Automation · Smelting · Java & Bedrock

How to Make a Super Smelter

A super smelter runs a bank of furnaces in parallel, so a stack of ore that would crawl through one furnace cooks many times faster.

⚡ ×4 FASTER

RAW ORE IN →

many furnaces, one feed

all smelt at once

One hopper line splits raw ore across a row of furnaces that all smelt in parallel, then a second line gathers every ingot into one chest. More furnaces means many times the speed.

What you need

A row of furnaces

Hopper lines to feed

Fuel for every furnace

A chest for the output

Split the work across furnaces

One furnace smelts one item at a time, so a chestful of ore takes ages. A super smelter spreads that pile across a row of furnaces with a hopper line, lights them all from a fuel lineand rakes every result back together with a collection line. Each furnace you add is another item cooking at once, so the more furnaces, the faster the whole stack is done.

Quick answers

What is a super smelter in Minecraft?

It is a bank of furnaces wired to smelt in parallel. Instead of one furnace crawling through a stack of ore, a hopper line splits the pile across many furnaces that all cook at once, and a second line gathers every result into one chest.

How do you build a super smelter?

Line up several furnaces. Run a hopper line along the top that drops ore evenly into each, feed fuel from a second hopper into the side of each, and put a collection hopper line underneath that carries the smelted output to a single chest.

How many furnaces does a super smelter need?

As many as you want speed. Each furnace you add cooks another item at the same time, so throughput scales almost linearly. Eight to sixteen furnaces is common, and you can keep adding as long as the hopper lines feed them evenly.

What is the best fuel for a super smelter?

Coal and charcoal are easy, blocks of coal last longer, and lava buckets are great if you have a renewable source. Feed the fuel from its own hopper line so every furnace stays lit while ore flows through.

Should I use furnaces or blast furnaces?

Use blast furnaces for ores and metal, since they smelt those twice as fast, and smokers for food for the same reason. Keep regular furnaces for everything else like glass, stone and clay. A bank of blast furnaces is the fastest ore smelter.

Does a super smelter work on Bedrock?

Yes. Furnaces, hoppers and fuel all behave the same, so the layout carries over, though Bedrock hopper timing differs a little and may change how evenly very large banks fill.

Database →

Furnaces & fuels

Look up furnaces, blast furnaces, hoppers and which fuel lasts longest.

Guide →

Smoker & blast furnace

The 2x-speed furnaces to build your bank from for ore and food.

Smelting a stack without waiting for it

The bottleneck is furnace count, not fuel

One furnace smelts at a fixed rate no matter what you feed it, so smelting faster means more furnaces running in parallel. A super smelter is really a splitter that fills a bank of furnaces evenly, and everything else is delivery.

Feed fuel and ore on separate paths

Ore goes in the top and fuel goes in the side, so two hopper lines run the length of the bank without ever meeting. Mixing them is the classic failure: coal in the ore slot smelts into nothing useful and clogs the line.

Take the output with a hopper under each furnace

Collecting from below also recovers the experience only if you take the items out by hand, so an automatic smelter trades levels for time. That is worth knowing before you build one, because for ores you care about the levels are not nothing.