Charcoal[s] BTUs per pound

I'm trying to find out how many BTUs a pound of different charcoal products contain. I can't find anything concrete about this on Google, at least not about the Kingsford Original that many use. A 20lb tank of propane, as I understand it contains slightly over 400,000 BTUs and here in Cal. costs about $20. If I can get Kingsford original briquets for $.25/lb what's the price comparison with propane BTU-wise.
Thanks, from a certified tightwad.

How many BTU's are consumed per cook with propane? I know that there are a lot of variables to consider (outside temperature, amount of food being cooked, length of cook, technique used to cook, etc..). Are to trying to figure out what would be more cost efficient? I guess I would consider which fuel would give me the most amount of cook time.

I'm just interested in comparing BTU cost for charcoal and propane without the variables.

As I'm sure you know, it's hard to compare propane with charcoal. There's more waste with charcoal. You burn up a fair amount of the charcoal while it's lighting up, and you burn up a fair amount after you've finished cooking. With propane your only extra expense is the 10 minute heating up time. However, your propane grill may be using far more BTUs than your "cook" requires, as when you grill two hamburgers for lunch and you want the grill as hot as possible.

Is it cheaper to cook on gas or to use charcoal?

Weigh the propane tank, cook some hamburgers and weight the tank again.

Weigh a certain amount of charcoal and cook some hamburgers.

You then should be able to get an approximation of the cost of gas vs charcoal.

To get btu's. Put a gallon or 4 liters of water in a pot. Take the temperature of the water. Light one or two briquettes under the pot. When they are all burnt out, take the temperature of the water. You should be able to calculate the btu of a briquette.
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1 gallon of water = 8.35 lbs
So, if you raise the temperature of a gallon of water 1 degree Fahrenheit, you used 8.35 btu's. If one briquette raises the temperature of the water 15 degrees, the briquette has generated 15 x 8.35 = 125.25 btu's. Any volunteers for this calculation?

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Russell Y:

To get btu's. Put a gallon or 4 liters of water in a pot. Take the temperature of the water. Light one or two briquettes under the pot. When they are all burnt out, take the temperature of the water. You should be able to calculate the btu of a briquette. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>


That one right there gives me an headache.

Hi Kent,

This is a interesting question.

I found a reference for generic charcoal containing 9,000 BTUs per pound. I found a reference for Kingsford that indicated it contained 9,700 BTUs per pound. I don't know the accuracy of these values, but guess that they are in the ballpark.

My thought is that, all else being equal, the BTUs expended to cook an item is highly dependent upon the efficiency of the particular cooker and the cooking methods used for each type of cooker--propane fired and charcoal fired.

Why not track the pounds of each, propane and charcoal, used for similar cooks. Multiply the pounds of each fuel used by the cost per pound of the fuel. This method should give you a reasonable approximation of the cost of using charcoal versus the cost of using propane when cooking similar foods under, of course, similar conditions. Tracking multiple cooks under this scenario would likely give improved estimates of costs.

My guess is, that at nominal prices for both propane and for charcoal, charcoal would be more expensive to use in most smoking or grilling use. Despite any cost difference, one should also consider all the other advantages and disadvantages of using each fuel source.

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Agree with DL.

The efficiency and environment of the test setup plays a large part.

To make a determination, you would need to do a real test on each specific piece of equipment set up as intended to be used in a cook.

Without ever trying to calculate it, I always assumed that charcoal is more expensive than propane for an equivalent cook. If it tastes better, though, isn't it worth it?

Chow - gas vs charcoal

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Cost of Fuel

Propane
At the time of writing, it cost around $18 to fill a standard 20-pound propane cylinder, which yields about 20 hours of cook time. That equals a little over a dollar an hour to cook on gas.

Charcoal
A large chimney starter holds about six quarts of charcoal. Six quarts of a high-quality sustainably sourced lump charcoal will cost you about $1.70, and the equivalent quality in briquettes would be about $3.35. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I don't know how many BTUs per pound charcoal generates. I DO know that I will never, ever, ever be able to get my gas grill as hot as I can get my kettle, simply because propane will never, ever, ever burn as hot as a load of charcoal under the same conditions. That is simple, immutable chemistry.

If I need to sear anything, I'm using charcoal. End of story.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">To get btu's. Put a gallon or 4 liters of water in a pot. Take the temperature of the water. Light one or two briquettes under the pot. When they are all burnt out, take the temperature of the water. You should be able to calculate the btu of a briquette. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

It takes 8.34 BTUs to heat 1 gal of water 1 degree from 39* which is at its densist. So I guess if you start with 1 briquette to see if you can raise water temp 1 degree, then after cooling water back down to 39* (controlled), add another, so on, so forth. If 1 briquette raised the temp 2*, then 1 briquette would produce 16.68 BTU's. ...I think.