BBQ Charcoal

[si barone]

Looking for advice, have just started using my charcoal smoker and am wondering if there is much difference in the various charcoal brands and types available? What charcoal brand do you use in your smokers and do you use briquettes or lump wood?

[muppetdave]

I can't go on extensive experience from my end having this year gone to a Weber from Gas, but a Saffa friend of mine said always buy briquettes...

[Stu R]

There's good and bad for each type of fuel, briquettes are generally a safer bet as there's very little in the way of good lumpwood for BBQing in the UK.

I prefer lumpwood with some kiln dried log chippings (soaked in water) thrown in for smoking. It doesn't last as long but it generally burns cleaner, and it's not made of floor sweepings and mystery binder, and has less water content typically. Big K restaurant grade is about as good as you'll find in the UK, or the stuff from CPL distribution.

There are good briquettes out there, but most of the ones I've tried are crap compared to Big K - heat beads are the best I've found and still not as good. Just be prepared for the fact lumpwood charcoal doesn't burn quite as long if you're cooking for hours on end.

Regardless of which you prefer, any of these will be better than the crap you find at garages, supermarkets, DIY shops etc: http://www.smokingbbq.co.uk/charcoal---lumpwood-an...

Edited by Stu R on Tuesday 29th May 11:09

[si barone]

Anybody used the coconut shell stuff?

[Stu R]

Yup, lots swear by it. I've used it, along with pretty much everything else, and thought it was better than the crap from the garage, but not as good as Big K or Supagrill.

The best thing to do is just try some. There's not a huge difference between any of the ones on the link above - it's just down to personal preference beyond a certain level.

[Mobile Chicane]

I use charcoal, however there's charcoal and charcoal.

The best is produced locally to me at The Surrey Hills Charcoal Company. It's £5.99 for a 3Kg bag, however this lasts just as long as 5Kg of cheaper stuff as it's hardwood.

It's also a sustainably sourced product from British woodland and keeps a rural craft alive (most UK BBQ charcoal is softwood imported from Asia).

[Pete Franklin]

briquettes are almost always smelly and taint the food if you put them in unlit. I used to use them with my chimney starter for long cooking times with reasonable results.

I have recently started using Big K lump wood which you can get from Waitrose and the Range. I find that it burns longer than most briquettes that I have tried and it doesnt seem to taint the food if you use it unlit with the minion method. I have had my weber 1 touch hold constant temp for 8hrs using the big k lumpwood and minion method- its a lot easier than having to light some more coals every 3hrs or so.

[HarryFlatters]

I get 12kg bags of catering lumpwood charcoal from Makro, it's quite cheap and the lumps are massive and burn for ages.