Why lump?

[frailinryan]

Steve R fortunately, my local ACE hardware typically carries B&B briquettes. I always try to keep some on hand.

[Beefchop]

Because I have a ceramic. And why do I have a ceramic? Because I like to spend money on things I don't need...

[Argoboy]

That is what I use a heat gun to start my charcoal in my Primo XL as well and it works good. It does not take very long to start a fire, I start it near the air inlet.

[ecowper]

Dr. Pepper yep, can do that too :-)

[Dr. Pepper]

ecowper Or, order directly from FOGO. https://www.fogocharcoal.com
I have been playing with their various products: Eucalyptus, quebracho, super premium, premium. Free shipping.

[jfmorris]

Troutman I've had some of those logs in the B&B lump bag as well. They work fine in the kamado when in kamado mode, but you sure can't use them in the SNS! I too find that briquettes work best in the Slow 'N Sear itself.

[jfmorris]

I've wondered this for a while but I regularly see people talking about using lump charcoal. Now, I get why you'd use it in hot and fast stuff, especially direct grilling. But... do you all use it for low and slow (I'm classing anything under 300F as low)? If so... why? I've always used briquettes for that since they feel more predictable.

I never used lump for low and slow until about a year ago, when I bought some B&B lump to experiment with on the offset and the kettle using the SNS. I've only used lump in my new SNS Deluxe Kamado. What I see is that there is significantly less ash produced by lump than by most briquettes, especially compared to KBB. A lot of that "ash" is the binders used in briquettes.

You are right that the burn time and heat is more repeatable and predictable using briquettes, but I've gotten it down to a process using lump, and the SNS doesn't get as clogged up with ash as it does with most brands of briquettes. That's more an issue with the SNS Deluxe (2.0?) with the bottom grid than it is on my original SNS that is open bottomed.

To tell you how much ash difference we are talking about here - I routinely fill up the fairly sizeable ash bucket on my Weber Performer Deluxe in the course of a long cook or two using briquettes. I can burn through a 20 pound load of B&B lump in the SNSK - several cooks, just relighting the grill after stirring things to get ash to settle below the grate - and I doubt there is more than a couple of measuring cups worth of ash from the 20 pound bag of lump, settled down below the bottom charcoal grate.

[RolfTaylor]

Not all lump is the same, bu the better stuff has less ash than briquettes. Of course briquettes vary too. Ceramic Kamodos are porous and can hold on to odors, so that can be an issue with certain briquettes.

[Troutman]

Well I'm in the "if it ain't broke why fix it" camp. Last time I used B&B I had this log in the bag. Probably should have broken it into pieces but it totally screwed up the cook temperature in my 26". I guess each to his own, BTUs are BTUs after all !!

[Dadof3Illinois]

That's what I thought too....but the above graph is a 14 hour burn, with one spike because I stirred the coals and added more....gradually it went back down to 220F.
That was with B&B Oak Lump....If I can recreate this type of burn every cook i'll switch over to this full time!!

[Attjack]

I hear you. I don't think we disagree that there's less ash from lump or that you burning briquettes works well for you. I'm just speaking to the question posed in this thread.

[Huskee]

Attjack I don't want to sound like I'm arguing with you, just clarifying my statement- I clean the ash every couple 2-3 cooks out of habit, not necessity. Haven't had my vents get plugged. Maybe if I pushed it longer between cleanouts I'd notice it.

[Attjack]

And there's the difference. Every 2-3 cooks or every 2-3 months!

[Huskee]

Attjack every couple 2-3 cooks or as needed I guess. Less than my kettles.

[Attjack]

How often do you clean out your kamado? I go months without having to remove ash.