Charcoal recommendations??

[MartinB]

In my experience, there are only a few bad choices out there. Member's Mark briquettes from Sams Club for example was pretty terrible when I tried it a few years ago... Kingsford original is a solid choice but it does produce a lot of ash. I'm trying some Blues Hog briquettes right now and I really like it so far.

Generally speaking, I agree with Mike Lucky - choice of charcoal is not a huge factor in how the food turns out in my opinion. Fire building method, temperature control on the cooker, seasoning, watching meat temperatures, and overall technique are all much bigger factors than charcoal selection.

Bayou classic... All natural.... Sounds good..... Crumbles into dust if you look at it wrong. Obviously does need some binder....

My preference has been b&b briquettes since Weber became unavailable. The only place I can find them is usually academy sports and their hit or miss. They're not real easy lighting but they do burn a long time and don't turn into a pile of ash by the time that chimney is lit like many charcoals do. I picked up a couple bags of cowboy natural briquettes today at tractor supply so we'll see how they do I haven't used them before. Picked up a little brisket to do tonight .

Update: well the cowboy lit in the chimney well big full pillows, that are all still there once it's lit unlike many that are half gone by the time the whole chimney is lit. Very reminiscent of Weber.

 

[MartinB]

I used cowboy on a brisket cook and I am very happy with it. This is the briquettes. I've read before people have found debris in their lump but honestly that's pretty true of all brands of lump. Made a trip back to tractor supply today and bought 12 bags of cowboy briquettes. I was very happy with the way it lit and burned over the duration of my brisket. Dumping that chimney full of big full glowing red pillows is so nice compared to the crappy little halfway gone pieces of charcoal you end up with from most brands by the time the chimney is even lit all the way. All these ridges on charcoal, are a gimmick. They are certainly not needed to get charcoal lit if anything they make it burn way faster.

 

[D. Dix]

I use a combo of RO Chefs select & B&B OAK lump. The lump is readily available my local Ace & RO Chefs select online, aka: Amazon. Tried JD in the WSM and did not like the arid flavor and the quick burn at all. With the 2 I use, the price is right, flavor is great, ash is minimal. I also got a Thermoworks Signals w/ Billows and it goes a great job holding temps in the 22”. Don’t seem to have trouble with my 18” holding temps. Always been very consistent. That’s my 2 cents. Have a blessed day everyone!

 

[D. Dix]

I used cowboy on a brisket cook and I am very happy with it. This is the briquettes. I've read before people have found debris in their lump but honestly that's pretty true of all brands of lump. Made a trip back to tractor supply today and bought 12 bags of cowboy briquettes. I was very happy with the way it lit and burned over the duration of my brisket. Dumping that chimney full of big full glowing red pillows is so nice compared to the crappy little halfway gone pieces of charcoal you end up with from most brands by the time the chimney is even lit all the way. All these ridges on charcoal, are a gimmick. They are certainly not needed to get charcoal lit if anything they make it burn way faster.

I used the Cowboy briqs awhile back. Found them on sale at Costco. They worked well. I found the density of the RO Chefs Select to burn forever with little ash left over. The Vortex is a nice add-on too. Use that when hanging sausage.

 

[RichPB (richlife)]

Thanks again to OP, @Stephen Ranti , and those who contributed for helping to get a somewhat updated notion of today's charcoal. After coming back and reading all the posts as well as reading a number of the Naked Whiz reviews, I don't see any reason to change from Royal Oak Lump (American). I don't have any concern for lump vs briquettes and prefer the lesser ash of lump -- especially in the smaller WSM 14.5. I'd like to see an updated assessment from Naked Whiz, but doubt it will be much different -- I haven't noted any changes.

I did make a comment in another post about the huge amount of small pieces at the bottom of my last bag of RO, but that may have been mostly settling or happenstance. 3/4 of the bag was fine. And now I know for sure how to handle the cook if I should find a similar distribution. Working now on some country style ribs using a new bag of RO -- the lump appears back to normal size distribution.