up the
retort until next time please subscribe
and ask any questions please comment