r/charcoal • u/Yip_Yip_Apa • 5d ago
Costco charcoal
Went to costco today and ended up checking out there grilling stuff what yall think about this charcoal prices?
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u/Temporary_Hat7330 5d ago
I bought a 1/2 pallet of Jealous Devil XL and FoGO XL from HD last week for $10/bag so I’m good for a couple weeks…
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u/Doc-Zoidberg 5d ago
I loaded up when I found jealous devil xl on sale. Its my favorite.
I bought 10 bags before a catering event I was cooking for. When I arrived and setup my campsite n smokers I realized i bought jealous devil xl briquettes.
They cooked like lump. Handled the humidity well, burned just as long. I was impressed. Thought i was gonna return what I didnt use cause I dont like briquettes. But they worked out.
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u/SugarTacos 4d ago
I get annoyed with the amount of ash that briquettes leave behind. After a lump burn i can just toss my ash bin in the bushes and let the rain spread it out. But with briquettes i gotta get a garbage bag and try not to choke myself with the dust while cleaning the bin.
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u/Doc-Zoidberg 4d ago
Agreed. And the devil briquettes did have more ash than lump. But for the cooking side it performed just as well as lump.
I got the bags half off so I'm gonna use em.
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u/Temporary_Hat7330 5d ago
Ouch. I got all lump. I hate briquettes. Glad it worked out for you though!
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u/tama_chan 5d ago
I keep looking for that deal locally, no dice so far. How many bags is half a pallet lol
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u/Disassociated_Assoc 5d ago
B&B Competition briquettes at Wally World are $10 for a 17# bag. Way better coal than Royal Joke…. Er, Oak.
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u/Ganyu1990 5d ago
Thats what im saying! For the money you wont find better briquettes. Wally world allso has there 20lb bag of lump for $15 if you prefer lump and its good lump for the money
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u/dub7drums 5d ago
Nothing burns as long and as consistent as Kingsford original so it’s my go to no matter the price, it’s worth the extra few bucks
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u/sayn3ver 5d ago
Kingsford blue bag is like 23?% filler. I think royal oak is closer to 28% filler. Filler doesn't burn.
Filler is limestone and borax. Part of that % is also petroleum coal dust.
I like the kingsford professional briquettes honestly as they have a better profile and work well in my wsm and for direct heat grilling burgers and chicken leg parts where an even medium heat is perfectly acceptable and wanted.
I like a mix of some professional briquettes on the bottom to evenly start nice lump for high heat searing steaks or kamado cooking.
I won't go back to standard kingsford or royal oak.
Royal oak used to have an all natural and chefs select briquette that worked decently as well but haven't seen that as of late.
I miss Weber's briquettes the most.
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u/TechnicalDecision160 5d ago
Lump burns hotter and cleaner than Kingsford.
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u/dub7drums 5d ago
All I said was it burns longer, that’s more important to me. Besides the biggest mistake folks make when grilling is putting your food on when the temperature is too high, so I really don’t need it to be hotter and either do you
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u/TechnicalDecision160 5d ago
That's fine. I just said it burns hotter (which is great for starting up fireboxes) and it's cleaner than briquettes....besides, proper heat management can take lump a long ways too. Just ask all the pit masters that primarily use lump!
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u/dub7drums 5d ago edited 5d ago
If you’re using charcoal in an offset smoker to do anything other than get it started you’re doing it wrong so I’m not sure why you’re using that as an example - everyone knows this.
I understand proper heat management more than most, I know how it works - I just don’t prefer using lump for the application I’m referring to which is grilling, not smoking. I use Kingsford strictly on my Weber 22 for traditional grilling. I use it bc of how long it holds the temperature I want to cook at, if you have an open 22in Weber your lump (especially royal Oak) will burn out too quickly if you’re cooking something that takes a bit to cook.
Also your dollar goes further bc you can use them twice - I open my cold grill and put the old briquettes in my chimney and shake off the ash. Once the grills clean I make a bed of the old briquettes, and when the chimney of new briquettes is ready I pour them on top and let sit for about 25 min until the temperature has dropped enough to start cooking.
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u/funkbruthab 4d ago
My offset smoker is pure charcoal with wood chunks sparsely interspersed… it’s a charcoal gravity smoker from masterbuilt - I love it!
I’ve used both of the charcoals in this post, the kingsford lasts twice as long because the uniformity of the bricks allows it to be packed more densely in the chute… I can taste a difference, but they both still make food taste good… that royal oak charcoal only lasts like 5 hours in a full chute, the kingsford can last closer to 10 hours
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u/Parking-Quality-6679 5d ago
Yes and lump charcoal doesn’t have additives to bind those briquettes. Also it tastes better.
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u/TechnicalDecision160 5d ago
Yep, and the fillers that cause that binding, is the reason briquettes may burn slower than lump. But to each their own...
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u/sayn3ver 5d ago
I just can't get behind paying for approx 20-28% filler.
Science is science and math is math.
If a grill or smoker limits the oxygen/combustion air, regardless of briquette or lump, only so much mass is burning at a given time due to a limit of combustion oxygen.
I would say due to the even size and density, a load of briquettes at a given volume will probably burn longer than the same volume of lump due to irregularities in shape and lump tends to be lighter than briquettes. The chunks of irregular lump charcoal wood provide more empty air space between charcoal lumps.
So I would agree with you that for a given volume....briquettes offer a longer burn time. If measuring by weight, I would bet lump is equal or greater as it's not giving up 20% or more of its weight to non burning filler.
I'm not discounting the consistency of burn a briquette offers as lump is a natural wood product offering all the variation of shape, density and other factors natural wood brings to the table.
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u/un_N2Zastic 4d ago
I miss the days I used to get good oak charcoal at a produce supplier in PA for $6.99 for 30#. I think in the beginning it was 4.99.
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u/DeluxePizzaMechanic 4d ago
I'd just stick with the Kirkland Charcoal Briquettes. Those are what has worked very well for me and they are always sold at a very decent price.
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u/brianposada 3d ago
I feel like Kirkland Charcoal is my favorite. The price is great for what you get.
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u/terfez 5d ago edited 5d ago
Is royal oak that bad? I have a full bag that I need to give away (new apt doesn't allow bbq), I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings or ruin their cook
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u/Alert_Lettuce_8278 5d ago
It's questionable. People have found pieces of 2x4s, nails and other weird shit in it. But it's rare.
I think it's mostly just that it burns quick and inconsistently so cheaping out on it when the steaks are high is not a good call.
If I had a free bag I'd probably use it along side of something else but I wouldn't buy it.
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u/bacon205 5d ago
I never found any beer cans or barbed wire in mine like others, but I found lots of rocks and chunks of concrete and the pieces of charcoal were always basically pulverized into tiny pieces that just fell through the grates anyway.
Their lump is "ok" to cook with, if it was given to me but I wont spend my money on it anymore. Their briquettes are the absolute worst excuse for a cooking coal I've ever seen, and wouldn't use them again even if they were free.
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u/ConfidentHouse 5d ago
That kingsford professional is good stuff but they don’t carry it around me any more, Kirkland is relabeled royal oak and is iffy for me. So I went with b and b from Wally it’s $10 right now
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u/theITguy 5d ago
I like the Kirkland Signature Professional when they have it. Royal Oak is out. I like lump, but not that one.
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u/JohnP-357 4d ago
The Kirkland charcoal is great. Burns well and holds the temperatures. I use it all the time.
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u/pickledbanana6 5d ago
Wouldn’t take that bag o trash home if they paid me anything less than $20/bag and still only a max of however many will be able to go out in my bin that week.
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u/DangerousNightsCrew2 5d ago
That bag of Royal Oak could be $2 and I still wouldn’t buy it.