Rockwood

dfrelich

GK59 said:

Is the price for Rockwood about the same all over @ $20 for 20# ? 

What did a pallet cost if shipped 500 miles?

Thanks ahead.

I'd like to know the ballpark for the pallet shipping as well.   Would I be seeing good savings over $20 plus free shipping?

stlcharcoal

 @Mattman3969 said:

@stlcharcoal - when will ace be carrying RW in my area or Ky?

If you're still in Evansville, probably not.  I don't think the Gainesville, GA RSC's service area goes that far north.  They cover northern GA, all of SC, western NC, eastern TN, a maybe a little bit of KY and AL.  Not sure yet.

 @nick_banich said:

@stlcharcoal Any distribution in the Indy area?

Not yet, no inquiries either.  Do some "bird dogging" for me! 

@GK59 said:

Is the price for Rockwood about the same all over @ $20 for 20# ? 

What did a pallet cost if shipped 500 miles?

It's up to each dealer to price it based on their market, and I hear it varies quite a bit.  Here in Missouri it will always be the cheapest since we produce 80%+ of the domestic lump charcoal.  Get MO charcoal out toward the coastlines and it gets expensive because of the shipping and/or warehousing.  Email me if you want to talk more about it.

stlcharcoal

dfrelich said:

I'd like to know the ballpark for the pallet shipping as well.   Would I be seeing good savings over $20 plus free shipping?

Look back through the archives and you'll see the guys that have put together orders in Jessup and Churchton, MD.  Or, send me your email address and I'll forward it to them.

Eggcelsior

@dfrelich, those of us that did the Jessup group buy are considering another one in late February - early March.

stlcharcoal

caliking said:

@henapple - Rockwood does seem to have smaller pieces in the bag compared to say Wicked Good, but that doesn't seem to affect its burn properties. When I did my recent tests, i expected the smaller pieces of Rockwood to make a diference - i thought it would burner hotter and faster i.e. that the lump would burn itself out faster than the Wicked Good, but surprisingly that was not the case. In terms of burn time, the Rockwood lasted as long as Wicked Good.

http://eggheadforum.com/discussion/1160392/review-wicked-good-vs-rockwood-long-post-with-lotsa-pics-so-grab-a-beverage

Yep, with good lump charcoal, it's all going to burn the same--provided the O2 can it.  The smaller pieces will only burn faster if they have an unregulated amount of O2, but that's not the case in an Egg--damper it down and it will burn at the same rate.  The only guys that have to be careful are the ones with open air grills: you need to use LESS charcoal, then add as necessary.

Huge chunks of Rockwood are nearly impossible, unless you come to the plant and we hand them to you one by one.  Higher carbon content lump is brittle and it breaks down with impact and agitation.  Plus, with the US EPA and DNR regs, the open slow burn methods are prohibited--there's always a pull on the smoke from the reburner, so it's a faster burn (which leads to smaller chunks).  That's why you can find those charcoal logs in the import stuff--they can let that dense stuff slow burn for a week if they want.  It's hell on the environment, but it can make some good charcoal if they know what they are doing.  Relative humidity and the wood's moisture content influences the chunk size as well--the dryer, the better.

Someone mentioned "fines" and dust......don't throw those away.  Pour them down in the ash pan or off to the side of the firebox on a high temp cook--you'll get the BTU's out of them.  If you don't want to do that, save them for your fireplace, camp fire, wood stove, or use them in your garden/compost.  You can even use our bag in place of newspaper in your chimney starter.  We are a ZERO WASTE product.

MaskedMarvel

stlcharcoal said:

caliking said:

@henapple - Rockwood does seem to have smaller pieces in the bag compared to say Wicked Good, but that doesn't seem to affect its burn properties. When I did my recent tests, i expected the smaller pieces of Rockwood to make a diference - i thought it would burner hotter and faster i.e. that the lump would burn itself out faster than the Wicked Good, but surprisingly that was not the case. In terms of burn time, the Rockwood lasted as long as Wicked Good.

http://eggheadforum.com/discussion/1160392/review-wicked-good-vs-rockwood-long-post-with-lotsa-pics-so-grab-a-beverage

Yep, with good lump charcoal, it's all going to burn the same--provided the O2 can it.  The smaller pieces will only burn faster if they have an unregulated amount of O2, but that's not the case in an Egg--damper it down and it will burn at the same rate.  The only guys that have to be careful are the ones with open air grills: you need to use LESS charcoal, then add as necessary.

Huge chunks of Rockwood are nearly impossible, unless you come to the plant and we hand them to you one by one.  Higher carbon content lump is brittle and it breaks down with impact and agitation.  Plus, with the US EPA and DNR regs, the open slow burn methods are prohibited--there's always a pull on the smoke from the reburner, so it's a faster burn (which leads to smaller chunks).  That's why you can find those charcoal logs in the import stuff--they can let that dense stuff slow burn for a week if they want.  It's hell on the environment, but it can make some good charcoal if they know what they are doing.  Relative humidity and the wood's moisture content influences the chunk size as well--the dryer, the better.

Someone mentioned "fines" and dust......don't throw those away.  Pour them down in the ash pan or off to the side of the firebox on a high temp cook--you'll get the BTU's out of them.  If you don't want to do that, save them for your fireplace, camp fire, wood stove, or use them in your garden/compost.  You can even use our bag in place of newspaper in your chimney starter.  We are a ZERO WASTE product.

Sorry for the huge quote, writing on an iPad here. You say making the charcoal is hard on the environment, but unless you are using fossil fuels charcoal should be a zero carbon footprint fuel. I would be interested in learning about how commercial charcoal is made. Might encourage me to buy one brand over another

stlcharcoal

MaskedMarvel said:

Sorry for the huge quote, writing on an iPad here. You say making the charcoal is hard on the environment, but unless you are using fossil fuels charcoal should be a zero carbon footprint fuel. I would be interested in learning about how commercial charcoal is made. Might encourage me to buy one brand over another

Believe it our not, charcoal is used to make charcoal.  The slab wood is loaded in a kiln over the top of all the undercarbonized charcoal from the previous burn.  Then it's lit and burned for several days.  All of the moisture, sugar, "tars", etc in the wood are slowly burned away so that you're left with almost nothing but carbon.

It's the particulate in the smoke that causes the problems.  The EPA and MO DNR require that the smoke is captured and propane fired to a minimum of 1570F to burn up the particulate.  Apparently you did not want to live down wind from a charcoal plant in the old days--your house would be covered in soot and there would always be a black cloud above you.

Anyone in the US making charcoal is going to have to use an afterburner.  They cracked down on all of this back in the early 90's, which is why only about 1 in 10 stayed in business--the rest shut down.

Any domestic charcoal company is also going to have to get the scrap wood from a milling operation.  Any reputable source is going to practice forest management governed by the DNR. 

Not the case out of the country though--they can legally cut down whatever they want, kiln it however they want, and could even be using slave labor for it.  There are no indications that any imported lump charcoal that we see on the shelves comes from a source like this, but it does exist and go somewhere.  If you have Amazon Prime, watch the documentary The Charcoal People.  http://www.amazon.com/Charcoal-People-Fl%C3%A1vio-Zangrandi/dp/B00005UO7H 

Like everything else, when in doubt, Buy American.

stlcharcoal

For even more info on charcoal production, watch these two videos.  Both were shot at Struemph Charcoal Works in Steelville, MO.  The plant was closed in Fall of 2010 and has since fallen into major disrepair--flew over it about a month ago.  :(

Dirty Jobs Season 1 Episode 15 (Amazon Prime):  http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001NYABS8/ref=dv_dp_ep15

And Living St. Louis (KETC/PBS & Free):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ggj5IKNsPQ

henapple

Bad for the environment?

Mattman3969

Bump for @henapple

pab

Hey @henapple, you mean this Rockwood thread?

RickyBobby

:-?

MaskedMarvel

Much thanks for the reply. Very interesting stuff!!