Depends a lot on how wet the wood is. If it’s really dry just a few hours if it’s really wet up to 6 hours

The dryer the better. I’ve used some green wood, but it takes a lot longer and a lot more fuel to charcoal, and if there’s any dry wood in there, it usually gets a little overdone.

@@wyomingwright I am 70 years and I figure charcoal has been around much much longer . My dad cooked the best barbecue I will ever eat . He cooked on a pit . He worked at a sawmill . At the time , they were sawing hardwood .as the lumber was resawn , the ends would fall onto a conveyer out to the burner . My dad arranged for some of the wood to be loaded on dump truck and dumped at our house .The wood lay in a pile for months at a time . Now that I have thought about it dad was cooking with green wood .There was no way that wood could be dry . He made it work . He would have my brother and I gather the wood for his cook . There was one species of hardwood that was a big no no . That would be sweet gum ! He never checked to see what we put pin there but once the fire was lite he knew ! He was say boys come here and he point out the bad wood and would pull it out . We never got burned but he told us Gum will ruin your barbecue . He would s back to wood pile to get proper wood .let me say , that enjoyed your video I found it to informative and entertaining at the same . Where I live , on the Gulf Coast , it would not be practical to make my lump charcoal. So this put at the mercy of the companies that make lump so we city folk can run our smokers .

Thanks for the comment and story! I love it. I wish I had more hardwoods available where I live

Does the barrel have holes in the bottom?

Great video how many pounds of charcoal do you think you got from that process