Burning charcoal

Some time ago my wife gave me a charcoal kiln, made by a local guy from an old oil barrel, which I haven't had the time to try out yet. Last week we got a load of old hardwood logs from a familymember, and I decided that now was the time to try and burn charcoal for the first time.

I have now tried the kiln two times with the same result. About half of the wood is burned to perfect charcoal and the rest is inadequately charred wood.

After a lot of reading I think the problem is that my logs are to different in size - some of them too big for this small kiln. And then I'm probably closing the airintake too quick.

Anyways I still have a big bag of selfmade charcoal, that I will soon use to make grilled chicken.

Opening the kiln for the first time.

Half the wood looked like this.