Charcoal production

First I split some logs from wood suitable for grilling, in my case alder.

I stacked everything into the barrel, closed it and tightened the hoop around the lid.

I propped one side up with bricks and kept a fire going under the barrel for about 2 hours.

The result can be seen in the following photo. As you can see, the charcoal was not finished yet.

I split some more wood for the second barrel and filled it. I propped the barrels up on both sides with bricks and lit a fire.

I kept the fire going hard, so the lid even shot off one of the barrels.

This photo shows the gases escaping from the barrel burning.

After that the charcoal was well burnt out. It was still a little short of done, so at first it flames for a while, but soon it turns into lovely embers.
I tipped the contents of the two barrels into one and stored it.