Opened my last bag of Fogo

stlcharcoal said:

Alright I'm back......I was busy earlier and didn't have time to write a serious reply.

A few things about US made charcoal vs. the south of the border stuff.  It all has to do with the process which is ultimately regulated by the government.  You don't have OSHA, the EPA, the DNR, minimum wage, etc down south.

Basically you're not going to be allowed to harvest a tree in the US for charcoal.  Not because the government won't let you, but because of the cost.  Because of all the rules and regs, wood is worth a lot more as lumber than it is charcoal......and 6# of wood makes 1# of charcoal.  So, all the charcoal industry can get is the scraps (the pieces too knotty, warped, or short for lumber.

Next, the EPA make you burn the smoke to 1500F to incinerate any particulate.  So you'll only see clear "smoke" coming off a US charcoal plant.  White smoke means a BIG fine.  The cost of propane to get it to that temperature is not cheap, nor is the system to maintain it.  Missouri is the #1 charcoal producing state in the country and had always fought off these regs......well until the governor's brother sold his charcoal plant, then they were regulate in MO.  That's when about half the plants closed.  The other half that made the upgrades, and within a year or two, half of those closed.

So, based off those two factors, this is also why you don't see huge chunks of US made charcoal--because the pieces we start with aren't that big to begin with.  Then, with the constant draw of the smoke burner, the charcoal burns hot/fast.  So with big chunks, it's tough to get them carbonized all the way through.  Just like a pork butt, if you want to get to a constant temp all the way through without overcooking (or over-carbonization, thus burning the carbon), then it has to be low and slow.  Can't do that in the US.

When you don't have those two governing forces, you can use dirt cheap labor, clear cut any tree in your path, belch out tons of particulate into the atmosphere, then your cost of manufacturing is near nothing.  You're burning the wood itself to make charcoal--that's it!  They can ship thousands of miles and it's still cheaper, that's why.

As far as the charcoal itself goes, most of the trees down there are some sort of super dense wood like astronium, garrapa, etc......Brazilian walnut or cashew.  That's what my deck is made out of: TigerDeck = Brazilian cashew.  Hard as a rock.  The density doesn't make it burn any longer or differently if it's the same BTU/#.  The only thing that changes is that it's a higher BTU/volume.  Charcoal is sold by weight, so 20# of it is going to be smaller in physical size than our 20# bag.  But if it has the same carbonization, then it's the same amount of BTU/# which is what's important.  

The thing is, some people confuse "dense charcoal" for underkilned charcoal.  I can hand you a piece of wood charred on the outside and it's "heavy and dense"......because still full of water and NOT "charcoal."  Easiest test, try to break it apart by hand or drop it on the ground.  If it comes apart, then it's probably at least 80% carbon.  If you hear the metallic sound and don't see a bunch of white smoke for 20-30+ minutes on startup, then it's charcoal.  Otherwise, if it doesn't break or goes "thud", you have "charred wood".

Building on that......if you have undercarbonized wood that of the walnut, cashew, or some other dense species, that stuff is BITTER.  It has uses, but not many.  On the other had, with US made hardwood charcoal, you're getting oak, hickory, maple, pecan, etc.  So if you do happen to have some undercarbonized charcoal in the bag, or just are burning through those remaining tars/liquors in the charcoal, you're getting a smoke that is already used in American style BBQ.  No one is going to complain about a little oak or hickory flavor in the background......but they will taste walnut.  Ours is primarily oak, since that's mostly what comes out of the Mark Twain Forest, but there's a little of the hickory, maple, pecan, etc.  No walnut--we couldn't afford it anyway!!  

On the "why do I want a neutral charcoal rather than gas" argument......  C'mon, the BGE is a far better cooker than gas with ANY charcoal.  Gas grills are very drafty and despite what they say, you can't smoke anything.  If you do, all the moisture is gone.  The flare ups are crazy--it's a amateur's grill.  On charcoal, that's fine if you like smokey charcoal and food.  Some people love that, others don't.  They want a light taste, but not overpowering.  Pork butts repels a lot of smoke, but poultry and fish suck it up like a sponge.  If you're trying to really impart a light wood like apple, peach, alder into a piece of fish and taste it, those flavors are easily going to be overpowered by the oak, hickory, or whatever is in an undercarbonized charcoal.  Charcoal is [ideally] a fuel, not a taste.  So ours is set up to be as neutral as possible, imparting only the minimum taste, allowing you to control the flavor profile and intensity of the smoke.

In doing that, we make a very brittle charcoal.  80-85% carbon makes it the Lay's Potato chip of the charcoal world.  Every time you move the bag it breaks down a little.  But just like the chips, it's all still the same.  The fines are useable.  Use them to top dress a charcoal pile, pour them around the side.....they're still 11,500+ BTU/# and will burn when the heat and O2 hit them.  Otherwise dump them in the garden, compost pile, or in the yard.  We sell the fines for that purpose (and animal feed & other industrial/manufacturing uses), so it's not like we're trying to pawn them off on anyone.  

I'll sum it up by reiterating that I don't think we're better than anyone else.....that's just how I see it.  I'm selfish and that's how I wanted the charcoal for my BGE.  So if you're like me, you'll like ours better.  If you don't like it, then I'm here to listen why.  It's an all natural product, so every bag is different--try a couple bags of each and make your decision.  "Different smokes for different folks" is what it comes down to.

stlcharcoal said:

SemolinaPilchard said:

@stlcharcoal you mentioned the high cost of propane in making charcoal. Is there a regulation requiring it's use over natural gas?

No, but charcoal plants are pretty remote, so natural gas isn't really an option.  I've seen some places burn sawdust to fire the reburner.

SemolinaPilchard said:

stlcharcoal said:

SemolinaPilchard said:

@stlcharcoal you mentioned the high cost of propane in making charcoal. Is there a regulation requiring it's use over natural gas?

No, but charcoal plants are pretty remote, so natural gas isn't really an option.  I've seen some places burn sawdust to fire the reburner.

DUH!!! And they say there are no stupid questions. I wish I was a few (or several) drinks in so I could blame it on that.
Thanks for that write up, it was very interesting.