Welcome to the EGGhead Forum - a great place to visit and packed with tips and EGGspert advice! You can also join the conversation and get more information and amazing kamado recipes by following Big Green Egg to Experience our World of Flavor™ at:
Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Instagram  |  Pinterest  |  Youtube  |  Vimeo
Share your photos by tagging us and using the hashtag #BigGreenEgg.

Want to see how the EGG is made? Click to Watch

how much charcoal do you go through a year ?

fairchase
fairchase Posts: 312
edited January 2012 in EggHead Forum
Lets see how much people cook on their eggs. How much lump do you go through a year ?
«1

Comments

  • Village Idiot
    Village Idiot Posts: 6,959
    edited January 2012
    I buy 8 bags of RO at a time, and probably buy them 3 to 4 times a year.  So, around 25 - 35 bags is my guess.
    __________________________________________

    Dripping Springs, Texas.
    Just west of Austintatious


  • Mickey
    Mickey Posts: 19,669
    I don't want to even think about it.Then you want to come up with a cost of it per year.I like the little numbers the best just picking up a few bags and never putting amounts to it. Wow, look what you started.....
    Salado TX & 30A  FL: Egg Family: 3 Large and a very well used Mini, added a Mini Max when they came out (I'm good for now). Plus a couple Pit Boss Pellet Smokers.   

  • gdenby
    gdenby Posts: 6,239
    This topic has come up before. There are some Eggers who buy their lump by the pallet. Most of my cooking is now just for my wife and I, so I buy around 250 pounds a year.
  • travisstrick
    travisstrick Posts: 5,002
    Is this my wife? Is this a trick?
    Be careful, man! I've got a beverage here.
  • Lit
    Lit Posts: 9,053
    Under 500 pounds maybe. The summer kills me with camping. The egg doesn't cool down for several days at a time.
  • During the spring/months a 20lb bag a month but slows considerably during the winter. You boys are putting me to shame!!
  • fairchase
    fairchase Posts: 312
     I thought this would interesting.  Mine is still in the new toy stage so I'm going through some lump cooking on it at least 3 times a week.
  • Squeezy
    Squeezy Posts: 1,102

    Haven't used charcoal for a whole year yet and I don't see any reason to keep track of it. I've never kept track of the number of LP bottles filled either ...

    I think that I use about 3 bags a month ... I only cook for me and the odd guest.

    Never eat anything passed through a window unless you're a seagull ... BGE Lg.
  • gerhardk
    gerhardk Posts: 942
    I use a lot less charcoal now with the egg, my previous bbq was an offset smoker and you could go through the better part of 20 lb smoking a shoulder.  The other big advantage of the egg is that it doesn't need constant attention the offset smoker could not be left for much more than 40 minutes without adding fuel etc.  When the dealer I bought the egg from said that it would go 18 + hours on single load I thought he was exaggerating but it turns out I could probably go longer.  The longest that I have gone is 15 hours but there was plenty of fuel left.

    Gerhard
  • BOWHUNR
    BOWHUNR Posts: 1,487
    Interesting question.  I bought (36) 8 lb. bags of RO Steakhouse from Menards on sale last May and (12) 10 lb. bags of Ozark Oak in July.  Throw in a couple 20 lb. bags of "The Good One" and that equals 448 lbs. purchased.  I have 8 bags of RO left, 2 bags of Ozark Oak and half a bag of The Good One which equals 94 lbs.  Take that from 448 and that shows I used somewhere around 350 lbs.  Damn.........my brain hurts!!

    Mike
    Omaha, NE 

    I'm ashamed what I did for a Klondike Bar!!

    Omaha, NE
  • Griffin
    Griffin Posts: 8,200

    Less than I did with my offset.

    Rowlett, Texas

    Griffin's Grub or you can find me on Facebook

    The Supreme Potentate, Sovereign Commander and Sultan of Wings

     

  • I agree with Griffin.
    Large BGE Dyersburg TN
  • I used very little charcoal with my offset.  Only enough to start the pecan, hickory, or mesquite wood.
    __________________________________________

    Dripping Springs, Texas.
    Just west of Austintatious


  • joe@bge
    joe@bge Posts: 394
    edited January 2012
    Easily 500lbs a year...
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    i don't understand.  everything in the BGE handbook says a bag will last me a month
    (might wanna fix that)

    :))
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • mwraulst
    mwraulst Posts: 131

    20 lbs a month, slighlty more in the summer.Probably somewhere between 280 - 320 lbs a year.

     

    I think the real question to ponder is how much more each year we are all paying for the meat/food we use hundreds of pounds of coal to cook. Beef and pork prices are through the roof. i would be willing to bet in the past 4-5 years my cost of food has increased by nearly 10% a year. A good friend of mine works as a pork/beef and chicken buyer and forsees huge issues getting beef in the near future.

  • joe@bge
    joe@bge Posts: 394
    edited January 2012
    @mwraulst - I am fortunate...my best friend is a cattle farmer so I get beef directly from him and plus I know what the animal was fed.  It's not free, but a pretty good discount over store bought meat.
  • I average 700lbs plus a year.

     

    -SMITTY     

    from SANTA CLARA, CA

  • Lit
    Lit Posts: 9,053
    @mwraulst - I am fortunate...my best friend is a cattle farmer so I get beef directly from him and plus I know what the animal was fed.  It's not free, but a pretty good discount over store bought meat.
    Does your friend sell to others? I live near Tucker and am interested if so.
  • joe@bge
    joe@bge Posts: 394
    @Lit - what state are you in?
  • Significiantly less since I started using Wicked Good Charcoal.  That stuff lasts forever. 

     "Where the weak grow strong and the strong grow great, Here's to "Down Home," the Old North State!"

    Med & XL

  • I just started in November, but I'm on a path to use around 160-180 pounds in a year. Looks like I need to step up my game a bit.
  • lousubcap
    lousubcap Posts: 32,167

    @ OLD NORTH STATE BBQ CO. Do you use the "Weekend Warrior" that they ship out??  Can you give a rough guess as to how much longer it lasts than whatever prior lump you used?  Having stockpiled some 130-140#'s of generic Royal Oak for the winter I will have to consume most of that before arranging for a shipment or the significant other will not be happy:)

    Louisville; Rolling smoke in the neighbourhood. # 38 for the win.  Life is too short for light/lite beer!  Seems I'm livin in a transitional period.
  • Lit
    Lit Posts: 9,053
    @Lit - what state are you in?
    Georgia.
  • smokesniffer
    smokesniffer Posts: 2,016
    I have used 4-20lb bags since beginnig of December last year, just getting used to this egg thing. So I may be around 22-26 bags per year. Yikes, not sure I want to know what that cost is.
    As already stated, food prices always going up. It is getting expensive.
    And to boot, pants and shirts are getting more snug since starting this "Cook Fest" :-))
    Large, small, and a mini
  • OLD NORTH STATE BBQ CO.
    edited January 2012

    lousubcap, below is a post I made a few weeks ago.  I think it should answer your questions.

    Wicked Good Charcoal is the best stuff I've come across so far. It's contains a blend of south american hardwoods.  Its extremely hard, heavy, and lasts forever.  Its a little expensive, but you can reuse it over and over. I order it directly from the manufacturer at http://www.wickedgoodcharcoal.com/, and have three 22 lbs bags delivered to my door for around $75.  This stuff lasts three or four times longer then Cowboy charcoal.  Its actually much more cost effective then other brands. The Naked Whiz also gave a great review of the Wicked Good:  http://www.nakedwhiz.com/lumpdatabase/lumpbag54.htm 

    Last summer I smoked a butt for 13 hrs on my medium egg with Cowboy charcoal and completly ran out of fuel.  A few weeks ago I smoked another butt for 13 hrs on the medium egg.  Below are the before and after pictures of the Wicked Good Charcoal.  Needless to say, I was absolutely shocked at the amout of charcoal that wasn't even used.  I probably could have gone 20+ hrs before running out; something I thought was impossible on a med egg.  Some of the charcoal wasn't even touched by the flame. Check out the pics:

     

    imageimage

     "Where the weak grow strong and the strong grow great, Here's to "Down Home," the Old North State!"

    Med & XL

  • lousubcap,

    Sorry, It is Weekend Warrior Blend.  There Compition Blend was discontinued because the manufacturer lost the rights to the supply. 

     "Where the weak grow strong and the strong grow great, Here's to "Down Home," the Old North State!"

    Med & XL

  • lousubcap
    lousubcap Posts: 32,167
    @OLD NORTH STATE BBQ CO.  Thanks for all the info-I will definitely give it a shot once I burn through the hibernation stock.  I should be able to use gubmnt fuzzy math to win the arguement-at least once.  Sounds like the current stock performs better than TNW's review of several years ago.
    Louisville; Rolling smoke in the neighbourhood. # 38 for the win.  Life is too short for light/lite beer!  Seems I'm livin in a transitional period.
  • rcone
    rcone Posts: 219
    edited January 2012
    I purchased 40 bags of 8.8 royal oak steakhouse over Memorial day....2 left. 
    "Feed me, or feed me to something; I just want to be part of the food chain" Al Bundy

    LBGE, SBGE, Carson Rotisserie, Blackstone Griddle  

    Milwaukee, Wisconsin 
  • GreenhawK
    GreenhawK Posts: 398
    I don't get to cook as much as most of you because of the hours that I work, but I use 8 to 10 bags/ year.  I am hoping that the Stoker that I am trying out for the first time today will help me with that though since I can now monitor cooks from work.
    Large BGE Decatur, AL