home depot hardwood charcoal briquettes, $3 for 20lbs


 
Sold! I'm taking the advice of Rancher fans and stopped by Home Depot in Bothell, WA on my way home from work yesterday. I picked up 4 bags for 4.99 ea. Still a bargain for a 20 lb bag of all natural hardwood. I was at Costco in Woodinville, WA this afternoon to buy my baby backs (3.99 per lb in case any one wants to know) and saw the lump all natural Costco brand at 8.99 for 20 lbs. Can't wait till Sunday to get the WSM fired up for the bb's.
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I have been using it for grilling up until today. Fired up the WSM at 4:30 this morning, added 1 lit chimney on top of 2/3 ring of unlit. Put on 2 7 pound butts, and the temp has held rock solid at 250 ever since.
 
Did a cook yesterday with it, full ring of unlit with 12 lit for a Minion method burn. It went for 11 hours at 250+ at the lid (it was my first cook using a clay pot base instead of water and I don't think I caught the temps on the way up soon enough, most of the cook was in the 270-280 degree range but it was very stable at that temp once I cut the vents back). After removing the meat I opened the vents to use the remaining coals to burn off some of the gunk on the grates and 5 hours later it was still at 270 at the lid. IMHO this stuff is a keeper.
 
I am sold on this stuff as well. Did a long cook this weekend and it burned even with less ash than kingsford. After I took the brisket off I still had quite a bit of coals left as well. Just wish I had caught it at 2.99 a bag.
 
I'll put in another vote for it. I've been using the new Kingsford here lately and if I start a cook at midnight I have to add another chimney at 9-10 am. And, there's a ton of ash. Not so with the Rancher. It was late afternoon until it started getting cooler. Long after the eat was done. And, good flavor. I'll for sure be watching for the sale. I may buy a pallet.
 
Here are my impressions of Rancher:

1) Very neutral aroma--none of the bad smell that Kingsford gives off when lighting.

2) Very long burn times. I would love to see a BTU comparison test with K. I think Rancher would win.

3) Less ash than K, but a little more likely for ash to fly up when grilling in windy weather. That problem is not an issue in the WSM.

4) Compared to K, it is harder to kill the fire by shutting down the vents. It seems to keep on going until the fire burns out unless you are really air tight.
 
There are 3 Home Depot stores within 10 miles of my home and one of them had the Rancher charcoal on sale for $2.50 for a 20# bag. The other 2 stores had none at all. I bought several bags and based upon the reviews here, I'm looking forward to trying it in my smoker.
 
I used mine today for BRITU. With the new K, 2 bowls would start running out of steam at around the 4 hour mark. With the Rancher, all I had to do was monitor the temp and adjust my vents all the way to the end (about 5.5 Hrs). My biggest fear now is that Home Depot will stop carrying it. I haven't taken the smoker apart yet, but peaking through the door, looks like there's a lot left in the bowl. Also, with 1 Weber starter wax cube, in the Weber chimney, took 25 minutes to start the whole thing.
 
Fired up my wsm, minion method, using Rancher briquetts to cook 7 lb. butt and some fatties Sat. 2:00 a.m. for late lunch.
Pulled butt off at 12:30 p.m. internal temp 190.
left the wsm burning as it was. therm temp at about 255. 7 p.m. temp was still at 250.
We have a new HD opened this week in my town.
Visited it about 8 a.m. sat. No Rancher charcoal. Guy in the dept. never heard of it, only Kingsford. Guess i'll drive to Montgomery,
25 miles, to get more Rancher after I use the 80 lb. I bought last trip.
This stuff is good!
Jerry P
 
For me this stuff is getting hard to find. I went to a home depot last week. Not my normal store but I was out of town working. I looked around for the rancher, not real hard but looked around and didn't see any rancher. I just went tonight to pick up a new attic stairs at my normal store and I didn't see the pallet in the aisle like it was. It was right across from the info desk so I ask them if they know where it is. They directed me to the grill section and the only thing I could find was K. I went down to the other end of the store and they have a ton of gassers out and there is where I found what was left of the rancher. I get the feeling this is about over. The CSR's who I asked about it in the begining said they were probobly going to not carry it anymore. I was going to ask someone else before I left because the first 2 didn't have a clue but of course I forgot.

Just when I get something good around here it goes away just as fast. I find frountier lump and the store quits carrying it. Now this rancher seems to be going away. I hope this stuff makes it for another sale around the 4th. I would love go get a killer deal on a pallet.
 
Hopefully it is just a restocking issue. Hopefully they will have it on sale again next week.

It hasn't been on sale since Memorial day weekend.
 
I was at my local HD last night and the price tag on the Rancher was $3.74, so I bought the 10 bags they had on the floor. When I was cashing out I asked if they had any more left and I was told they had 120+ bags left. I guess I'll be going back for more!
 
Well, I went back to HD today to get a few more bags and wouldn't you know after I left HD, I noticed they rung up at $2.99! Needless to say I went back with yesterday's receipt and they honored the $2.99 price. Looks like I need to make more room in the shed!
 
I talked to a Mr Krause at the Original Charcoal Company a couple of days ago since at least two of the three HDs here in Tulsa have told me that their shipments of Original Rancher were one-time shots. He verified that - the main HD buyer was not planning to restock, as Kingsford evidently has a "deal" going with HD.

Mr. Krause would love to have Original Rancher in all the Home Depots on a regular basis, as would I. Write your local Home Depot manager, and e-mail Home Depot's main customer service e-mail. If they realize that they have the market for it, we can get it back.

Keri C
 
I'm heading out for some more of this stuff hopefully today. This stuff is magic. I'm cooking a pork butt today. 60 degrees, cloudy and windy, the vents are barely open and my WSM is on a rail at 235 for the last 3 hours. It does smell better than Kingsford (although like another poster mentions, that smell doesn't seem to transfer to the food).

If it's really not coming back, then I'm going to take advantage of the shelf-space I just freed up in the garage.
 
Just picked up 15 bags on the local Depot in Shawnee KS for 2.99. About 30 bags left.
 
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