Damp Charcoal?


 
J

James Harvey

TVWBB Pro
I store my fuel in an outdoor garage. My lump is in a large plastic bin and I leave my briqs (I got a good deal but nothing against them) in the bag. Does anyone have an opinion on how a week of wet weather affects the fuel? I noticed the briqs took longer to come to temp after a wet week. This seems normal and didn't affect the finished product but I figured I'd ask.
 
I'm lucky enough to have a storage room in the house, but I feel your pain. I've had that happen in the past. Even though bagged, they do seem to absorb enough ambient moisture to make them harder to ignite.

Maybe a large Rubbermaid Tote or something with a pretty tight lid. I guess it depends upon how many bags you're talking about.
 
For longer term storage I'm starting to put my charcoal in a cabinet in the garage and putting one of those Damp-Rid tubs in there. I also try to remember to not open that door unless I really need to.

Of course living in Florida means that it's >90% humidity year-round. It may not be that way elsewhere.

Russ
 
My shed is pretty well ventilated and that's where I keep my bags. However, nowadays I try to keep some of each in my utility room lump and charcoal containers. If it's been damp much though, I'll leave it in the bag a while after bringing inside from the shed.

I use my leftover charcoal for grilling on the kettles, and since I started using the torch more I just leave it on the grates. I might have lump on one and briqs on the other, and I'm ready to grill on either in just a few minutes. I notice no issues if I leave the bottom vents wide open and the top closed, whether the grill is covered or not. Humidity doesn't make as big a difference when the charcoal is burning hot after torching for grilling so I'm not worried about having my grill set up with a bed of charcoal or lump ready to be lit. However, I don't leave briqs on the wsm grate overnight anymore. Only time I've had charcoal act funny was after doing that (not every time) or if the weather's really damp DURING a cook.
 
I'm also in Florida and I keep my charcoal in our shed. Yes, I do notice that it takes longer to start than when I lived in New Mexico. I just plan for a longer time for my chimney to be ready and my cooks go just fine.
 
Thanks all. I generally use RO lump but I got a deal on RO briqs and was wondering whether the setup lag was the moisture or the briqs. Moisture makes sense. We had a pretty humid few weeks here along with the rain so I'm sure it didn't help. I'm doing a butt tomorrow with the lump (it's wet here again) and I'll see how it goes.

Good thing is that after setup it burns like normal.
 
Thanks Bob. That makes sense. Maybe I'll dump them into another Rubbermaid container.

Related note, I'm looking for a few baking racks for the bottoms of the Rubbermaids to separate the dust from the coal.
 
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