Success for my third attempt! This charcoal is much better, some of the lumps were the size of my forearm! The difference here was getting a good seal at the bottom of the kiln/retort. I still need to try a few things to make it better, but I'm certainly heading in the right direction.
The barrel and kiln I used were the original ones that I have been using for years. The next step will be to integrate the changes into my larger rig for the next batch. Stay tuned and subscribe to see how it goes!