Charcoal

[cuinrearview]

I just watched an advertisement for new Kingsford "long burning" charcoal and it got me thinking. What brand do you prefer? Do you make your own? Process? I use Stubb's briqs exclusively in my WSM and kettle. I like the neutral flavor. I've thrown some hickory coals out of the stove in before but I'm pretty loyal to Stubb..

The last cook I did was butts overnight and when I started them late at night, well, I kinda forgot the hickory chunks. It was all Stubb's and when tasting I noticed the lack of smoke immediately but it still came out fantastic and my peeps gave me puzzled looks when I explained what happened.

 

[GrassGuerilla]

I prefer lump. Starts easier,burns hotter, longer, and with less ash then briquets. Royal oak is my go to, along with Best Choice el cheapo (may actually be the same thing). Gives enough smoke flavor without having to add anything. Still like to add some Cherry or Hickory from time to time. About once a year they have some kind of sale basically giving the briquet stuff away, so I buy 20 lbs or so (usually Kingsford). Each time I use it I remember again why I swear it off and go back to lump. Basically briquets are full of industrial waste by products all compressed to form a product they can sell rather than dispose of. Sort of the hot dog of the charcoal world.

 

[cuinrearview]

GG you should give Stubb's a try. I used to use lump(cowboy and Royal Oak) with the kettle. I like the nice high heat. I could never get the low and slow burn times I needed in the smoker with it though. Then I found Stubb's. With a minion I can get 10-11 hours out of a load. Eventually I just simplified and started using Stubb's for everything. The flavor is equal to lump to me and I can still get the kettle hot enough to sear a ribeye.

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

Propane. Taste the meat, not the heat.

 

[CentaurG2]

I don’t use a lot of briquettes anymore. Back in the day Kingsford worked just fine. You can now get “all natural” briquettes from stubbs, kingsford and Trader Joes. I think all they do is fiddle around with the binder going from borax to starch. Briquettes give nice, long lasting, even heat but no flavor.

I use a lot of lump in the big green egg. With lump charcoal, it is all about the size and how much heat you want. Large charcoal pieces burn long, low and slow. Small stuff burns quick and hot. BGE charcoal is reported to be made by royal oak. Fairly uniform but it is pricy. Royal oak is a mid-priced mixed bag. Vision lump (mexico made) is available at Sams. It is small stuff with a good bit of dust but is less than ½ the price of BGE charcoal. At $0.50 cents a pound is my goto charcoal for pizza cooks as it cheap and burns wicked hot. Best stuff I have used is Rockwood lump. Same price as BGE, better quality but it is hard to find.

If you run a BGE or a weber kettle consider a Vortex forcing cone. I use one when grilling on the BGE as it uses way less charcoal and gets a great sear on your food. You simply fill the cone with charcoal and light. Once going, you basically get a hot spot, dead center on the grill that is like cooking on an afterburner. Sear your food, move food to the out rim, lower lid and let finish cooking.

http://vortexbbq.com/


Another great product for starting lump charcoal in the BGE are stump chunks. Throw a handful on top of the charcoal, hit it with a map torch and you be cooking in 20. Yup, they appear to be nothing but washed chips from a stump grinder but they work really well.

https://stumpchunks.com/

 

[cuinrearview]

I get what you're saying about lump centaur. The big pieces are nice. I think if I was as serious about it I'd do my own. I haven't yet. I think if I do it will be as an experiment but I really feel the neutral flavor from stubbs and all of the wood flavors I have access to suffice.

 

[CentaurG2]

I think long before I ever tried to make charcoal, I would just get a grill that burns wood. Why waste all that time, heat and flavor?? Engelbrecht makes some beauties but they sure don’t give their stuff away. A braten 1000 will set you back a lot of briquettes.

https://grillsandcookers.com/index

 

[amberg]

GG you should give Stubb's a try. I used to use lump(cowboy and Royal Oak) with the kettle. I like the nice high heat. I could never get the low and slow burn times I needed in the smoker with it though. Then I found Stubb's. With a minion I can get 10-11 hours out of a load. Eventually I just simplified and started using Stubb's for everything. The flavor is equal to lump to me and I can still get the kettle hot enough to sear a ribeye.

cuinrearview, can you tell me more about the stubb's , as the only thing we get here is the Kings ford briquettes at Dollar General stores.

 

[cuinrearview]

cuinrearview, can you tell me more about the stubb's , as the only thing we get here is the Kings ford briquettes at Dollar General stores.

The only retailer around here currently selling it is Lowe's. It's claimed to be 100% hardwood with a vegetable binder. All I know is it smells very neutral cooking and the finished product doesn't have that acrid campfire taste I get from other brands.

 

[CentaurG2]

Everything you never needed to know about charcoal.


http://www.nakedwhiz.com/infocentral.htm