Beehive kiln/draft

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A Beehive kiln is a multi-block structure that enables influencing the color of certain clay items.

A beehive kiln in use

Creation

Component parts

Both fire clay bricks or any tier of refractory brick can be used.

To build a functioning beehive kiln, the player needs:

• 1 kiln door.
• 9 gratings.
• 3 iron hatches.
• 55 fire clay brick blocks.
• A number of dirt or stone blocks to build the fuel burning area beneath the kiln structure itself.

The minimum ingredients for the above items:

• 4 nails and strips (1 ingot).
• 4 iron rods (4 iron ingots).
• 3 iron hatches (12 iron ingots or 6 iron plates).
• 568 fireclay, which is about 9 stacks (142 bricks, around 12 pit kilns full).
• 17 mortar.

Construction

Click the kiln door while sneaking to enable a visual guide which will highlight where blocks need to be placed.

Damage

Brick blocks used in the beehive kiln will take damage after a period of time, similar to the cementation furnace. Damaged blocks must be replaced before the kiln will function.

Damage calculations occur every 168 hours of operation, not after each successful firing.

• Fire clay bricks have a 50% (1 in 2) chance to break.
• Tier 1 refractory bricks have a 10% (1 in 10) chance to break.
• Tier 2 refractory bricks have a 5% (1 in 20) chance to break.
• Tier 3 refractory bricks have a 0.1% (1 in 1000) chance to break.

The total hours of operation can be seen on the kiln door's block info. Total firing time is stored within the door's metadata; if the door is replaced with a different one, the time will reset.

Usage

For the firing process to begin, the player must place fuel (peat, firewood, or coal) below each of the 9 gratings, and all 9 piles must ignite. Using a torch on one pile will eventually ignite the others nearby.

Once all 9 piles are lit, the kiln heats up the contents at 500°C per in-game hour until it reaches a max temp of 1200°C. When the temp of each item rises above 950°C, it will begin to progress for 9 in-game hours to its fired version. Starting from 0°C, the entire process takes 10.9 in-game hours.

Unlike regular pit kilns which are limited to 12 bricks or 48 shingles per firing, the player can safely stack shingles and bricks up to the height of the ceiling in a beehive kiln, utilizing all 27 available empty spaces inside the kiln. This allows up to 648 bricks to be fired at once, or up to 5184 shingles.

The player can combine any variety of raw clay items in the kiln for a firing, and can also add shelves by adding grating blocks (the same ones used in the floor) to the middle layer, allowing for more space to place pottery items like bowls, planters, and jugs.

Fuel Efficiency

As the beehive kiln requires 9 blocks of fuel to operate, the fuel efficiency varies wildly depending on the packing efficiency of the kiln. The table below specifies fuel efficiency compared to pit kilns, assuming a full fuel load per block and a maximum packing efficiency. Storage vessels are included separately, as they require double the amount of fuel as other full-block objects in pit kilns, and can be triple-stacked inside the beehive kiln by allowing them to fall onto each other using gravity.

Full fuel costs are:

• Firewood: 288 pieces (32*9)
• Peat: 288 bricks (32*9)
• All coal types: 144 pieces (16*9)

Note that you do NOT need to place the maximum amount of fuel to start the kiln, however.

For a single firing the fuel costs are:

• Firewood: 252 pieces (28*x9)
• Peat: 216 bricks (24*9)
• All coal types: 54 pieces (6*9)

	Pit Kiln Maximum Amount	Pit Kiln Fuel(any) Cost Per Object	Beehive Kiln Maximum Amount	Beehive Kiln Firewood/Peat Cost Per Object	Beehive Kiln Coal Cost Per Object
Bricks	12	0.333	648	0.444	0.222
Shingles	48	0.083	5184	0.055	0.027
Quarter Blocks	4	1	72	4	2
Full Blocks	1	4	18	16	8
Storage Vessels	1	8	27	10.667	5.333

On paper, the beehive kiln is on-par at best in fuel efficiency to pit kilns. However, the packing efficiency and labor cost is significantly superior to pit kilns, and fuel levels can be micromanaged to potentially even out in comparison. Additionally, each pit kiln consumes an additional cost of 8 sticks and 10 dry grass, while the beehive kiln does not.

History

Version	Description
v1.20.0	Version 1.20-pre1 introduced the beehive kiln and its special door
Version 1.20-rc.5 added fire clay bricks as an alternative to refractory clay bricks.
Version 1.20-rc.6 fixed issues with refractory clay being allowed for the gratings, but not the main blocks.

Gallery

Caption text

Item	Result in pit kiln	Result with 0 hatch open	Result with 1 hatch open	Result with 2 hatches open	Result with 3 hatch open
Raw blue clay brick		Cream	Gray	Black	Clinker
Raw red clay brick		Tan	Orange	Red	Brown
Raw blue clay shingle
Raw red clay shingle
Raw blue clay jug
Raw red clay jug

Video tutorials

Constructing a beehive kiln
'"`UNIQ--youtube-00000004-QINU`"'
Using a beehive kiln
'"`UNIQ--youtube-00000005-QINU`"'