Stubbs/Backyard Grill/B&B go head to head...sort of.


 
D

Dave Russell

TVWBB Honor Circle
The weather was fantastic and I wanted to cook, but had to go to Nashville before lunch, and then back there for a hockey game last night. Anyhow, I was sort of "organizing" my fuel supply and had just a wee bit of B&B charcoal briquettes from my last butt cook. Then I had a brainstorm of doing a little charcoal comparison. All three bags have been stored in the house. Now I know that you can't tell how much heat each charcoal type is putting off when it's in the same smoker, but I wanted to compare the smoke and didn't want to get "too scientific.";)


Here's what I did with my charcoal samples. I lit one Weber starter cube under a briquette on one end of each charcoal basket. STUBBS to the left, B&B in the middle, and Walmart's Backyard Grill to the right:


Here we go. All five vents open 100%. I'm checking for smoke and want to see what kind of temps I can get with this in an empty 22".


I should've taken a shot of the B&B briquettes when they were "flaming", but they quit burning not too long after I shut one of my top vents. They've been burning FAST! Smoking the most as well, curiously.


Stubbs and B&B both still smoking significantly more than the Backyard Grill charcoal.


Backyard Grill briquettes still taking it's time.


All said and done, Stubbs and B&B had aprox. 25% less ash than the Backyard Grill charcoal.


Most smoke to least smoke: B&B oak briquette, Stubbs, Backyard Grill (significantly less)
Fastest to slowest burn rate: B&B, Stubbs, BG (also lasting longer because of larger size)
Ash amounts: B&B and Stubbs left aprox. 25% less ash than the BG charcoal from Walmart.

One thing I learned is that I won't be using the fuse in my wsms for anything. I don't cook that low or that little. Anyhow...I might give the B&B a try if I was doing HH cooks. I think the Backyard Grill is a clear winner here for all around smoking, though. It's much cheaper than the other two, seems to burn cleaner, and would probably be comparable in actual btu's produced. (I know...you'd have to fire up three smokers to know for sure.) Anyhow, Stubbs might be the better choice for tough conditions with a full cooker or with water in the pan, though. ***Does anyone know if the Royal Oak Chef's Select is the same formula as the Backyard Grill charcoal from Walmart (or the Outdoor Gourmet briquettes from Academy Sports)?***

Well, I hope this might help someone a bit in future charcoal choices! It's beautiful outside and we need to be cooking! Dave
 
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Naked Whiz, eat your heart out!:p
Nice comparisons Dave.

Guess a burn between BG and ROCS is in order.
You Can Do It!
 
I agree !!! Great job, Dave !!!

Interesting BG had the most ash by a long shot since theirs has less binders.
or.. maybe that is why more ash ??

If this is the case, I wonder what happens to the binders during each briquest's consumption...

Quick question on the ash measurements... is that the amount of ash that fell below the briquests ?
 
Bob Bass said:
I agree !!! Great job, Dave !!!

Interesting BG had the most ash by a long shot since theirs has less binders.
or.. maybe that is why more ash ??

If this is the case, I wonder what happens to the binders during each briquest's consumption...

Quick question on the ash measurements... is that the amount of ash that fell below the briquests ?
Click to expand...

It's all of the ash. I just dumped the baskets over where they'd been sitting and then scooped out each of the three piles with a paper plate.
 
Bob Bass said:
I agree !!! Great job, Dave !!!

Interesting BG had the most ash by a long shot since theirs has less binders.
or.. maybe that is why more ash ??

If this is the case, I wonder what happens to the binders during each briquest's consumption...

Quick question on the ash measurements... is that the amount of ash that fell below the briquests ?
Click to expand...

Bob, I think the more binders, the more ash, the slower the burn, and the less btu's. The surprise to me was how much more smoke the Stubbs and the B&B produced. I was under the impression that the binders produced the charcoal characteristic smoke, but I don't know.... Thanks.
 
Shop 'n Save store brand.
They have ridges, but don't know if they're the larger size.
Made by RO no doubt.

CAM00067.jpg
 
You mentioned that the BG are larger, so it would seem they would have more ash then as well. No?
Thanks Dave for the comparison.
Kg
 
KeithG said:
You mentioned that the BG are larger, so it would seem they would have more ash then as well. No?
Thanks Dave for the comparison.
Kg
Click to expand...

I don't see how size or shape would matter, but the BG briqs did leave significantly more ash than the Stubbs or B&B.
 
Dave Russell said:
I don't see how size or shape would matter, but the BG briqs did leave significantly more ash than the Stubbs or B&B.
Click to expand...
Well it depends on how you loaded the charcoal in the baskets. If you loaded them in by weight, then the size doesn't matter for the ash produced. But if you loaded them by quantity so each has equal amount of briquettes, then the larger ones would be expected to produce more ash.

But I just took a look at your picture and it appears they weren't loaded with an equal quantity in each. (I didn't look with my first reply) So, yea size didn't really matter.

Thanks again for the info.
Kg
 
KeithG said:
Well it depends on how you loaded the charcoal in the baskets. If you loaded them in by weight, then the size doesn't matter for the ash produced. But if you loaded them by quantity so each has equal amount of briquettes, then the larger ones would be expected to produce more ash.

But I just took a look at your picture and it appears they weren't loaded with an equal quantity in each. (I didn't look with my first reply) So, yea size didn't really matter.

Thanks again for the info.
Kg
Click to expand...

Oh....Sorry I didn't clarify that Keith. Yep, I measured out each charcoal by volume, best I could.
 
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