Lump charcoal question for grilling folks

[shibumiseeker]

If anyone would know it'll be someone here.

I make charcoal at our place. It's a natural offshoot of the fact that with a hundred and fifty acres of trees and a sawmill, I try to keep up with burning off tops and slabs and making good use of it. I use the charcoal for some smelting and a few other projects, and it's nice to throw a bunch in the woodstove when I want to walk away from it for a while.

A while ago a coworker asked me for some charcoal lumps because he does a lot of grilling and the lump charcoal is supposedly better than briquettes. I'm not a big grilling fan so I'd never even heard of this. Doing a little poking, it appears it's a thing with people paying about a buck a pound for this stuff. My coworker was thrilled with the five gallon bucket's worth gave him. Said it was better than what he buys. Other than him, the only thing I know about this subject is reading Amazon reviews.

My question: This is just charcoal (carbon) right? I mean, not partially burned, but completely, with the only thing left is coals. Apparently larger lumps are sought after but harder to get because it crumbles so easily, is that true? I really am completely ignorant of these things as the extent of my grilling is to throw a few briquettes on the Weber once in a while and do some corn and steaks and potatoes.

 

[jaymark6655]

I get hardward lump from Wal-Mart at $.75/lb. It is better in my mind. Burns hotter so it seems to sear better, but also burns quicker (the one draw back). I think this has to do with the briquettes being highly compacted down. In the winter when its hard to get the grill up to temp, lump seems to do better. The bags I get do end up with a lot of small stuff due to crumbling. I like that for grilling. I like the giant chunks for smoking since that does extend the burn a little and doesn't require as much tending.

In the end though, I will cook with whatever I can get my hands on, prefer not to use that easy light crap though. It can ruin the taste.

 

[phylodog]

As mentioned, the lump charcoal burns hotter and cleaner (less ash) than briquettes and has no fillers. You'd want to make sure only certain woods got in there if you were wanting to sell for that purpose.

I paid close attention to the highest rated brands years back and I recall lump size being a consideration for the ranking with bigger chunks being better but I never read why. As long as it's not a load full of small chips that compact down and choke themselves out I've not noticed a difference.

 

[indyblue]

Lump hardwood charcoal is all I use in my weber.
Cowboy charcoal is my go to and I believe it’s a mixture of Hickory, Oak and Mesquite
For babybacks,brisket and other hardy meats.

Applewood and Cherrywood Are good candidates as well for fish, chicken and lighter meats.

 

[fullmetaljesus]

I switched to lump in 2019. I'll never go back. Better burn better everything.

If you start selling and you are close I'll use you as a source to put money in your hands over some faceless store.

 

[shibumiseeker]

I switched to lump in 2019. I'll never go back. Better burn better everything.

If you start selling and you are close I'll use you as a source to put money in your hands over some faceless store.

I appreciate that. Right now I’m looking for testers who have strong opinions about the product, I’d be happy to ship you some for shipping costs if you’re not nearby. I am near Bedford but work in Bloomington. Like I said, I know zero about it, but if I’m going to sell it I need people who know something about it.

It’s like my scrap lumber: stuff I thrown on the burn pile goes for big bucks at Lowes. Boggles my mind. I built a gassifier for my charcoal for my projects. Never thought people would buy the stuff.

 

[shibumiseeker]

Lump hardwood charcoal is all I use in my weber.
Cowboy charcoal is my go to and I believe it’s a mixture of Hickory, Oak and Mesquite
For babybacks,brisket and other hardy meats.

Applewood and Cherrywood Are good candidates as well for fish, chicken and lighter meats.

So is it fully carbonized or is there a little of the parent wood left? Is it the carbon density of the parent wood that is the desired feature, or is there residual wood for flavoring? With my process I can control these things so it makes no difference to me, but I don’t know what people want.

 

[larcat]

So is it fully carbonized or is there a little of the parent wood left? Is it the carbon density of the parent wood that is the desired feature, or is there residual wood for flavoring? With my process I can control these things so it makes no difference to me, but I don’t know what people want.

This is pretty interesting. I personally went back to briquettes for both grilling and bbq for a variety of reasons, but many people, particularly in the bbq world, feel pretty strongly that lump is the only way to go.

I'd honestly hop on a dedicated bbq forum -- you'll get quite a bit of feedback and opinions imho.

 

[shibumiseeker]

This is pretty interesting. I personally went back to briquettes for both grilling and bbq for a variety of reasons, but many people, particularly in the bbq world, feel pretty strongly that lump is the only way to go.

I'd honestly hop on a dedicated bbq forum -- you'll get quite a bit of feedback and opinions imho.

Ha, showing how ignorant I am, I didn’t even know such forums existed. I should not be surprised though, there’s forums for everything.

 

[larcat]

Ha, showing how ignorant I am, I didn’t even know such forums existed. I should not be surprised though, there’s forums for everything.

Yeah the competition bbq thing has been a deal for 20-30 years, and then every hipster with a beard and glasses got into it around 2005 or so.

 

[phylodog]

So is it fully carbonized or is there a little of the parent wood left? Is it the carbon density of the parent wood that is the desired feature, or is there residual wood for flavoring? With my process I can control these things so it makes no difference to me, but I don’t know what people want.

Charcoal made from desirable hard woods and fruit woods does bring favor from the parent wood to the table. Oak, hickory, apple and cherry are the primary woods that are native to our area and considered great for smoking meats. Using southern yellow pine or other evergreen species will bring nasty tasting chemicals into the picture.

If you have the ability to do so, you could command a higher price than what is found in the local stores not only because people like fullmetaljesus and myself prefer to buy like that but people would also pay more for 100% apple wood charcaol (as an example) rather than a mix.

I think most people who are serious about bbq have their favorite types of wood for specific uses. I consider hickory to be a fantastic all around smoking wood and I'll use it without reservation on about anything. For grilling or reverse searing I prefer pecan above all else, oak and mesquite work great for beef (briskett), fruit woods are great with pork, etc..

 

[phylodog]

Another thing I consider is how the charcoal acts when I'm trying to get the egg going. Some brands (Cowboy most notably) pop and send sparks flying more than others, I have no idea why. I use Cowby pretty regularly as it's easily available and once it gets going it's great but lighting it I have to wear protective clothing to keep me from being burned by hot embers that fly off of it when I light it. I've ruined more than one piece of clothing using it. I don't know what contributes to it but if what you make has a tendency not to, that would be a selling point as well.

 

[shibumiseeker]

Charcoal made from desirable hard woods and fruit woods does bring favor from the parent wood to the table. Oak, hickory, apple and cherry are the primary woods that are native to our area and considered great for smoking meats. Using southern yellow pine or other evergreen species will bring nasty tasting chemicals into the picture.

If you have the ability to do so, you could command a higher price than what is found in the local stores not only because people like fullmetaljesus and myself prefer to buy like that but people would also pay more for 100% apple wood charcaol (as an example) rather than a mix.

I think most people who are serious about bbq have their favorite types of wood for specific uses. I consider hickory to be a fantastic all around smoking wood and I'll use it without reservation on about anything. For grilling or reverse searing I prefer pecan above all else, oak and mesquite work great for beef (briskett), fruit woods are great with pork, etc..

My primary woods are oak, hickory, cherry, and maple. Good to know that using all of one kind is more desirable.
I was also thinking of including some unburned chips of each kind with that species for the smoker crowd?

 

[phylodog]

Chips, chunks and charcoal will all sell if you can get them in front of the right people. There aren't a lot of them around but if there is a store that carries Big Green Eggs, Primo, Kamado Joe, etc you might try talking to the owner/manager. The Ace Hardware stores around here do and it appears the owners/managers have the freedom to carry different types of charcoal. If you can get a store owner/manager to back your charcoal it could take off really well.

Like firearms, there is a good sized community of people across the country who are passionate about it and word of mouth goes a long way.

 

[tmschuller]

Awesome to hear what you are doing.. maybe the start of a new business! New to the smoker world and enjoy hearing what others do. Thank you and looking forward to hearing more about all of it

 

[indyblue]

So is it fully carbonized or is there a little of the parent wood left? Is it the carbon density of the parent wood that is the desired feature, or is there residual wood for flavoring? With my process I can control these things so it makes no difference to me, but I don’t know what people want.

Looking at my bag of Cowboy charcoal it is 98% fully carbonized with traces of parent wood. I found a few larger chunks that appear to be from Whiskey barrel staves.

To light it I use a chimney starter like this, and not starter fluid.

I stuff 3 sheets of newspaper wadded up in the bottom and fill the the top with chunks. Ready to cook in less than 20 minutes.

 

[shibumiseeker]

Looking at my bag of Cowboy charcoal it is 98% fully carbonized with traces of parent wood. I found a few larger chunks that appear to be from Whiskey barrel staves.

To light it I use a chimney starter like this, and not starter fluid.
View attachment 119901
I stuff 3 sheets of newspaper wadded up in the bottom and fill the the top with chunks. Ready to cook in less than 20 minutes.

That’s very helpful. I was having trouble seeing the appeal other than heating without at least a little parent wood to lend the flavor. For my uses (smelting) I don’t want any volatiles left to pyrolyze. But it’s easy enough to halt the process at any point.

 

[JettaKnight]

I used lumps once - burnt too fast for my taste. I'll stick to the higher quality briquettes.

YMMV, i'm no grillmeister.


PS - a chimney starter is essential no matter what.

 

[indyblue]

yes the chunks burn faster but I like the results much better than briquettes. I was given a bag of Weber hardwood briquettes, pure charcoal without the clay additives and very impressive but pricier than chunks.

 

[phylodog]

I mistakenly bought briquettes last summer and figured I'd try them in my Big Green Egg even though they recommend against it. I couldn't get the egg up to temp with the briquettes for some reason.