Hi all, I moved from a dry climate to the humid climate of south Louisiana a year ago. I am having some awful issues with my charcoal chunks. They're very slow to light, not really hot, don't do much except kinda sit there burning slowly and unevenly blah blah blah. I assume this is due to the humidity since I had only success before. I store the chunks in the garage -- maybe they should be in a sealed container or something but what kind? Storing them in the air conditioned house is not practical. I have some chunks a year old -- are they even useable anymore? ANY help from someone who can relate is VERY much appreciated! Thank you! :-)
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Welcome to The Pit. I've never had the problem, so I can't help, but someone will be along shortly who can help.
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I live in a very humid area also and when I buy charcoal they immediately go into a tightly sealed trashed can. Others may have a better idea.Comment
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Grew up 38 miles from the Gulf of Mexico. If you try to store it in the bag for months it'll likely get soggy. Either store it inside in an enclosed container, or only buy what you need. Growing up we probably barbecued almost every weekend the weather permitted, and every weekend we barbecued we bought charcoal.Comment
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Welcome to the Pit from Dallas! I cooked for years just North of New Orleans on Lake Pontchartrain and had no problems. Jerod Broussard is probably correct as to you storage method over time. I stored mine either in a Kingsford storage container or feed containers from a feed store.Comment
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I keep mine under my bed. Kidding. Wow, that’s rough.
maybe a fire to dry it out?Comment
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It's the briquettes under your bed, in the outdoor closet, in the shed!!!! Exit light!!!!! -
Jerod Broussard I guess that would be more like a hog roast or funeral pyre.
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lol is the preburn thread about to come back?Comment
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I haven't had charcoal in a while, but I use a pet food container that is essentially a larger tupperware with a gasket around the seal for my pellets. I think Kingsford makes a nice version, no gasket, but roughly 1 bag sized. There's a nice Yeti five gallon bucket.
If you think it's humidity, storage is the winner. I suppose, if you had a dehydrator, you might be able to dry a couple of briquettes, and see if it's humidity.Comment
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I am in north Alabama, and humidity is a real thing, as the rust on some of my wood working equipment stored in the garage will attest to. Cast iron table saw and drill press tables don't like humid environments, and I don't always remember to oil them periodically.
I store my charcoal in the original bags in an old garden shed in my back yard, or in the storage bin of my Weber performer. I am still burning bags of charcoal of various brands that I bought in 2018, and not having issues. I had a pile of about 50 bags at the end of 2018, and only bought new charcoal once or twice on sale since then, and it burns well enough.
I think I second some of the other advice - get a couple of large storage containers you can put the charcoal in. Or... this may be a solution. I am a home brewer, and buy my base malts in 55 pound sacks from a local brewery. To keep that grain I pour the bags into 5 gallon orange "Homer" buckets from Home Depot, and put the lids on, and they all go onto a shelf in the garage. The lids for those orange buckets at Home Depot have a rubber O-ring, making them pretty much air tight. I can store about 25 pounds of malted barley in one of those buckets, and they ought to pretty much hold a 20 pound bag of charcoal, give or take. As long as you are not buying 50 sacks of charcoal at a time, storing it in those orange buckets with their o-ring ought to keep it fresh, and the buckets are 3-4 bucks including the lid. You can stack them about 3 high before you start collapsing the lid of the one on the bottom of the stack...Last edited by jfmorris; May 18, 2020, 08:36 AM.Comment
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