Charcoal burning never finishes

[ShnitzelKiller]

I made a charcoal pit, checked it was airtight, and that it was quietly smoking. According to the guide it should be done in less than 1 in-game day, but after months it is still smoking with no end in sight. It is only slightly bigger than the minimum size (2x2x2), does size even affect the time it takes? If it wasn't sealed properly it would probably burn away more quickly than that, and make fire sounds, right? Is it just bugged? Are there some subtle restrictions on what shape the wood has to be in (e.g. perfect rectangles)?

Edited April 23, 2024 by ShnitzelKiller

[Thorfinn]

Never seen that happen, though I rarely choose anything other than default settings, whether Wilderness or basic Survival.

And, no, I usually have oddly shaped pits. Whatever it takes to use up all the firewood. So long as it's within 6 blocks, you should be good.

Are you running mods?

[xXx_Ape_xXx]

Open it and see if the wood is still there. Also, have you put any non full blocks on the outer rim of the pit, f.eks. a stair or partly chiseled block? I've had this happen on one of my worlds, and it turned out to be caused by a stair block that I had used. If it's not any of these, I have no idea why it's not finishing

[DimitrisZar]

Had this happen to me the other day. I lit up a charcoal pit and it went on for days. Turns out I had an empty block block on one of the sides of the pit. After I filled it in with dirt it worked fine. 

From what I read elsewhere I would expect it to either not light up at all or have the firewood burn out instead of turning into charcoal though 

[-Snazzy-]

Same issue, new player here. 2x2x2 pit, fully enclosed with slow smoke particles and no fire sounds, yet no charcoal after a few days. pretty sure this is the only way to progress and it just isn't working like it should. Pretty disheartening.

[Maelstrom]

The only thing charcoal is absolutely necessary for is filling the cementation coffin.  Everything else can use brown or black coal.

[Teh Pizza Lady]

10 hours ago, Maelstrom said:

The only thing charcoal is absolutely necessary for is filling the cementation coffin.  Everything else can use brown or black coal.

Bloomery cannot use brown coal

[Thorfinn]

16 hours ago, -Snazzy- said:

Same issue, new player here. 2x2x2 pit, fully enclosed with slow smoke particles and no fire sounds, yet no charcoal after a few days. pretty sure this is the only way to progress and it just isn't working like it should. Pretty disheartening.

Since my earlier reply in this thread. it has happened to me. One of the blocks of firewood wasn't a full 32. Fixed that, relit it and worked fine.

[Maelstrom]

18 hours ago, traugdor said:

Bloomery cannot use brown coal

D'oh!  Forgot about the bloomery.  Although I think black coal works in that.

[Teh Pizza Lady]

26 minutes ago, Maelstrom said:

I think black coal works in that.

It does! It burns hot enough to work for that.

[RenMax]

Hello! I have been trying to get charcoal to work as well to no effect. Currently have effectively 64x4 in 2x2x2 buried under dirt sans a slot for the campfire, I triple checked it was the right amount on each pile before I buried it, started the fire, no dice. It has been raining where I live a lot, can that affect the cooking time? I tried to add a block just above the fire with a space for air in case that'd help but I still have been waiting for multiple days to no results. I can't find coal enough to smelt my first copper, and Im starting to get worried I am stuck. Anybody ever find a fix for this issue?

[Krougal]

No, rain only extinguishes pit kilns, it doesn't affect the charcoal pit.

It sounds like you didn't surround and cover the fire. No air space whatsoever.

Put a block on each of the 4 cardinal directions (they can be covering other parts of the pit) and 1 on top.

So for example I do a 3x3x2 pit and I put the fire in the center. All the blocks are covered and then a block directly on top of the fire.

 

Also, for anyone else with the other issue with it smoking but the timer running over into negative numbers and it never finishing (unless you screwed up) of course you can't see the timer without extra info mod which isn't working for 1.21, relogging is usually the fix. This works for pit kilns as well.

[Dilan Rona]

If I were you, I would break the charcoal pit open right now, and recover whatever of your firewood is still left. I had the same situation myself a few times, and it only happens when the pit is not 100% full about 99% or so. The other 1% is the game glitching. When you are done recovering your firewood, restack everything from scratch, verifying you stacked 100% full. Finishing up with the firepit, and covering that up. That should resolve the problem.

If you were busy with baking pottery or other clay items, you forgot to leave a 1 block gap between the pit, and the block covering for when it rains.

Edited August 4, 2025 by Dilan Rona

[RenMax]

Hello again! Wanted to follow up and say that I was able to get it to work, looked like some of the wood was not retrievable but I got enough to keep going. Shame it's so late in the run but I'll take it on the chin. Thank you to the responses!