I am delinquent in posting this because I wanted answers to my questions before sharing my first experience with the Panzerschwein. I had left Dennis a message and today he phoned me back. I had asked him why I only got 6 hours 😐 of burn time from a half basket of hardwood charcoal when he states much longer durations in the Komodo Kamado. Yes, only 6 hours at 230F, 😟 I refilled my charcoal basket twice for a 17 hour pork butt cook. Needless to say I was non-plussed (- +) 🧐🤯
He kindly reminded me of some basic principals of thermodynamics. Nothing he told me was revelatory. Incidentally he was mentored by someone who worked at Kingsford for decades which is where he learned some things. I’ll get to the point - basically charcoal has a consistent unit energy per mass. However, the density (mass per volume) varies significantly depending on your product. And his reported duration is based on using a product that he produces which is very dense and has low ash production compared to other charcoals etc. READ: Your mileage may vary 🤨.
For low and slow Dennis would always use a full basket of fuel. He doesn’t recommend using a deflector, although one is included, rather he likes to use a piece of foil barely larger than your protein. I asked what do you use the splitter for and he said rotisserie and grilling. Rotisserie the coals are in the back and a loaf pan fits perfectly on the non coal side. Grilling he angles the divider so its from 7-1 o’clock (he is right handed) and then does a reverse sear and enjoys not leaning over the hot coals while cooking. OK, these are hot tips 😉 He was very surprised that my charcoal didn’t last longer, it was B&B oak lump, the fact that all 3 half baskets were consistently 6 hours indicates thats probably representative for that product (or that bag of that product).
Are you with me, yes I’m still annoyed 😑🧮🔭🧩 After that first cook, and before I had talked to Dennis, I realized I was going to need to get some extruded log type charcoal and I went to Ace and got some B&B competition char logs which look similar to the cocochar that he has developed. I should have ordered some of the cocochar with my cooker as the shipping would have been included but the link for it wasn’t on the web site when I ordered. As of today I only see boxes of the coffee smoking wood. I can get a box of cocochar on Amazon for $56/22 pounds 😱😳😲😧🫢😤🤬
IF a single basket gets 80 hours of burn time as he states it is actually a better deal than hardwood lump. Plus it is only 2% ash compared to 7-10% ash for most charcoal. It is also completely neutral so it will not impart any flavor and only the wood chunks I use will season my cook. I have ordered a single box of cocochar and I will provide burn time and grams to fill the basket and I will compare the specs to the B&B competition char logs along with results etc.
If it meets spec I will try to find some people that want to go in on a pallet and/or I’ll become a charcoal saleswoman. 🧳👩💼🃏 Some pics of the basket and splitter etc 😆🔥🔥🐿️
He kindly reminded me of some basic principals of thermodynamics. Nothing he told me was revelatory. Incidentally he was mentored by someone who worked at Kingsford for decades which is where he learned some things. I’ll get to the point - basically charcoal has a consistent unit energy per mass. However, the density (mass per volume) varies significantly depending on your product. And his reported duration is based on using a product that he produces which is very dense and has low ash production compared to other charcoals etc. READ: Your mileage may vary 🤨.
For low and slow Dennis would always use a full basket of fuel. He doesn’t recommend using a deflector, although one is included, rather he likes to use a piece of foil barely larger than your protein. I asked what do you use the splitter for and he said rotisserie and grilling. Rotisserie the coals are in the back and a loaf pan fits perfectly on the non coal side. Grilling he angles the divider so its from 7-1 o’clock (he is right handed) and then does a reverse sear and enjoys not leaning over the hot coals while cooking. OK, these are hot tips 😉 He was very surprised that my charcoal didn’t last longer, it was B&B oak lump, the fact that all 3 half baskets were consistently 6 hours indicates thats probably representative for that product (or that bag of that product).
Are you with me, yes I’m still annoyed 😑🧮🔭🧩 After that first cook, and before I had talked to Dennis, I realized I was going to need to get some extruded log type charcoal and I went to Ace and got some B&B competition char logs which look similar to the cocochar that he has developed. I should have ordered some of the cocochar with my cooker as the shipping would have been included but the link for it wasn’t on the web site when I ordered. As of today I only see boxes of the coffee smoking wood. I can get a box of cocochar on Amazon for $56/22 pounds 😱😳😲😧🫢😤🤬
IF a single basket gets 80 hours of burn time as he states it is actually a better deal than hardwood lump. Plus it is only 2% ash compared to 7-10% ash for most charcoal. It is also completely neutral so it will not impart any flavor and only the wood chunks I use will season my cook. I have ordered a single box of cocochar and I will provide burn time and grams to fill the basket and I will compare the specs to the B&B competition char logs along with results etc.
If it meets spec I will try to find some people that want to go in on a pallet and/or I’ll become a charcoal saleswoman. 🧳👩💼🃏 Some pics of the basket and splitter etc 😆🔥🔥🐿️
Comment