Retail charcoal

[DeepThought]

Hi

I have no doubt this question has been done to death and if so I apologise for retreading old ground but I'm yet to find an answer through Internet searches.

Do we have a favourite charcoal that I can go out and buy in the shops without having to order a wholesale amount of it?

I'm a big fan of the briquette where low and slow is concerned, the uniform nature of the fuel means less messing about and that can only be a good thing, there are a lot of choices out there from supermarket own brands to Australian imported high quality stuff that costs a fortune.

I do a lot of barbecuing when the season kicks in and so I'm looking for a cost effective yet decent brand of briquette that will allow up to a few barbecues a week without breaking the bank.

Can anyone advise?


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[JEC]

Buying local from diy centres or petrol forecourts is possible, not sure about being cost effective though. I would look for Weber Briquettes, SupaGrill (avoid instant lighting) or Heat Beads. Wickes used to sell BigK briquettes, if they still do that would be my first choice.

[DeepThought]

I know Waitrose did Big K and heat beads last year, I assume they will this year too.

SupaGrill are available from BP forecourts as I recall.

How about the wholesalers? I have a Makro and Costco card, are they worth going to?


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[YetiDave]

I've never come across briquettes from a shop that haven't given off horrible smoke. I use lump from B&Q

[Scantily]

All briquettes give off a bit of white smoke during ignition, even fancy heat beads. It disappears after a few minutes and is nothing to worry about.

Bookers blue bag restaurant grade lump is one of the most cost effective fuels, 12kg for £10. But you can get a fair bit of small bits and dust if you're unlucky, and obviously smoking with lump can be a bit of a pain.

But, as for briquettes, there's not that many good deals out there. Supagrill wonder briquettes are ok and you get free delivery when you spend over £30.
https://www.creativegardenideas.co.uk/s ... s-–-12kg-0

[slatts]

Hi

The white bag of weber long burn briquettes are decent enough, does leave a yellow ash in the bottom but I never had it on the food, decent long burn low and slow aswell, might have to get up during the night to add more coals once or rarely twice.

I have a weber showroom near me and they sell all the weber charcoals and the blue restaurant grade lumpwood.

Always worth having a few trials of what you have available to you and see what you prefer, also means a good excuse to chuck on a pork shoulder or brisket

Good luck
Slatts

[PyroBoris]

I tend to use the Blue Bag restaurant grade lump charcoal. Is it just me or does anyone else break up the chunks into smaller pieces. (apologies if I just said a bad thing!)

[Scantily]

I tend to use the Blue Bag restaurant grade lump charcoal. Is it just me or does anyone else break up the chunks into smaller pieces. (apologies if I just said a bad thing!)

Haven't had to do that so far, but perhaps I've not come across such giant chunks as yourself.

I found a local supplier selling 10kg big k briquettes for £8.99, so I from now on I'll be using those for low n slow and lump for grilling and high heat smoking.

Low n slow can be a real pain with lump, one minute it's 110c, 5 mins later its jumped up to 130c.

[PyroBoris]

Low n slow can be a real pain with lump, one minute it's 110c, 5 mins later its jumped up to 130c.

That's really interesting, as I don't tend to get the temp spikes so much in my UDS using lump. I think every bag of restaurant grade I've had from Makro has had large lumps in it, my policy is to break up anything larger than fist sized before it goes into the coal basket.

So I wonder if breaking them up a bit helps it burn more evenly/steadily with fewer spikes? Saying that, I'll probably have a right mare with the temps next time!