Briquettes just don’t work for me.

[holehogg]

It’s not the way the briquettes perform but the additives in the manufacture process that don’t agree with me. I have tried a few different brands for using in my kettle and all have a similar chemical taste profile.
It’s bearable but it seems to overpower the wood flavour. Those that eat my food say its fine.
This is the reason why I have always only used wood when live fire braai-ing over the years or used lump charcoal if I’ve needed to use another fuel.

Lump charcoal as discussed on this site is a lot more difficult to manage than briquettes when used for temp control cooking. Lump charcoal I find is slightly better. I will not be using briquettes until I find more flavourless burning product.

I’m still new to kettle cooking and am really enjoying the new method of preparing meat, but I must add that my vertical gasser produces far more pleasing results.
The end product has a nice clean smoke profile compared with briquettes. Can anybody who uses both methods of cooking confirm this can be expected or is it just the quality of briquettes available here?

I have recently seen comments on the quality of Weber briquettes and have been keeping an eye out for a bag in our local stores so I can do a comparison. I can only imagine what the price might be. I buy a lot of Weber wood chips and for the price of a 1 Kg bag I can buy about 30 Kg worth of local wood splits.

For tomorrows Christmas Cook (gammon and salt beef) I’m thinking of making a fire with splits on the side and using the coals for heat. This would require regular filling with coals and believe I will struggle with temp control.
I’m more than likely going to do a test drive this afternoon before ruining tomorrows lunch.

[Jerod Broussard]

You try any hardwood briquettes?

I know a guy who can't cook with Kingsford.

[holehogg]

Can't or wont. :-)

[Frozen Smoke]

I agree with your assessment holehogg it's part of the reason why I'm a stick burner guy. I use briquettes to start my wood. However last night I used my kettle for the first time in I don't know how long to make some wings and even then I couldn't help myself from throwing a piece of oak on it! There are binders in briquettes wood won't hold that shape all by itself where lump charcoal is a more natural random shape it most likely has less or is free of binders. Lots of stories out there about people finding weird things in a bag of lump. I heard of a guy who found a glove in a bag.

What you're talking about using for your Christmas cook is a burn barrel. It's what a lot of the wood burning purists use. Burn the wood down to coals in a separate barrel and then shovel the coals into your cooking pit. I've tried this a couple times. While it does work it adds a lot of extra labor in the process and you will use at least double the amount of wood you normally would. So if you have free unlimited access to wood that;s one thing but if you have to buy your wood it's not very economical.

I am interested how your trial run goes today keep us posted!

[holehogg]

I did a google search for Weber briquettes and a store close by had 2 in stock. I new the answer before I got there but went anyway just to confirm my suspicion. At R65.00 (+- $3) for a bag I knew it could not be the real deal. Packaging say's product is manufactured in SA so more than likely by a brand I've already tried.
I found a brand that I had not seen or used before and made the purchase on the claims that "no chemical agents used". Testing now in the kettle with 2 racks of spare ribs and 2 chunks of wood. When I lit them they did not have that familiar "toxic" smell so I'm hoping that they work better.

That means I haven't yet tried the burn barrel method but will later if I'm not happy with the briquettes results.

A nice wood (Rooikrans) that I have used plenty of is relatively cheap and in abundance. For the same price as a bag of lump you can get a lot of wood. There are street vendors selling piles of wood on every second street corner these parts.
My only big concern is temp control using the burn barrel way. Frozen Smoke Jerod Broussard




Trying this for first time.

[marshall]

you could try to only use ashed over charcoals, that would be a cleaner burn. I know what your saying with the unpleasant taste, I especially get it if I throw more unlit briquettes on hot coals during a long cook,. so today im getting ready try lump for the first time in my wsm for a pork butt. hoping for a cleaner taste !

[holehogg]

Lump is better than briquettes IMO, but still get a hint of a taste that has now also become a mental thing with me.

[Frozen Smoke]

Actually I don't recall temp problems using the burn barrel method. You can take coals out just as easily as you put them in so if you get over enthusiastic shoveling the coals and the pit gets too hot you just shovel some out.

I was just turned off by how much wood it took and the extra time. Also it's hard to gauge when to shut the burn barrel down while getting near the end of the cook. If you shut it down too soon and you need more coals you got to restart it again. If you wait too long to shut it down and you got a blazing fire going in the burn barrel and your cook is done you just wasted a lot of coals.

[holehogg]

Thanks for the valuable tips.The extra burn isn't a problem (we almost always add wood to the fire once done braai-ing) but not having enough would be.
Ribs are still on. Keep you in the loop.

[JeffJ]

KBB definitely has an off putting odor that I notice. Last September Walmart had 35 pound bags of Western lump on clearance for $6 per bag. I notice a difference between it and KBB but to me it seems Kingsford Professional and Weber burn nearly as clean.

[holehogg]

My first time using the Living Out briquettes and can attest to a far better taste profile than anything I've used to date.
Still not as clean as my gasser but far more acceptable.
The spare ribs I used for the test turned out really good.
Still going to try the burn barrel approach. Frozen Smoke

[EdF]

Looking good!

[Da' Moose]

I wonder what your technique is when using the briquettes. Are you allowing the coals to ash over prior to placing them in your smoker? When adding coals during the cook are you adding raw coals or burning coals from a chimney? I assume you are not using any kind of starter fluid regardless. If you place the meat on the smoker prior to having live burning coals, you are going to get that chemical taste due to the chemicals produced by the coals (or wood) prior to them coming up to temp. If you put the meat on prior to achieving the TBS (thin Blue Smoke) of appropriately burning coals, your meat will have a faintly sharp taste. If you are used to using gas or electric smokers you will definitely notice a more chemical taste in the wood especially if you aren't careful to add hot burning coals to your smoker during the smoke.

Down south, (Texas) a lot of bbqr's use green post oak and just throw logs on as needed and no one seems to care. Taste is subjective and you'll just have to experiment with what works for you.