Lump Charcoal
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Glad you folks found it useful! I am not aware of anyplace that is more comprehensive than this site. Unfortunately my favorite lump for smoking in my clay Imperial Kamado (the Big Green Egg is a ceramic version of the old Imperial Kamado) is no longer available, but there are lots of good charcoals out there.
Robb So, with all this research, what coal do you use?
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Glad you folks found it useful! I am not aware of anyplace that is more comprehensive than this site. Unfortunately my favorite lump for smoking in my clay Imperial Kamado (the Big Green Egg is a ceramic version of the old Imperial Kamado) is no longer available, but there are lots of good charcoals out there.
Robb So, with all this research, what coal do you use?
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Chef I was surprised at some of the ratings. My favorite for the money is still Western & I have received very good results from it. I was surprised at some of the comments for Western too as I did not experience that at all after purchasing it for many years. However, their rating was just not that good. Second or maybe even equal or better, but much more expensive would be B&B. However, their rating for B&B not all that good either & also had some strange comments, that I did not experience. Then there were some others that I don’t think are that good, that got some pretty decent ratings. I know I have tried some others, that were not on the list. However, I rarely see them, but did not recognize them in the ratings list, surprisingly. Most were from Mexico or down that way & I do not remember all the names. There were a vast number of brands in the ratings that I have never seen that looked very interesting & I would like to try some day. Then there is my own that I really like & have several bags of still, but do not make it much these days as I have just not been doing that type in a while. The rating report was indeed very intriguing.
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Chef I suppose, each to his or her own then!
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Chef
My favorite for smoking was Wicked Good Competition Blend. However it hasn’t been available for years. Their replacement is Weekend Warrior, which I like. I like Royal Oak too, which is usually available at WalMart. I have tried the Kamado Joe, which is pretty good too. I am looking for long burn times and little ash, and I have found these to do well. I certainly have not tried them all, by any means. I have found these to meet my needs, but there are plenty of others that I’m sure would be just as good. As you said: each to his or her own. -
Chef
My favorite for smoking was Wicked Good Competition Blend. However it hasn’t been available for years. Their replacement is Weekend Warrior, which I like. I like Royal Oak too, which is usually available at WalMart. I have tried the Kamado Joe, which is pretty good too. I am looking for long burn times and little ash, and I have found these to do well. I certainly have not tried them all, by any means. I have found these to meet my needs, but there are plenty of others that I’m sure would be just as good. As you said: each to his or her own.Robb Thanks again. I live in a very small community west of Houston with only Walmart to shop. They do carry the Royal Oak and I have been using it, very surprise at the rating.
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Chef - glad you can get Royal Oak there. I lived in Houston for a year; in fact I have a son born there. What is the small town you are from?
Robb I live in Sealy, about 30 miles west of Katy. About 6500 people, Got an old farmhouse on 2 acres with 10 Beautiful old oak trees. I look at it as my private park.
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Robb I live in Sealy, about 30 miles west of Katy. About 6500 people, Got an old farmhouse on 2 acres with 10 Beautiful old oak trees. I look at it as my private park.
Chef I passed by Sealy earlier today while driving my son out to the Hill Country for camp.
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Chef I passed by Sealy earlier today while driving my son out to the Hill Country for camp.
TexLaw Hope I-10 did’t present too much of a problem. Just where do you live?
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Chef Not at 6:30 AM, it didn’t.
I’m in Bellaire.
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This is a fun question to answer.
I have gone the full gambit on charcoal research. What I can tell you is 95% of it is marketing.
We went so far as to build a charcoal retort which used waste motor oil atomized through a pressurized tank and special spray nozel. We made about 200lbs of charcoal from various wood sources. Guess what we figured out. Its all charcoal. It all burned clean and at no noticeable/measurable rate to differentiate itself.
From that I learned 2 important things.
- Charcoal is charcoal.
- Marketing works.
Buy the least expensive lump charcoal you can find. Charcoal briskets are a bit different as its a manufacturing process with possible additives, but again allot of that is marketing also.
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One thing I will add. Get a fan and a digital controller. Its the best way to take the majority of the variables out of the equation when it comes to burn times and temps. Then buy cheap fuel and let the computer figure it all out for you.
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This is a fun question to answer.
I have gone the full gambit on charcoal research. What I can tell you is 95% of it is marketing.
We went so far as to build a charcoal retort which used waste motor oil atomized through a pressurized tank and special spray nozel. We made about 200lbs of charcoal from various wood sources. Guess what we figured out. Its all charcoal. It all burned clean and at no noticeable/measurable rate to differentiate itself.
From that I learned 2 important things.
- Charcoal is charcoal.
- Marketing works.
Buy the least expensive lump charcoal you can find. Charcoal briskets are a bit different as its a manufacturing process with possible additives, but again allot of that is marketing also.
pr0wlunwoof That’s the conclusion that I am arriving at. So far my top brand is Royal Oak Lump at Walmart which sells for $16.98 for 30 pounds. Clean, low ash, lights fast, burns long. The website naked whiz which has rated many brands ranks this as very high and an extraordinary value.
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One thing I will add. Get a fan and a digital controller. Its the best way to take the majority of the variables out of the equation when it comes to burn times and temps. Then buy cheap fuel and let the computer figure it all out for you.
pr0wlunwoof A Fireboard with Drive fan is my go to setup for temperature control. It’s not fool proof, because for the best results you need your cooker pretty well dialed in from the start to the temp you want, then just use the fan to maintain. I think many people think right out of the gate all that they need to do is hook the fan up set the temp and walk away and everything will run perfect which isn’t the case.
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pr0wlunwoof Chef I agree low cost charcoal is the way to go. Some charcoal is crazy expensive like Jealous Devil.
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pr0wlunwoof A Fireboard with Drive fan is my go to setup for temperature control. It’s not fool proof, because for the best results you need your cooker pretty well dialed in from the start to the temp you want, then just use the fan to maintain. I think many people think right out of the gate all that they need to do is hook the fan up set the temp and walk away and everything will run perfect which isn’t the case.
Sounds like you are on your way to figuring it all out. Allot of what I like about this area of culinary arts is the amount of information that is out there to dig into. Meatgistics has been super informative when it comes to sausage making and I can’t wait to get my equipment and seasoning in. I wish someone had done this style of marketing/packaging/community when I started in BBQ several years back because I spent allot of time digging to get the same level of information Meatgistics is putting out there with their products.
Yeah I have not tried a controller on my ceramic cooker, but I have been using one exclusively on my gravity feed I built. The gravity feed has allot of advantages when it comes to controlling temperatures and fire because it only has one possible route for air which the fan is attached too and it has a damper built in so when it goes to 0% it totally shuts off air.
I use a Heatermeter which is a do it yourself controller and paired it with a ducted fan which I put in a 3d printed case that holds a servo controlled damper. Allot of advantages to this system is you can use various types of thermometers and you have unlimited calibration.
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Sounds like you are on your way to figuring it all out. Allot of what I like about this area of culinary arts is the amount of information that is out there to dig into. Meatgistics has been super informative when it comes to sausage making and I can’t wait to get my equipment and seasoning in. I wish someone had done this style of marketing/packaging/community when I started in BBQ several years back because I spent allot of time digging to get the same level of information Meatgistics is putting out there with their products.
Yeah I have not tried a controller on my ceramic cooker, but I have been using one exclusively on my gravity feed I built. The gravity feed has allot of advantages when it comes to controlling temperatures and fire because it only has one possible route for air which the fan is attached too and it has a damper built in so when it goes to 0% it totally shuts off air.
I use a Heatermeter which is a do it yourself controller and paired it with a ducted fan which I put in a 3d printed case that holds a servo controlled damper. Allot of advantages to this system is you can use various types of thermometers and you have unlimited calibration.
pr0wlunwoof You are so correct that there is a lot of really good information to be had, way more than when I started. So, just where do you do BBQ? Did/Do you do it commercially?
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I worked as a line cook for a few years when I was high school and I’m happy to not pull those hours anymore. I BBQ in South East Georgia. It’s a hobby, but I get pretty serious about my hobbies. I would like to get into competition BBQ at some point, but I lack the extra time at this point, maybe in a few years. Most of my hobbies feed each other (welding to smoker fabrication, fabrication to cooking, electronics to controllers, brewing cause beer makes everything better) so sausage making is the next venture.
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