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For Flavor Does the Brand of Charcoal Matter in a PBC?

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    For Flavor Does the Brand of Charcoal Matter in a PBC?

    In the past few months I've been experimenting with various brands of charcoal that I've found deeply discounted. The one thing I've noticed is these various brands produce noticeably different smelling smoke while they are heating up. KBB has a bit of a rancid smell when it's producing while heating up. Embers (made by Royal Oak) does too. The funny thing about Embers is the actual Royal Oak hardwood brand produces pleasant-smelling smoke, much like Weber.

    The reason I'm asking this question is laying 40 lit coals on top of a bunch of unlit coals results in a lot of charcoal smoke, much moreso than minion or fuse in a kettle, WSM, etc. Given how much charcoal smoke the PBC generates it would seem to me that the brand of briquette would matter.

    Last night I cooked a whole chicken and quartered 2 large russets that were skewered and hung in the PBC. I lit a chimney of Embers (once it's fully lit, it's fine) and poured them over a layer of unlit Royal Oak. The potatoes picked up a REALLY nice, pleasant and soft smoke flavor, reminiscent of the last time I cooked with expensive lump.

    Has anyone else noticed this?

    #2
    I've noticed it a bit. The Weber was more woody than KBB. KBB gives more of a "cooked with charcoal" flavor. On the other hand if you let the PBC get good and lit, and especially if you use wood chunks it doesn't seem to matter that much.

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      #3
      I’ve noticed differences in the taste of Weber vs KBB, but more-so with my kettles than my PBC. I think that flavor is more significant as the briquettes are lighting and ashing over. In an SNS on a kettle you’ve got a slow fuse with briquettes constantly lighting, thus more of that taste imparted. With my PBC I almost always do a 10-10-10 lighting, and have noticed by the time I’m ready to put meat on, the charcoal basket is ashed over pretty well. Plus you’ve got that fat dripping-smoking factor going on which to me adds more significant flavor than anything else including wood chunks.

      Bit of a different take, but thats the rhyme and and reason I made up in my own head anyway - had pondered the same thing! I might have to buy a second PBC and do side by side cooks with different fuel to confirm... 😈

      Comment


      • JeffJ
        JeffJ commented
        Editing a comment
        I do think the drippings tend to mask differences. I really noticed it last night because a 4 pound chicken doesn't create much in the ways of drippings nor do potatoes, so it was mostly charcoal smoke on its own.

        With a fuse only a handful of coals are partially lit at a time, whereas in the PBC you have an entire layer of lit coals on top of a bunch of unlit coals.

      • FishTalesNC
        FishTalesNC commented
        Editing a comment
        JeffJ what I was thinking is that while there are just a few lit at a time in a fuse, they are being lit slowly and constantly thru out the cook. The PBC has a lit layer on top initially, but over the next 20 min (before food goes on) they’re all pretty well lit it seems when I look back at past pics. So I don’t think that initial combustion is in play and contributing to "that taste" as much. But again, purely a non scientific guess on my part, maybe I’m completely misreading the process..

      #4
      I know this is an old thread, but I figured I’d give you a heads up that I had a very bad experience with Embers brand charcoal as well.

      I’m a huge Royal Oak fan, and I’ve used their stuff almost exclusively for years. Including their store brand stuff, Walmart, Kroger once in a bind (their prices are atrocious), Academy etc. And never had a single issue. Loved it in fact, found it to burn hotter/longer/less ash than KBB for much cheaper.

      I’m actually a bit perplexed that people actually like KBB, stuff smells like a chemical fire when you light it, and I’ve never seen it anywhere close to as cheap as RO. I mean shoot it’s basically as expensive as B&B around here and that stuff is amazing. That’s actually worth the premium over RO. Anyways I digress.

      But I’ve never used Home Depot’s "embers" though. And while I didn’t notice anything in the PBC (the drippings & smoke masked it same as KBB). I sure as hell did in my PK.

      Shit was burning green flames and gave off this horrible chemical smell that ruined the food. Nearly ruined a second cook after I’d completely cleaned out the grill and switched to B&B. It’d cling on despite the scrubbing with degreaser.

      Threw that bag away and used another, not as bad (no green flames this time) but still the same chemical smell till the briquettes had 100% ashed over. I’m returning the rest of the bags I bought.

      Thank goodness the Walmart in hipster-ville I drive past on the way to work still has RO Premium in the 2 bag special left over from the 4th or Memorial Day or I’d be even more pissed than I already am. My wife’s 5 months pregnant, and she ate the Boston butt I did over that wood they apparently dug out of mine tailings.

      Its gonna take every bit of self restraint I’ve got not to blow up on the Home Depot Manager. I already shared my thoughts with RO via their website. Not nice thoughts as you can imagine.

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