home depot hardwood charcoal briquettes, $3 for 20lbs


 
Originally posted by Mitch:
The Home depot in Neptune #949, 3540 Route 66, Neptune, NJ 07753
(732)922-6580

Mitch
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Thanks for the tip. I have some business down that way anyways this week so I'll have to stop in and grab some.
 
Hi all,
Did two butts on Saturday with a 50/50 mix of K and Rancher. After a 13+ hour cook, it was still burning strong. Next time, I'm going to go with all Rancher. Very impressed!
Steve
 
It wasn't that cheap when I popped in yesterday to my local store. I think it may have been $4.99 per bag.

*edit: I guess I missed the sale by a few days.
 
Eric W,

The Edison HD had them in stock. They had one left when I got there and I took it. I then went to the South Plainfield HD and they had whole pallet full.

Michael
 
Looks like I have to go have a talk with that guy at the Edison HD
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, Anyways thanks for the tip. I have plenty of Kingsford so I wasn't worried about the sale, but I do want to see how well it cooks.
 
I picked up 140 pounds the other day in Roseville, CA at the $2.99 price. I think it cooks great. I have had good cook times went BBQing and great heat when grilling with it.
 
The ash was noticeable difference less than using K but nothing signifigant like I first thought.

Something I did notice last weekend was the aroma. I was walking around nearby the smoker and smelled the cherry. I didn't think a whole lot about it but the cherry seemed cleaner smelling. It just plain smelled good.

Fast foreward to today. I just put 4 butts on the magnum. It has been going for about 2 hours. There is no smoke it is clear. There is a decent wind but smoker is on downwind side of building. It gets a swirl of wind every now and then. If I get within 25 feet of the smoker I can smell the rub, along with some smoke. It is like you can take a bite of the cherry. I can also smell the oak but that is it. With maybe the exception of a bit of fat that makes its way to the fire.
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Don't get me wrong I have experienced similar aroma from regular K but not as often and certainly only a couple of hours into the cook. The Rancher I believe gives a cleaner smell off.

All I know is I like it.
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This stuff goes on sale again I am getting a pallet. I love this stuff. I just found frountier lump about a month ago, which I really like but The store I buy it doesn't seem to be ordering it anymore. I will probobly not switch back to RO lump and go with this charcoal instead. I can't say enough good things about Rancher charcoal.
 
I love this stuff! I had been following various posts on the forums, and over the Memorial Day weekend (I had to work) I stopped on my way home and picked up almost 60 bags! I didn't want to be a ball hog, but there was a new pallet out every morning.
I did a break in cook on a rescued WSM using a BRITU firing and did a rack of trimmed spares and 2 whole chickens with apple for smoke and they turned out great, the Rancher takes a bit longer to get up to temp but I never had any issues with it. 9PM I fired up my drum smoker with @10 lbs of Rancher and had a 8.5# Picnic and an 8# butt, again it took a bit longer than Kingsford to get going but once it did, it was rock steady, I had to shake the ashes at 6AM and pulled the pork and coolered for a few hours. The Rancher was still burning, at noon I dumped the leftover coals from the WSM and half a chimney of fresh briqs and let it go and put on a rack of Babybacks and a rack of chicken legs. This was cooking for almost 24 hrs on @16 lbs of briq! Very little ash, no off smell like Kingsford and long lasting. I'm hooked on this stuff!
 
Get it while the getting is good, indications are that it is a seasonal buy.

Either Rancher made them an offer they couldn't refuse, or Kingsford didn't want to meet demand at previous holiday blowout prices.
 
Probably said already, but the $2.99 went to $4.99 after Memorial Day. Still reasonable, IMHO.
 
I bought a bunch at $2.99 but I'd buy it at $4.99 a bag. I'm really liking this stuff. I haven't done a long cook with it yet but I did some grilling. One thing I've noticed is I stay a whole lot cleaner with Rancher than with K.

I have some chickens to cook tomorrow and some butts on Fri night into Saturday so I should have a better feel for it by then.

Michael
 
I did some non scientific studies this past weekend. On Saturday I started a chimney of K and put into the side baskets of the kettle. All but maybe one or two pieces fit into the baskets since the charcoal at the bottom of the chimney were quite smaller. I smoked a meatloaf for around 90 minutes and immediately followed with another. I kind of forgot about it and the next thing I know the second meatloaf is 45 min into the cook. I walk out to check and the temp is at 200. I started some more and added them.

Sunday was like a mirror image only this time I finally used up all my K and used Rancher. I started again with one chimney. The chimney seemed to be more evenly lit in less time than the K but I didn't time it. When it was going I put the coals into the baskets. Something strange this time. Both baskets were full and I had even dropped a few briquetts on the back side of the basket. I had like a quater chimney of coals left. The ones on the bottom were the same size as the ones on the top of the chimney. I filled both sides to the top of the basket between the basket and the kettle itself. I smoked the first meatloaf and immediately threw on the second and cooked it completely. I would be willing to bet I could have smoked a third using the same coals I started with. It would definately be a bummer for this to only last one season.
 
I made the same observation. The K goes up fast, starts fast and burns away faster. I wonder if they put lighter fluid in it and that's why they no longer list exactly what's in it.
 
I picked up a bag of Ranchers and told my wife it was the heaviest 10# bag of charcoal I've ever lifted. She looked at it and told me it was 20#. These briquettes are so dense, once they light, they will burn for a long time.

I grilled some steaks Sunday, put the lid on when I was done, but left the bottom vents open on the OTG by accident. I came back out 3 hrs later to see if the grill had cooled off. The Ranchers was still going like crazy and the briquettes looked like they hadn't burned down very much. This is some good stuff.
 
$2.99 - I missed that sale but grabbed some a few weeks back for $4.99 and thought that that was too good to be true. The stuff works great. Far better than K. Hopefully I'll luck out and find it on sale sooner or later - like tonight because I am going there after work.
 
I did a 6 hr rib cook that was a bit unstable for some reason (may not have anything to do with the charcoal) but I was amazed at how little of the charcoal was used! 6 hrs at 250F and only about 15-20% of a full ring was used.
 
I struggle with the smell of Kingsford as it gets going. I have never detected an off flavoring in food, but....
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I have used lump exclusively for at least a year. I have liked it, and have had good success. My only issue is sparking. Given my setup and some positive reviews of the Rancher product, I thought I would give it a try. I did a high heat cook on 1/2 a chimney and it held 375 for two hours. It is now 3 hours since it was dumped and the temp in the kettle is still 275. It seems to have some staying power. The binder of this product is Yucca starch.. ??? I know nothing about that, but there is no off smell. I really like the idea of a combination of a quality lump and quality briquette. It’s the best of both worlds. I will definitely continue to play with it.

Q'n, Golf'n & Grill'n... too many choices!
Gary
 
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