Started the holy gospel of Meathead’s book and noticed he recommends briquettes and discouraged lump charcoal - this is contrary to most everything I’ve read or watched on kamado grilling.
Anyone here using briquettes in a Kamado?
If so, what’s the advantage over high quality lump?
Too much ash for the Kamado. The ash will fill in and block the vent holes. The Kamado is so controllable that there is no issues running the variables found with lump.
I like the consistency of briquettes in a kettle or hibachi, as per Meatheads advice in those cookers briquettes are the only way I go.
Whenever I am doing a low and slow long cook I use lump for the reasons mentioned above. For any other cook I use briquettes. Just as a baseline probably anything 2 hours or less you would be fine with briquettes. That's about the longest I've done with briquettes .
Large Big Green Egg, Weber Performer Deluxe, Weber Smokey Joe Silver, Fireboard Drive, 3 DigiQs, lots of Thermapens, and too much other stuff to mention.
I've used briquettes, the ash isn't that bad. I still prefer lump, though. With the vents properly set, there isn't really any problem with uneven burning. The ceramic hold the heat really well and evens everything out.
In fact, I can control temps, using lump, to within a degree or two. A stable 225 in my Egg is top and bottom vent open just a tiny smidge. If I take my finger and juuuuuust tap the top vent and move it almost imperceptibly, the temp goes up a couple degrees and restabilizes. If variable burn with lump was a problem, I wouldn't be able to do that.
John "JR"
Minnesota/ United States of America
******************************************** Grills/Smokers/Fryers Big Green Egg (Large) X3
Blackstone 36" Outdoor Griddle 4-Burner
Burch Barrel V-1 Karubeque C-60 Kamado Joe Jr. (Black) Lodge L410 Hibachi Pit Barrel Cooker Pit Barrel Cooker 2.0
Pit Barrel PBX
R&V Works FF2-R-ST 4-Gallon Fryer *******************************************. Thermometers
FireBoard (Base Package)
Thermoworks ThermaPen (Red)
Thermoworks MK4 (Orange)
********************************* Accessories Big Green Egg Plate Setter
Benzomatic TS800 High Temp Torch X 2 Bayou Classic 44 qt Stainless Stock Pot
Bayou Classic 35K BTU Burner Eggspander Kit X2 Finex Cat Iron Line FireBoard Drive Lots and Lots of Griswold Cast Iron Grill Grates Joule Water Circulator
KBQ Fire Grate Kick Ash Basket (KAB) X4 Lots of Lodge Cast Iron Husky 6 Drawer BBQ Equipment Cabinet Large Vortex Marlin 1894 .44 Magnum Marquette Castings No. 13 (First Run) Smithey No. 12 Smokeware Chimney Cap X 3 Stargazer No.10, 12 ******************************** Fuel FOGO Priemium Lump Charcoal Kingsford Blue and White B&B Charcoal Apple, Cherry & Oak Log splits for the C-60 ************************************************* Cutlery Buck 119 Special
Cuda 7' Fillet Knife Dexter 12" Brisket Sword Global Shun Wusthof ********** Next Major Purchase Lone Star Grillz 24 X 48 Offset
I prefer lump way over briquettes in a kamado. Can you use them? Yes, do they work as well as a quality lump? No.
As others have said, the binders found in briquettes produce more ash. And because the airflow is so little in a kamado, it is easy for this extra ash to plug up the kamado and snuff the fire.
I have used briquettes in my BGE MiniMax since the fire box is really shallow. I would be afraid to do a 14 hour cook with them in my Large BGE for fear of the vent holes clogging not to mention the volume of ash would be a pain in the ash. Ido use briquettes in my Weber Jumbo Joe.
No. There is no advantage. In general briquettes are preferable over lump, but Kamado cookers are one of the exceptions. You should only use lump for those.
But I would like to thank those who use lump in kettles and other charcoal cookers! By creating additional demand for "organic" charcoal that isn’t "processed" with "chemicals".....you have made lump available virtually everywhere. Whenever I need more lump charcoal even the nearby grocery store has it. It is everywhere!
So I'm not going to try too hard (or at all) to tell people anything
Cookers:
Large Big Green Egg with a Ceramic Grill Store rack system, and the SnS setup.
Weber Genesis SA-E-330 LP INDIGO with SS Grates, Weber Crafted frame kit, baking stone, griddle (2/3), all from Ace Hardware.
For the first time in a long time I have no kettles as I gave them all away.
Everything Else:
SnS #3 with certificate. I was their first customer.
Sous Vide equipment.
SnS and Thermoworks instant read and leave-in thermometers.
Grill Grates for BGE.
Kingsford Blue Bag, Weber lighter cubes, Weber charcoal chimneys.
Rubs with salt: Meat Church Holy Cow.
Rubs without salt: Home-mixed versions of previously sold SnS Grills Rocky's Rub and Not Just for Beef using their recipe. SPOG.
Spices: Lots of 'em.
As customtrim mentioned, I've been using briquettes in my XL BGE (for long cooks). Not because of any issues with the lump available in my area, but rather I wanted to reduce the various bags of charcoal on hand. I've been using Weber briquettes since I also use it for long cooks in my kettles. Prior to using Weber I had a bag of Kingsford Professional that also performed well for a 16 hour butt cook. I'm not cooking a lot on the BGE and it's possible I'll eventually have an ash issue, but so far so good. I think I did one cook with B&B hardwood briquettes with no issues.
Last edited by fuzzydaddy; July 23, 2018, 04:36 PM.
I have been running briquettes in the Keg at the lake this summer for burgers etc.. It does not get any where near as hot as lump and leaves a ton of ash after the cook. For low and slow as well as high temp pizza cooks, I will definitely stick to lump. Burgers at the lake can be briquettes but that's about it.
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