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You don’t want to buy regular charcoal briquettes to make activated charcoal. Commercially produced charcoal briquettes often have various chemicals added during the manufacturing process.However, there are brands of charcoal that are commonly referred to as “lump charcoal” with the added promise of “100% natural and chemical free.” Read the label and if you believe it’s true, you can use that as your charcoal source. Otherwise, you’ll have to make your charcoal from scratch.coconut shell activated carbon price
Charcoal is made when wood is subjected to high heat but denied the oxygen that would cause it to burst into flame. The high heat causes the wood to release various organic materials, smoke and gases and a good amount of cellulose leaving relatively pure carbon.The simplest way to do this is to put lumps of wood into a large pot with a loose-fitting lid and literally cook your wood over a very hot fire.
The best woods to use are hardwoods like oak or maple. Avoid highly resinous woods like pine, tamarack, cedar, birch or spruce. You should also remove the bark and cut and split the pieces into 3 to 4-inch chunks or smaller.Pile the wood pieces into the pot, cover and get your fire going underneath. The pot can be suspended over the fire on a tripod or placed onto a grate or the grill on a kettle grill.
The temperatures needed to make charcoal are in excess of 600 degrees Fahrenheit up to 800 degrees, so you want a fire with flames licking at the bottom of your pot of wood chunks. The loose-fitting lid will allow the smoke to escape but prevent the wood from catching fire.
Be very careful if you’re tempted to lift the lid during this process. Hot smoke and gases from the pot are highly flammable and you may find your pot of wood chunks bursting into flames if you lift the lid. Typically, it takes 3 to 6 hours to convert a pot of wood chunks to charcoal.
Wait until the fire has burned down and remove the lid quickly and carefully to assess your progress. You may have to stir the charcoal chunks around to measure your success and even break up some pieces to make sure they have carbonized through and through.
If not, rekindle the fire and give your pot of wood chunks some more time. When done, rinse the charcoal in water and allow to drain and completely dry on a wire rack or dry surface.granular-activated-carbon.com |