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RO observation

My local Home Depot started carrying the bigger bags of Royal Oak. I think it's about 18 lbs. I had been buying the 8 lb bags at Walmart. The price per pound is about the same at both locations. Anyway, the lump pieces in the bigger bage are much larger. I highly recommend that you get the bigger size bag, if you like this brand. It simply works better in the BGE.
Dave - Austin, TX

Comments

  • Agree...
    Making the neighbors jealous in Pleasant Hill, Ia one cook at a time...
  • Cool just picked up the first bag today. It feels like there are really large chunks in there.
  • I was buying the 8.8lb green bags forever...I was suprised how bigger the pieces were in the 17 lb bag...the 8.8's are convenient...the bugger bags are about a dollar more expensive the getting 2 smaller bags..but worth it...u go out of my way for them now.

    The odd thing...the Home Depot bags are red..the same color in the smaller ro bags at other places are all briquettes so you gotta look close.
    Making the neighbors jealous in Pleasant Hill, Ia one cook at a time...
  • RRP
    RRP Posts: 25,880
    Just for the record guys...Royal Oak packages their lump not only in red bags, but also green bags and even in blue bags! It is all the same lump and the only thing I've noticed in the last 14 years using it is NORMALLY the red is the most common, the green is also referred to their steak house lump and the blue bags are printed in both English and French for sale in Canada.
    Re-gasketing America one yard at a time.
  • Terrebandit
    Terrebandit Posts: 1,750
    Interesting. I've only seen it in the red bags, but I've only been doing this for year.
    Dave - Austin, TX
  • Philly35
    Philly35 Posts: 858
    8.8 lb RO green bags around here. Menards sells it. They have other RO charcoal but it's not lump. I've been pretty happy with the size of it.
    NW IOWA
  • TUTTLE871
    TUTTLE871 Posts: 1,316
    I bought about 10 bags of the royal oak 8.8 green bag at Menards last year when I was In Wyoming visiting the parents and I was Impressed, it did seem like bigger junks than the red 8.8 that I buy here in Dallas. But when I did buy the big bags of RO at the depot I got some big ole chunks out of those bags. Not sure what I make of it and why some are better than others.

    To be honest I think that RO puts equal amounts in each bag, it just depends if you are getting bags from the bottom of a pallet or the top. That's my thought process on it.

    "Hold my beer and watch this S##T!"

    LARGE BGE DALLAS TX.

  • texaswig
    texaswig Posts: 2,682
    I seen those at home Depot I get my ro at Walmart. I'll have to pick up some of those big bags to try. Good looking out.

    2-XLs ,MM,blackstone,Ooni koda 16,R&V works 8.5 gallon fryer,express smoker and 40" smoking cajun 

    scott 
    Greenville Tx
  • Hungry Joe
    Hungry Joe Posts: 1,566
    edited February 2014

    I have had it both ways with RO. I used to only buy it from Walmart and usually it was good with some bad bags from time to time. When I got a restaurant depot  card I started buying the large bags and didn't have much luck with those either at first. Lately though those have been pretty nice.

    Charcoal is not a science. Sometimes you get a good run and other times you get not so good bags from every manufacturer I have ever used. There are to many factors involved to get a perfect bag every time, from the wood source to transportation. I do have one favorite that is pretty good most times and not available locally but I am not getting into that.

    I might not be science but it is religion.

    Popcorn.

  • RRP
    RRP Posts: 25,880
    edited February 2014
    TUTTLE871 said:

    To be honest I think that RO puts equal amounts in each bag, it just depends if you are getting bags from the bottom of a pallet or the top. That's my thought process on it.
    I agree! The thing that gets me though is what is the attraction or bragging rights to dumping out a softball size chunk of lump? Anytime I pour in my charcoal and one those huge pieces fall out I pick the friggen thing up and toss it in a box I have. Then after I have a bunch I take a hammer to them and crush them into "startable/burnable" sizes! This huge chunk-size has always baffled me!
    image
    Re-gasketing America one yard at a time.
  • Good point RRP. I guess I have been conditioned to think larger was better but to be honest I have never had a problem cooking with a bag of smaller stuff...
    Making the neighbors jealous in Pleasant Hill, Ia one cook at a time...
  • TUTTLE871
    TUTTLE871 Posts: 1,316
    edited February 2014
    @rrp Most of us that are on this forum are men and size maters. 

    I do see the big pieces and get excited because in my small brain it seems to me that those bigger pieces burn longer on my low and slow cooks. To be honest what I look for in my lump is I when get it going its not throwing white smoke and I don't get a funky smell. 


    Sorry ladies the opportunity presented itself and I had to roll with it.

    "Hold my beer and watch this S##T!"

    LARGE BGE DALLAS TX.

  • caliking
    caliking Posts: 18,727
    Theoretically, larger pieces may allow for more airflow through the lump, but I don't know if this holds true in practice. Folks often report that Rockwood has smaller pieces and are concerned that it will burn faster. When I tested Wicked Good against Rockwood, the smaller pieces of the Rockwood didn't seem to burn for any less duration than the WG, which had generally larger pieces. 

    #1 LBGE December 2012 • #2 SBGE February  2013 • #3 Mini May 2013
    A happy BGE family in Houston, TX.
  • SmokeyPitt
    SmokeyPitt Posts: 10,490
    edited February 2014
    I don't mind the huge pieces for indirect, but if you are trying to cook direct it is hard to get an even burning fire with the big pieces.  They also make lighting difficult.  If I have a huge piece I will sort of dig out a hole in the lump to light the fire and then set the huge piece on top once the fire is burning.   Another random cool tip is to put some chips/small chunks on top of the huge piece.  It will take a while for it to burn through so you get time released smoke wood for longer cooks. 


    Which came first the chicken or the egg?  I egged the chicken and then I ate his leg. 

  • stlcharcoal
    stlcharcoal Posts: 4,684
    RRP said:
    TUTTLE871 said:

    To be honest I think that RO puts equal amounts in each bag, it just depends if you are getting bags from the bottom of a pallet or the top. That's my thought process on it.
    I agree! The thing that gets me though is what is the attraction or bragging rights to dumping out a softball size chunk of lump? Anytime I pour in my charcoal and one those huge pieces fall out I pick the friggen thing up and toss it in a box I have. Then after I have a bunch I take a hammer to them and crush them into "startable/burnable" sizes! This huge chunk-size has always baffled me!


    This.  If it's properly carbonized, it all burns the same if the O2 can get to it.  The only problem is if you have a LOT of gravel sized charcoal that packs together in the firebox and will not let the air flow through.

    For a charcoal manufacturer you can never make everyone happy.  If the chunks are too small, the BGE guys complain; if the chunks are to large, everyone else complains.  We shoot for medium to large, knowing that they're going to break down in the palletizing, shipping, and stocking process anyway.....result, hopefully medium if it didn't get too beat up.  It will run in a BGE, gravity fed vertical, Weber, WHATEVER no problems.

    And for anyone that thinks lump sorted and bagged by size--it's not.  It's not like apples, potatoes, & onions going down a conveyor belt falling through certain sized holes, then getting bagged by size.  It comes out of the kiln, cools, then goes down a grated metal conveyor that allows the fines to fall through (ours travels on a 1x1").  Anything left on the belt goes into the chute, and into the bags.  The fines are collected and sent to the briquette plant.  Past that, there is no "sorting" by size--the odd and jagged shapes would make it nearly impossible.  Even if you could, you would have to have different sized bags for the same weight.

    BTW, as I mentioned in another post, it's almost impossible for a US charcoal manufacturer to make a lump with huge chunks due to EPA requirements.  You have to slow burn to get those results--and with the pull of afterburners on the kilns, slow burn methods are pretty much gone.  Even if you could get it, properly carbonized lump is brittle and those chunks could/would break at some point.

    I'm rambling, but you get the point.......small, medium, large, HUGE.....it all burns the same in the end.  Find a charcoal you like, and load up. 

  • johnkitchens
    johnkitchens Posts: 5,227
    edited February 2014
    "The only problem is if you have a LOT of gravel sized charcoal that packs together in the firebox and will not let the air flow through."

    That is exactly the problem I am having with my BGE lump. If my goal is to clog my air vents I have succeeded. 

    I got my first order of Rockwood yesterday, and I can't wait to try it this weekend. 

    Louisville, GA - 2 Large BGE's
  • TUTTLE871
    TUTTLE871 Posts: 1,316
    @stlcharcoal‌ I couldn't agree more. Find what you like and let her rip. I have 5 different brands in my car hold right now (including yours) and they all treat me well. Granted I have purchased some that sucked and will never go back.

    But you are correct sir buy what you like and stick with it.

    "Hold my beer and watch this S##T!"

    LARGE BGE DALLAS TX.

  • stlcharcoal
    stlcharcoal Posts: 4,684
    "The only problem is if you have a LOT of gravel sized charcoal that packs together in the firebox and will not let the air flow through."

    That is exactly the problem I am having with my BGE lump. If my goal is to clog my air vents I have succeeded. 

    I got my first order of Rockwood yesterday, and I can't wait to try it this weekend. 


    Have you replaced your fire grate?  That's the easiest fix.  It's not the charcoal's fault--it's the inherent design of a Kamado, that funnels everything to the bottom.  With any other grill/smoker, that problem doesn't really exist.

    When you start getting down to that part of the bag, I get out a new bag.  I save the fines in a 5 gallon Home Depot bucket with a lid.  I scatter a cup or two across the top of the firebox each cook, or save them for use in my wood stove, fire pit, etc.  There are plenty of BTU's left in the fines--don't throw them away.

  • I just purchased 2 large bags of RO (Blue bags in Canada) and was very impressed, I'll be making the full switch. I had far less white smoke, and it has been burning just as long as the previous two kinds I had been using the past year. I am also paying $14.99/bag now with RO instead of $38.00, for the same size bag, less 1lb. Cant belive I didnt find RO earlier.
    County of Parkland, Alberta, Canada
  • Terrebandit
    Terrebandit Posts: 1,750
    The bigger fist size pieces make for better airflow with the stock grate and longer burning time for low and slows, I don't care what anyone says. :-@
    Dave - Austin, TX
  • Lit
    Lit Posts: 9,053
    I agree I have only had problems getting high temps when I get down to the small crappy pieces. When I get to the bottom third of a bag if I am doing pizza I will open a new bag and put the larger pieces on the bottom then put some of the smaller pieces on top. The royal oak in the bigger bags has better size than the smaller bags for sure. Position in the pallet affects size also. If you grab a bag from the bottom of a pallet versus the top you can see the difference without even opening the bag. Pieces don't have to be huge but there can't be alot of small pieces. I don't have anything to do with alot of small crap I just throw it away and don't buy the lump anymore.
  • Hey @stlcharcoal, what's your brand?
    XL Owner
  • stlcharcoal
    stlcharcoal Posts: 4,684
    ElCapitan said:

    Hey @stlcharcoal, what's your brand?

    Rockwood