Trouble starting Kingsford charcoal..

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I had a strange problem this weekend. I needed charcoal so I went to Home Depot
and bought the 2 20 pound bags. Filled the ring and put about 25 bricks in the
chimney starter. Got the 2 sheets of newspaper and and started them. Waited about
ten minutes and put my hand over the chimney. No heat at all. Got another 2 sheets
and repeated. Still no heat after 5 minutes. Looked through the bottom of the starter
at the bottom bricks and just a very little grey on them. Normally I just fire up the
2 sheets of paper and the chimney does the rest. Luckily I remembered Jim M.
saying the propane fish cookers work great for starting charcoal, so I got mine and
was able to get it started that way. On the plus side, once I got the charcoal started
the rest of the cook went well. I had plenty of heat and the cooker held temp well. It
just seemed really odd to me that I couldn't start the charcoal the way I always have.
I seemed to remember someone else saying something along these lines, so I though I
would post and see if anyone else has been having any problems with recent Kingsford
purchases.

Also, I tried the foiling technique on my ribs. I did baby backs and foiled at the 3.5 hour
mark. Left them on for another 1.5 hours. I did achieve "falling off the bone" ribs. A
little too tender for me, had a hard time cutting them and leave them intact, but my
wife said they were the best ever. Next time I will foil some and not the others for a
more direct comparsion.
 
Also had a little problem this weekend with some Kingsford. Finally used a blowtorch, works every time! Will give the local Kingsford plant a call today and ask them if their formulation has changed at all.
 
It's normaly moisture in the charcoal, not uncommon at this time of the year.
Turkey cooker are not for deep fry'n.
Jim
 
Hi Jim, I did think about moisture but since I had just bought the bag I thought that might not be it. On the other hand, there is no telling how long those bags had been at Home Depot, so maybe that was it. I was thinking along the same lines as duck, maybe they had tried to "improve" the formula for the charcoal.....

So I guess I dropped $50 for a "Turbo Charcoal Starter" when all I thought I had bought was a fish fryer /infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif
 
I had the same problem with 'cold' Kingsford last year and sent them an EMail via their web site. They mailed me 2 cupons for 2 free 20lbs bags. Howz at!!!
 
Kingsford has made some kind of change to their charcoal, they won't just come and tell you that. While we have not had any problems starting it, we have noticed that it doesn't burn as long or as hot. Brian called Kingsford and they lady tried some lame excuses, until he explained to her how much we use in a years time and how we cook, she finally admitted the sometimes get too much softwood added to the mix. Tried to pass it off as an isolated incident, but I think it has become their norm. They also sent us a couple coupons.
 
I'll try and keep this short. /infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif
Kingsford's parent company, Clorox, has been rumored to be looking for a buyer of it's charcoal division. They have had a plant closure in the last 8 months or so, as a cost cutting measure. They are also contracting some charcoal production out to various suppliers in the hopes of cutting some costs. I suspect there will be "some" product deficiencies during this time, as any company could expect might happen, when this type of thing occurs. Don't expect the nice little lady on the phone to be forwarding this type of information to you. I also recall some type of heavy fine's being levied against them, within the past year for some excess emission problem. This may or may not be everyone's cause of problem, but I thought I would pass this along.
 
So, is RoyalOak the way to go now then? Or is their charcoal just as bad?
 
So, is RoyalOak the way to go now then? Or is their charcoal just as bad?

If that question is directed to me, I don't recall saying the charcoal was bad, in any way, shape or form. Doug had a great explanation on how he cured the problem of starting his fuel. Once it started he says that the cook was uneventful. That's good news.
 
I was referring to the statements made regarding Kingsford having changed/lowered their quality of ingredients/materials in making their charcoal.

My question is....if Kingford's quality has dropped and people are becoming dissatisfied with it....is Royal Oak Charcoal the best alternative?
 
Well, it looks like the time has come for everyone on the VWB to pool our resourses and buy that charcoal making division from clorox.

Could be a money maker.

Bill
 
Until I saw this thread, I thought I was dreaming. Two days ago, I bought 2-20lb bags of Kingsford from Home Depot. I used Minion #2 and loaded one rack of ribs. It took 2 1/2 hrs to reach 210 deg. I wanted a slo cook but not that slo.
 
Just called the local Kingsford plant and talked to someone there. He indicated that they have not changed their formulation at the Springfield, Oregon plant and to the best of his knowledge the other plants had not either. I gave him the url of this site and we might get a direct response from Kingsford.
 
I had a bag of Kingsford that I've had stored in the garage all fall and winter. I used some of it last week and had a hard time getting it started with the chimney. It took about 2 tries. I'm figuring that moisture got into bag.

I've been buying my Kingsford at Sam's Club for about $10.98 for 2-24lb bags and had no problems other than this incident. BTW know of any places to get it cheaper???

Thanks...
 
I have always had trouble with newspaper starting. One day I tried half a paper grocery bag, and have been using them ever since, with no starting problems.
 
I guess I should update this thread and say that I have since started another load of charcoal from the same bag using 2 sheets of newspaper with no problem. So I'm not sure what the problem was in Febuary, other then it was a grey, blustery day in the mid 50's. I did try to put up a wind block but perhaps I didn't have enough of one when starting the charcoal.

WyoJim, I will try the grocery sack trick, I still get some from the dairy store.
 
Just thought I's chime in on this. I have only been cooking with the chimney, Kingsford and the WSM for a short time (since November), but every time I've started charcoal in the Weber chimney, it's taken a couple of sets of crumpled newspaper. One thing I've noticed is it helps not to crumple the paper too tightly, but y'all probably knew that already. I store my charcoal out in my unheated garage, albeit with the top of the bag tightly rolled down. The last cook took 3 times to get the charcoal to take off. I'm chalking it up to the less than ideal weather and possible the charcoal having absorbed a small amount of moisture. That Weber chimney sure is great though. Wish I'd had one back in my Hibachi days (how's that for a blast from the past?)
 
The Kingsford plant in Springfield, Oregon is less than 10 miles from my house. If there is any interest I could do a little snooping around. Let me know and I'll see what I can do.

Go Ducks, Scooter
 
With my brother visiting from Alaska, we cooked a couple steaks out on the grill on Wednesday. We both forgot and left an open bag of Kingsford on the patio, vulnerable to the rain that night.

On Thursday night (10pm), with my brother from New Jersey (full house of family this week), we started a chimney of charcoal from that same bag of charcoal and it fired up on the first try.

We filled the WSM charcoal ring with "fresh" charcoal we purchased at Sam's, added the hot chimney, and it took 90 minutes to get up to 250 temp.

About 1am, went to bed with temp stable at 250 with one vent closed (windy side) Got up at 6am to check temp which was at 190!!, water pan was dry, and charcoal was virtually all ashes. To our dismay, wind had changed direction 180 degrees, plus added 1-2 inches of snow to ground cover.

So, charcoal that was rained on worked fine; fresh charcoal took forever to get hot, and once it did, must have burned like the blazes.

In any event, another full chimney of lit charcoal rivied the two butts we were cooking. Brought them up to 190 before pulling to rest, pull, and enjoy.

Dale
 
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