Horse manure briquettes

[Clippy]

Could you not just leave normal poos out to dry for a few months? Would be the same shape and size as coal, and would save all this faffing around making briquettes?!

I just make the bricks straight from the midden, don't think I could be bothered saving dollops and I suspect they'd burn too quickly. I'm just using everything that comes out of the stable and (hopefully) will get something I can stack that will burn for a reasonable time.

 

[RockinRudolph]

Clippy - how are the briquettes drying out?

Is there a way of saving this thread instead of having to trawl through loads of pages to find it again?!

 

[SaharaS]

Clippy - how are the briquettes drying out?

Is there a way of saving this thread instead of having to trawl through loads of pages to find it again?!

You have just done it! If you click on "user cp" (white text on brown bar) it will show you all threads with up dates you have written on and below that is a see all threads, so unless you do comment on hundreds of new threads daily it should only be a page or two at the most!

 

[Suechoccy]

We have a briquette-maker at home .... guess what I'm going to be doing tomorrow afternoon. Thank you clippy.

 

[RockinRudolph]

You have just done it! If you click on "user cp" (white text on brown bar) it will show you all threads with up dates you have written on and below that is a see all threads, so unless you do comment on hundreds of new threads daily it should only be a page or two at the most!

Aha! Thank you very much! I tend to just use my iphone so couldnt work it out.

Dying to know how people are getting on burning th poo!

 

[HappyNeds]

My 'brick' maker has arrived today!! I have to say it does look very well made, and I hope to get it mounted over the weekend and make my first lot of bricks. I'll let you all know how I get on

Clippy, have you resisted the urge to poke your bricks already to see how they are getting on?!!

 

[flirtygerty]

How do you know when they are ready, I am drying poo as it comes, will look for a briquette maker this weekend

 

[RockinRudolph]

*bump*

Clippy - we all want to know how you are getting in with your briquettes!

 

[Clippy]

*bump*

Clippy - we all want to know how you are getting in with your briquettes!

Hahahahahaaa!

Yes, good I think! Yesterday I poked them - I can tell they're drying because they're a bit lighter in weight and colour but I think they need a few weeks. I've burned a damp one, I just wanted to! It didn't combust into flames but the test convinced me they'll burn well, it smouldered like damp wood does then the edges lit as they dried. I would think you could keep your fire burning low all night with the almost dry ones.

We've had such a lot of rain since I got mine that i've not had the option to make bricks but I did a dozen this morning. I've found a plastic trowel which makes the job easier and I put a piece of board over the wheelbarrow and put them on that. I really do need something stackable to keep them in now and i've been promised a load of bread trays on monday so i'll do some big batches then.

Incidentally, the bloke who moves our midden came this morning and I did a demo for him. I'm half minded to put an ad somewhere saying "Come and make your ***** bricks here - free use of brick maker and free fuel supplied" can you imagine?

Anyway, i'm happy with mine. It's a proper heavy duty piece of kit, it'll last forever so next summer i'll make enough bricks to build a palace

 

[RockinRudolph]

Thanks for the update clippy - keep us posted. I'm determined to have a go but will wait and see how everyone gets on with burning them first. Hubby still isn't convinced and thinks they will stink to high heaven!

 

[horsesforcourses]

Ordered mine today.......i tried making poo bricks 2 years ago, but could not find anything substantial to make them with. So when i saw this, just had to have.
Can't wait for it to come,.....any tips....i take a barrow of muck out of horses daily, so will want to use this up straight away. Would fresh poo have enough moisture, or would i have to add more water to them? How long did anyof you have to wait for delivery. Gosh, I'm sad......getting all excited over a briquette machine!

 

[alsxx]

This sounds amazing! To think the horses might actually be useful and heat out home!

Would they be ok to burn in an open fire though??

 

[Suechoccy]

I made 16 poo-bricks on Sunday afternoon and put them in the garden shed.

The best bricks are made with a slurry-consistency.

If you try to make bricks out of lumps of poo and water, the bricks fall apart as you remove them from the briquette maker.

Our garden shed now smells very horse-pooey.

They'll probably be dry enough for use around April at just about the time we stop using the fire cos it's too warm.

;-)

 

[Dab]

This is such a great idea. So i took positive action today and called a stove company to talk about putting in a chimney et el, and during the chat i mentioned about the poo bricks and he was very interested as his OH had horses. Is this the new fuel revolution

Will be looking out for the updates re: smell

 

[LynH]

My OH is looking at biomass boilers and I showed him this thread. He's off researching using manure in a biomass boiler. I did point out that I may need a nice competition horse as my oldies won't generate enough poo bricks on their own ;0)

 

[flirtygerty]

Given the fact that a lot of horses are stabled now, I wonder if there's a difference in hay based poo and grass poo, this occurred to me while checking my nuggets drying in the barn

 

[Lynette]

What a brilliant thread. We got a briquette maker last week and made a pile. Some we have left out on a metal frame to dry and some we brought indoors after 2 days and stacked beside the stove. Found there was no smell as that goes up the chimney. After another 2 days of drying these are now dry enough to put on the multi-stove and burn really well so it is manure briquettes by day and coal at night. Gave some to our neighbour and they could not get over the heat that is produced by them. A very definite way of cutting down the manure heap.

 

[Suechoccy]

What a brilliant thread. We got a briquette maker last week and made a pile. Some we have left out on a metal frame to dry and some we brought indoors after 2 days and stacked beside the stove. Found there was no smell as that goes up the chimney. After another 2 days of drying these are now dry enough to put on the multi-stove and burn really well so it is manure briquettes by day and coal at night. Gave some to our neighbour and they could not get over the heat that is produced by them. A very definite way of cutting down the manure heap.

I'm wondering what the chances are of me slipping the moist, drying, smelling, poo briquettes into our lounge so they can be stacked next to the fire and dry out more quickly...

probably a less than zero chance.

 

[HeatherA]

I don't post often but thought I'd say we made some of these a couple of years ago with the flimsy, hand held brick maker. That was a nightmare and they took months to dry out but, when we did burn them, they had no smell at all.

I'm hoping Father Christmas will bring me one of these industrial level brick makers as we've definitely got enough dung to fuel the four open fires we have in the place and it looks so much faster, less back breaking to use and as if you'd have drier bricks right from the point of making them.

 

[Clippy]

I've not burned or made any more bricks yet but have decided stacking them on pallets will be the way to go and pallets will be easy enough to get. They'll stack in a nice tower and good airflow too so will help with the drying.

Fresh manure isn't the best to make the bricks, they stay together better if the manure is a bit broken down and it needs to be wet..

For those with this heavy-duty piece of kit, I think we need a modification which is a loading funnel/chute so the area to put the manure in is a bit wider. I think it would be simple to make one and wouldn't have to be taken on and off as we make the bricks?

 

[oldhat]

Sooo excited about this!!! Just wondering if you are using a slurry-like consistency, doesn't it all just slurp out of the brickmaker as u r squeezing it? What gets left behind? I know that in the slurry is a lot of broken down poo, I spose u just have to use trial and error til u get the right mix?

 

[brighteyes]

Couldn't you recycle the liquid squeezed out under the press, and keep adding poo and extra water? I'm going to keep a very close eye on this thread - I hope there's some kind of alert for the inaugural poo-brick burning!

 

[lelly]

I am watching this thread with interest too. We have a new log burner this year and lots of poo. I would be interested to see how it goes. The only thing I am lacking is time to make them.

 

[horsesforcourses]

I have now made 3 lots of Poo bricks, and think you do have to mix water to help break down the balls of muck.
I have a full wheelbarrow taken from the stables, then add just over half a watering can into it.
Keep recycling the water squeezed out back into the barrow.
IMO, you should not be able to see any actual balls of muck in amongst the brick.
I actually enjoy making them.....must be a callback to my childhood, making mudpies!
Made 40 this morning which are now sat in some old bread trays..the hardest thing is waiting/keeping them dry.

 

[brighteyes]

I'm wondering what the chances are of me slipping the moist, drying, smelling, poo briquettes into our lounge so they can be stacked next to the fire and dry out more quickly...

probably a less than zero chance.

LMAO!

 

[Clippy]

I actually enjoy making them.....must be a callback to my childhood, making mudpies!
Made 40 this morning which are now sat in some old bread trays..the hardest thing is waiting/keeping them dry.

Yep, it's actually quite therapeutic once you get going! I've been burning some damp ones as i'm too impatient to wait for them to dry out properly. They go well when the fire is established and there's a bit of draft.

Free fire fuel forever! Yeyyyyy!!!

 

[cremedemonthe]

I enjoy making newspaper bricks in my mould but I haven't tried any poo ones yet so will be watching this thread with interest.
I find they take so long to dry out in Winter so try to make as many as I can in Summer and store them in the shed.

 

[HeatherA]

Are old bread trays easily available? I think our household is getting one of the industrial poo brick makers for Christmas (a **** pressie? ) and what to put the bricks on to dry them out once we've made them is the next dilemma.

 

[Clippy]

Are old bread trays easily available? I think our household is getting one of the industrial poo brick makers for Christmas (a **** pressie? ) and what to put the bricks on to dry them out once we've made them is the next dilemma.

I think I might end up using pallets. At least they're easy to get hold of and stackable. I've got a few bricks on some wire shelving but I need to stack upwards to save space

 

[JillA]

How is everyone doing with this? I just got a briquette maker from a Freecycler, so as soon as the weather stops thinking it has to throw everything at us all at once I'll be giving it a go.
I have some large plastic vegetable trays, empty stables and to finish them off, a warm bioler room at the house. How long do people find they need to dry out indoors?