Weber is best briquette


 
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PaulBz

TVWBB Fan
Just an FYI. Well over 20 hours of burn in 14.5 wsm with heat shield under cooker on mason jar ring with BBQ mat under cooker. Taking out heat shield helps prolong burn as there is more room for ash. 225 degrees entire time.
 
It's $17 so much more expensive than kingsford. So I only use it for long cooks. Not sure who uses that as an everyday charcoal given the price. I'll stick with kingsford which is always on sale. I use kingsford blue for ribs and fish. And then professional for wings as that gets hotter and I'm only cooking for 2 hours. I love it how it says on the bag of professional though that it's their "longest burning". No it's not. It doesn't burn as long as blue. And long burning does not burn longer than blue. It only has slightly less ash. Only Weber for long cooks though. I can't believe how long it lasts.
 
How many pounds does it take for a 14" smoker?

I spend $10.00 on a large bag of RO lump, and I can get at least two smokes on the 18" WSM. I wonder if Weber would be more cost effective (excluding Kingsford blue bag) rather than lump? Might be worth looking into.
 
Well lump burns hotter than briquette right and doesn't last as long. That has beeen my experience as well. No way your'e getting 20 hours out of lump? I have the 14 inch and I got one and a quarter smokes I would estimate. I had about a quarter bag left after one smoke. I would imagine on an 18 inch you would only get one smoke and its $16. But I insulate my cooker and I am not sure how you add coals. That doesn't work and I'd have to open the cooker. And use more coals so more money. They don't light fully. I have the door shut with gorilla tape. And I found before I insulated the door it's really annoying fitting coals in there and you had to do one at a time. And then the cooker is open. This only applies to cooks over 12 hours. Everything else use blue or professional.
 
PaulBz said:
Well lump burns hotter than briquette right and doesn't last as long.
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Correct, as far as I can tell.

For what it's worth, I use a single layer of RO briquettes (after placing my smoke wood) on the grate, and then I fill the 18" smoker with heaping pile of lump. The single layer of briquettes acts as a barrier to keep small lump pieces from falling through the grate. I then ignite a small load of used coals for the 18" smoker's fire starter.

With this setup, I can get 8 to 10 hours of steady heat, although due to the nature of lump, I have to refuel if I want to expand smoke times. I have never tried lump in the 14" WSM due to the many unusual sizes and shapes which would leave large air gaps in such a small ring.

Weber coals, in spite of their price, may be a viable alternative to lump if it burns as long as forum members says it does, and it also has the added benefit of a nicer burn-off smell - which could add to the meat's flavor like lump does.

I like blue bag Kingsford, but I can't stand the burn-off smell if it gets in my food. I tried smoking a pork loin last week with Kingsford, minion method, and even after nearly an hour of waiting, blue burn-off smoke was still present. Pressed for time, I put the meat on, and the acrid smell transferred to finished product. :(

I still have much to learn though considering how blue bag Kingsford is the coal of choice around here.
 
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I started the cook at midnight Friday night. I finished at 5 he next day. I came home at 1 today and the smoker was still at 200 degrees. Now granted it's almost 100 degrees outside. But it wasn't hot overnight. Those weber briquettes last forever and the flavor is great. I have not heard of burn off smoke from kingsford. You must be doing something wrong. I use professional for every wing cook as it's only two hours. And they are so unbelievably fantastic. I could sell those in my new establishment and they would be famous city wide no doubt. Just mouth watering. The pork butt I just made was almost as phenomenal. I'm really getting it down with the 14 inch. My next purchase though would probably be a 22 inch? Why not just save up and spend another 100 for the 22. The 22 inch will fit whole rackks of ribs without having to use the rib rack. But maybe the 18 inch is better? I don't know. I am normally only cooking for a few people so the 14 inch works great for me. But I have had more people and I can only fir 2.5 pounds of wings on the 14 inch which is a bit annoying. I wish I could make more.
 
I have not heard of burn off smoke from Kingsford. You must be doing something wrong. I use professional for every wing cook as it's only two hours. And they are so unbelievably fantastic.
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Are you talking about using Kingsford Professional, only? I've never used it.

Kingsford in the blue bag has always given off a stinky smell before it begins to ash over - although, I believe, concerning smokers, that once the pit comes up to temp, the smoke will burn will eventually burn off even before all briquettes are lit. Royal Oak briquettes (red bag) has a stinky smell of its own, too, but I think it's a bit more tolerable. Even so, I like to see almost-clear exhaust before adding meat.
 
I used the sample bag I got from Weber yesterday to do a rotisserie chicken. It went almost an hour and a half without having to add any charcoal. I do think it took just a bit longer for the Performer to get up to temp.
 
Hmm I have never heard of this smell from Kingsford Blue. It's pretty much most people's choice. Maybe I need to learn about that though. I haven't noticed any smell or off tasting food. Professional doesn't burn as long but burns much hotter. So it's great for steaks or chicken wings that you want to get crispy.
 
Kingsford blue definitely has a smell compared to some of the others, but I like it. It's so nostalgic. I wouldn't change anything. If you don't like it they have other premium products that are great. I think that Weber's idea is so dumb it's brilliant. If you make the briquets bigger, they'll last longer! After a few cooks, I've enjoyed the Royal Oak as well. Moral of this story is I'm not that picky when it comes to charcoal. The weber does seem to have a pleasant smell when lighting. I think if money were no object I'd use it over a lot of the others, especially for long cooks.
 
I can't use kingsford for cooks over 12 hours because the coals don't last that long. Only weber lasts that long. I tried to squeeze more than 12 hours out of kingsford but could not. It's great to not have to open cooker to add coals. And I haven't mastered getting them lit either. Why not just does a better briqette. But at almost $20 a bag I only use for long cooks.
 
Dustin Dorsey said:
Kingsford blue definitely has a smell compared to some of the others, but I like it. It's so nostalgic. I wouldn't change anything.
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It is a very good direct charcoal product, but I can't tolerate that burn-off smell getting into my smoked meats. I hope to visit a sanctioned BBQ event and see if I'm doing something wrong.
 
Rusty James said:
It is a very good direct charcoal product, but I can't tolerate that burn-off smell getting into my smoked meats. I hope to visit a sanctioned BBQ event and see if I'm doing something wrong.
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It's something that's personal to you. I don't think you are doing anything wrong. I'm going to do a brisket cook this weekend. I'm probably going to try the weber on it and see if I notice a difference. I've done most of my long cooks with kbb, occasionally I've used lump on my offset.
 
Bob Correll said:
Weber charcoal is starting to get cleared out of some Target stores.
My check this morning shows 9 stores in my area have dropped it to $9.98 per bag.
Not sure how accurate brickseek is, and not sure if i should get a few bags now or wait to see if it goes lower, I do really like it, but not at a buck a pound.
Put in your zip code to check your area.
http://brickseek.com/target-inventory-checker/?sku=009-06-1387
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Thanks, Bob, it looks like the product has been reduced around here too. Might just pick up a bag or two.
 
I'm in north central Indiana and I'm seeing several stores listed on the brickseek page that are selling it at $5.98 for the twenty pound bag. That's pretty close to the per pound price we see on KBB when it goes on sale. I bought a bag and I wasn't that impressed with it, not even when I paid ten bucks a bag for it, but for $5.98 I'd stock up if I needed some.
 
Mark, what were you not impressed about? It burns much longer than kbb. I have brisket and pork butt cooks and they turned out great. I just didn't like the price. Now it seems to be going down in price which is good.
 
I agree, it seems to burn much longer than kbb. I guess, I'm mostly saying that in comparison to the price. I was also hoping that it would smell better too. It doesn't smell bad, at least no worse than kbb, I was just hoping for that premium price that it would smell smokier. That being said, if they ever ended up selling it during the special sales close to the same price as what we can get kbb then it would be my go to charcoal that I piled up in the garage. I've seen it several places for around ten bucks a bag on sale, but that's still too expensive for what you get in my book. Just my two cents worth.

BTW - I may have let my expectations get too high because the briquets look just like Maple Leaf brand briquets. If you ever get to Canada buy a bag of that stuff. When you start that up it smells just like a campfire, no joke. When I saw photos of the Weber briquets online I was hoping that Weber was using the same supplier as Maple Leaf.
 
Thanks. I have never tried those. If I am able to get my hands on one I will. I am still not understanding this smell that everyone is referring to. Maybe I just don't have as much of a sense of smell? KBB have smelled the same since I first saw then when I was a kid. I don't notice any funky smell coming from any briquette. Nor do I feel it has an impact on my food at all. Everyone that has tasted my food says it's the best they've had in St. Louis at least. I am my own harshest critic and find fault with everything I make. But my eventual goal when I do bbq in my own place is people saying it's the best in town. Everyone in St. Louis seems to use fruit woods exclusively. I did a cook with all cherry and apple. The ribs in my opinion were no where near my hickory cooks. Not hickory can be a little strong so maybe I'll mix a bit of apple in there. I mixed a little apple with hickory for my pork butt and it turned out great. The price got me on the weber's as well. KBB was about half the price. KBB I think will always be cheaper than weber though. So no since in spending more money unless I am doing a long cook. Which I do at least once a month so I'll be buying a lot of weber. But when I open my own place and I am doing cooks once a week which i plan on, spending all that money on weber could get costly. But apparently it's down now. I'm going to do all weber smoket mountains. The bbq I get out of mine is better than bbq joints here imho. But again they use all fruit wood which I don't like as much. I think it will be unique to get more hickory in there and people will love my bbq.
 
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