Open Bags of Charcoal


 
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Everyone's answers to the lump versus charcoal question were excellent. Thanks. Then Dan Lutter brings up a question that I ran into today cooking the butts I purchased: The open bag of Kingsford that I had stored in my shed didn't want to burn very well today. I'd had it stored in the carport shed until recently. I thought it was pretty dry in there but it was sitting on the concrete floor. A couple of weeks ago I put it and some other closed bags into a large, tight-fitting garbage can on wheels. Sort of a portable tupperware idea. I'm worried that here in the land of the perpetual monsoon the briquetts will draw moisture. I wonder if those two twenty pound bags of unopened Kingsford is any good.

Butts have been on since 10 this morning; foiled at 3pm. I'm going to go check them now...

Yeah, I whimped out and foiled 'em. I didn't want to walk in tomorrow with a room full of 8th graders and not be 100%. Ya gotta come in with both eyes wide open!
 
Kyle.....

I go through quite a bit of charcoal over the years and have had only 1 problem with the briqs not burning right.

If you simply roll the bag back up tight after using it, this will avoid any problems of moisture. As far as storing for long times...I keep them in a non-heated garage(stored on the cement floor) and just used some up yesterday that have been around since the end of October. I see no need to break the package and store in plastic barrels.

Both lump and briqs will "attract" moisture, so if you have a problem with briqs, you probably will have the same problem with lump.
 
I live in Eugene, Oregon, it rains lots here. I leave my opened bags out in a carport. Fired up my kettle last night to do some fillets. Poured a nice pile on side, hit it with a brushburner for a few minutes and the cook was on. These fillets actually finished much faster than normal with lid temp reaching almost 500 degrees acording to the weber thermo. I have had no problem with damp briquets leaving them outside and in a open bag.
 
Well, if any place can relate to the rain like it is here in Bremerton, it's Eugene. Strangly, we've had a rather sunny winter thus far, knock on wood. Now watch; it'll rain 90 straight days like it did back in '92. No kidding--90 straight; I thought they were going to haul me off in a rubber truck.

I thought I'd rolled up the bag nice and tight, so hmmm. Maybe I need to get me one of those brush thingamajigs. I have a propane bottle to a grill I've virtually ignored...
 
It all depends on how you start the charcoal. I cooked the other day with very WET (not damp) Kingsford charcoal. I have three weber chimneys and after starting all three on a propane fish fryer and letting the charcoal get "well" started I cooked no problem. The charcoal had spilled out of the bag in the back of my pickup and had been rained on that day. The ribs were for my wife so I just wanted to see if I could do it and it does work. Kingsford ROCKS!
HTH,
 
grilling is not a problem, it is the smoker, where damp charcoal does not burn for long burns. After reading, maybe I am too fussy about burn temps. But One thing I learned is what one person thinks is good others would think is not working or vice versa. Guess that is why there are more then one brand of smoker or charcoal.

Dan L
 
I was talking about smoking, after I got everything started I smoked the ribs low and slow for six hours in a WSM with a Brinkmann water pan. While sand is nice I like the heat moderation of water and you can run the dampers a little more open with the same temp reading. I also try to run my top of the dome temp to 225 to 275 with the palm of my hand backing up all those fancy gauges /infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif
 
At Wal-Mart they have a large Rubbermaid container or a Sterlite container on wheels with a very tight fitting lid for $14. I bought one for wood and one for charcoal and keep the open bags in each of the containers. Even in damp weather everything stays dry. I have even left them out in the snow and the insides remain dry.
 
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