Make Your Own Pellets

[SidecarFlip]

ROI isn't close.

Buskirk in Osian, Indiana makes small mills and turnkey systems btw. or... You can get a 'one hung low' machine from China.

 

[maple1]

I'll throw another of my blunt 2 cents in.

I have no first hand experience with even burning pellets (aside from watching relatives do it), let alone making them - but making your own seems to be a bit of a romantic idea.

I would still like to read of a success story though...

 

[SidecarFlip]

There is more than one You-Tube video posted concerning the operation of a small home use pellet mill. None of the participants in the video's look what I consider to be either clean or happy. IOW, it looks to be a dirty laborous job, not what I'd consider romantic at all.....

My opinion is some things are best left to commercial entites. with real rotary extruders, drying kilns and bagging equipment.

 

[smwilliamson]

The art of making decent pellets requires feedstock to be dried to about 6% moisture then pulverized to dust. The the feedstock is added to the mill more moisture is added which keeps the wood from getting too hot and is then removed during the drying process. It's difficult. Now, if you just want to make some pellets akin to say, infernos, a home pellet mill may do the trick. If you have a Harman of some kind of multi-fuel stove with an agitator, you'll be able to adjust your burn to the inconsistency of your fuel. Even the big commercial mills that know what they are doin often produce a crappy pellet.

All that said, if I had a few grand to play with and some free time I'd run around and pelletize everything I could find and burn it just for kicks and the experience. If you stay with it long enough and practice enough you'll do just fine and probably produce a few batches that are pretty good. Maybe even better. Don't listen to these guys. If Ken Tucker hadn't invested they time and effort to try it out back in '78 we wouldn't even have wood pellets and I'm sure whatever you produce will be better that what he produced his first time.

 

[maple1]

There is more than one You-Tube video posted concerning the operation of a small home use pellet mill. None of the participants in the video's look what I consider to be either clean or happy. IOW, it looks to be a dirty laborous job, not what I'd consider romantic at all.....

That's kinda what I meant - romantic while it is just an idea. But when you try to turn the idea into reality the romance slips away...

 

[SidecarFlip]

The art of making decent pellets requires feedstock to be dried to about 6% moisture then pulverized to dust. The the feedstock is added to the mill more moisture is added which keeps the wood from getting too hot and is then removed during the drying process. It's difficult. Now, if you just want to make some pellets akin to say, infernos, a home pellet mill may do the trick. If you have a Harman of some kind of multi-fuel stove with an agitator, you'll be able to adjust your burn to the inconsistency of your fuel. Even the big commercial mills that know what they are doin often produce a crappy pellet.

All that said, if I had a few grand to play with and some free time I'd run around and pelletize everything I could find and burn it just for kicks and the experience. If you stay with it long enough and practice enough you'll do just fine and probably produce a few batches that are pretty good. Maybe even better. Don't listen to these guys. If Ken Tucker hadn't invested they time and effort to try it out back in '78 we wouldn't even have wood pellets and I'm sure whatever you produce will be better that what he produced his first time.

Thats what I'm talking about, a couple grand and some time (emphasis on a couple grand). What I meant by ROI (return on investment), a couple grand admission to the fine art of making useable pellets with a home mill buys a whole lot of comercially made pellets and factoring in dirt cheap propane makes it an even less palitable proposition.

 

[smwilliamson]

Thats what I'm talking about, a couple grand and some time (emphasis on a couple grand). What I meant by ROI (return on investment), a couple grand admission to the fine art of making useable pellets with a home mill buys a whole lot of comercially made pellets and factoring in dirt cheap propane makes it an even less palitable proposition.

Yes but that 2k worth of professional pellets just gets burnt up and aside from heat doesn't have too much potential reward. A cheap mill on the other hand has the potential to change a persons life...sell on hopes and dreams not on practical measures such as savings!

 

[SidecarFlip]

I suspect there is a definite learning curve associated with home brew pellets, not a 'plug and play' scenario. I imagine it's not mainstream just because of the fiddle factor.

At one time I considered a Buskirk system to run forage grasses. I typically have at least a hundred round bales on hand that I could pelletize. The varibles are what concerns me so I refrained from getti ng one.

I like the European biomass method of putting an entire round bale in an air/gas tight chamber and controlling the burn, using the heat to heat water domestic heat and HW. They can run for a week or longer on one bale...

With a buck propane, the alternatives are few.