Best charcoal?


 
Personally not a fan of Kingsford. I don't like the taste they impart on my cooks or their smell, and on top of that they produce quite a bit of ash. I switched to Royal Oak briquettes and the taste is lightyears ahead, smell is amazing and little to no ash even when poking around in the fire ring.

I'm relatively new to smoking so I'm still playing around with a lot of things, and last night I did ribs with royal oak and cherry wood. I tried filling only 1/4 of the fire ring just to see how it would cook and it maintained around 200F for a good 2 1/2 - 3 hours before it started dipping down. I light one of my smoking wood chunks in the chimney now and it got quite smokey but I monitor that stage from my kitchen window looking out to my backyard anyways. After about 20 minutes in the chimney the charcoal was giving off almost no smoke and burning clean.

Royal Oak briquettes are also cheaper as I got a 15lb bag for $8 this weekend.
 
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Chris Allingham said:
The current "charcoal du jour" is probably Jealous Devil Maxxx briquets or one of their lump products.
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Found this on their web site...

Pitmasters, chefs, competitors and enthusiasts nationwide are seeing the light (…and the heat. And the lack of sparks and ash. And… well, you get the picture).​
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As much as I like Royal Oak All Natural Premium, it does spark when when dumping it onto the grate. Wear old clothes. :giggle:​
 
I have 100% fallen in love with Jealous Devil lump. Now the price is a premium price on this brand but it does things that no other charcoal I have tried does. Now I don't use it all the time, I have a more cost efficient brand on hand as well and use the for more generic cooking like low and slow or something that is fairly quick too. The Jealous Devil will burn nice and low for me and burn for a long time if I want and then get hotter than any charcoal I have seen and fast. My best example is when smoke / searing a picanha roast. These are usually around 3 pounds maximum and have the shape of a trip tip. I like to get it on the kettle around 250 or so and go indirect for around an hour or until about 110 internal. From there I just open up everything and leave the lid off.....in no time the charcoal is glowing deep red or even possibly has a flame or two. It is really hot now and sear both side from there, and that sear comes fast.....if the internal temp needs to be higher yet I just set it back to indirect for a few minutes, it doesn't take long and try to pull about 125 and let it rest.....the results are out of this world.
 
Has anyone had any trouble with Jealous Devil warping their charcoal grate? I'm seriously thinking about buying a bag for experimentation.
 
I have used it in the smoker which is nothing and then in the SNS on the performer at full tilt.....but never on the grate and without any issues.
It burned all the hair off of my forearm getting the grill into place.....all of it.....I still love that stuff, I want to use it for all my smokes too but it's a bit costly and I try to use some weber bricks and things like that for smokes.
 
Darryl - swazies said:
I have 100% fallen in love with Jealous Devil lump. Now the price is a premium price on this brand but it does things that no other charcoal I have tried does. Now I don't use it all the time, I have a more cost efficient brand on hand as well and use the for more generic cooking like low and slow or something that is fairly quick too. The Jealous Devil will burn nice and low for me and burn for a long time if I want and then get hotter than any charcoal I have seen and fast. My best example is when smoke / searing a picanha roast. These are usually around 3 pounds maximum and have the shape of a trip tip. I like to get it on the kettle around 250 or so and go indirect for around an hour or until about 110 internal. From there I just open up everything and leave the lid off.....in no time the charcoal is glowing deep red or even possibly has a flame or two. It is really hot now and sear both side from there, and that sear comes fast.....if the internal temp needs to be higher yet I just set it back to indirect for a few minutes, it doesn't take long and try to pull about 125 and let it rest.....the results are out of this world.
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Yep. I tried JD Maxx briquettes first and liked those a lot. But JD Lump is great for all the reasons you gave, plus it gives off very good smoke flavor on it's own. You can get away without using raw wood chunks on shorter cooks. I did a pichana once on my 18 in wsm and got great oak notes on it.
 
I picked up a 10lb bag (briquettes) at Academy Sports for $15.00 today. I also saw some lump next to it, and after reading Casey's post, I wished I had purchased a bag of it too.
 
I must have more to learn, with everyone wanting the briqs more than the lump. Or maybe it is just a cost saving technique???
I love the burn and the flavor out of most lump I use, not to put briqs down of course, I have my 5 bags of Weber too....
 
Darryl - swazies said:
I must have more to learn, with everyone wanting the briqs more than the lump. Or maybe it is just a cost saving technique???
I love the burn and the flavor out of most lump I use, not to put briqs down of course, I have my 5 bags of Weber too....
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I prefer briquettes because good charcoal is predictable.
 
I tried B&B lump this weekend on my friend's WSM. That stuff got real hot, real fast. Granted, his WSM has only been used a couple times, and it was sunny & upper 80s, so those factored in. But the B&B caught quickly in the chimney starter and was well over of 300 degrees in less than 10 minutes. I was able to adjust the dampers to get the temp under control. And by the time I got the meat on (3 tri-tips), it was back down to the upper end of the smoking part of the lid thermometer. I think I will hold off on using B&B for only grilling.
 
I smoked three butts Thursday for a birthday dinner with 50% JD briquettes, including a mixture of Royal Oak All Natural Briquettes (single layer on the bottom) and Royal Oak Lump on the top, plus home grown hickory for smoke. The 18" WSM held steady temps for 12 hours, and I got rave reviews from the dinner patrons for the taste of the meat. I'd say it was one of my better smokes. I'll pick up another bag of JD next week.
 
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