Charcoal advice please

[Fishwick]

Hi Guys

I've just recieved an order of restaurant grade lumpwood charcoal from Big K. When I've opened the bag the charcoal looks great but the pieces are massive, much bigger than the stuff i had previously. Do i need to break the pieces down a bit or should i leave them big? I'd probably get about 8-10 pieces in the chimney if i left them as they are.

As always, any help / advice would be greatfully recieved.

Craig

[JEC]

Nothing wrong with a few big bits, however depending on the size of your BBQ you may want to break the biggest ones up, better too big than a bag of dust that's for sure

[Steve]

You want a mixture of sizes to fill your charcoal basket nice and tight. So you might want to break some bits up or look for smaller bits at the bottom of the bag.

[Eddie]

Big K charcoal bags are fantastic . I tend to take the very large pieces out and put them in anougher bag, add them to the Q during a cook expiecaily a overnighter as you get a better regulation of temp. If you have a WSM, Pro Q Excel 20 or an offset this is possible, But if you have a kettle ? It’s a little bit more difficult.


Eddie

[RobinC]

I'm glad I'm not the only person who sorts their charcoal

[Steve]

I think you'll find many a charcoal sorter on here

I do it so I can build up a well packed basket of charcoal. Don't do any of this adding charcoal during a cook though

[KamadoSimon]

EDIT: Sorry also meant to say that, yes, sometimes I do break down the bigger bits. But it's good to have some fist-size or bigger bits in there...

Just got 2 bags of this through the other day too....

Is there any way we can get some kind of group buy / deal with these guys mods?

For restaurant grade lumpwood, the cheapest I have found is at the £1 per KG mark - including delivery. This had some good big chunks but did spark & spit an awful lot in my second bag.

Decided to try The Big K restaurant grade stuff albeit it did set me back an additional £10 due to the postage....

Just a thought....

[Eddie]

Just got 2 bags of this through the other day too....

Is there any way we can get some kind of group buy / deal with these guys mods?

For restaurant grade lumpwood, the cheapest I have found is at the £1 per KG mark - including delivery. This had some good big chunks but did spark & spit an awful lot in my second bag.

Decided to try The Big K restaurant grade stuff albeit it did set me back an additional £10 due to the postage....

Just a thought....

I picked mine up from the Tottenham werehouse, fantastic service, No P&P, a couple of freebies and a great discount for collection and buying over 12 bags.

Eddie

[Steve]

Yes the option for a group buy is available, I've had pricing details from Ed about doing this, if I remember correctly pricing starts to work at around 20 bags.

I was considering trying to arrange a delivery for MiM as I know Phil is also after some. However after checking my stock of charcoal I'm ok at the minute so there's no rush for me.

I'm still happy to go in with others if delivery to Tongham is ok for everyone and if Toby doesn't mind taking a delivery. however I wouldn't want any more than 5 bags at the minute. My teammate might take some more but I suspect he won't have the storage space at the minute.

[KamadoSimon]

I'd take 5 bags too Steve - and am just down the road from you (well 30 minutes or so).

Is there any mileage in making one or other of the lump suppliers a preferred / advertised supplier for the forum? i.e. no cost to them, but higher volume in return for supporting the forum by providing discounted charcoal? This is the route that a couple of the other forums I belong to have taken (non-BBQ, car related stuff) and it works well for both supplier & buyers. This would mean people could still get deliveries to their home but benefit from a lower cost & less of a need to stockpile the stuff.