Rocks in Green Egg Brand Lump Charcoal bag

Determination

Has anyone found rocks in their bags of charcoal?  I have had two bags about a year apart that had anywhere from 3 to ten rocks in with the charcoal lumps that weighed out to a lb. to 1.5 lbs.  They appeared like what you see in a slag pile the cast away from a steel refinery.  I asked the store that I bought them from and they promised to check but I have not heard back from them yet..

st¡ke

No big deal. Lump would cost theee times what it does now if they had to fish out the rocks. 

Weigh the bag. 

The few times i have been compelled to check, I have never had a twenty pound bag that weighed less than twenty-plus pounds

Skiddymarker

All lump has some form of "treasure" in it. Some has plastic, chunks of wood and metal. It is not exactly rocket science to make this stuff. Moon rocks are best considered to be good luck. I have a flower bed next to my pit that is getting full of "lump rock". 

stlcharcoal

You're going to get rocks in any brand of lump charcoal.  Just the nature of the beast and how it's produced.  When the trees fall on the forest floor or get dragged across it, rocks get lodged in the tree.  That causes a defect and that wood gets rejected by the mill, so it goes in the slab pile.  Charcoal or mulch companies buy the slabs, age them, then into the kilns they go.  A lot of the time that rock is encased on several sides in charcoal until the charcoal burns away from it.  Or if it does come down the chute by itself, it looks no different than a chunk of charcoal.  The good news is that most bags have a little overage to cover for the occasional extraneous object.

We have had arrowheads, barbed wire, bullets, and even a lone railroad spike show up in our bags......no way to stop it without inspecting EVERY SINGLE chunk of charcoal before it goes in the bag, thus raising the price about 1000%. 

Zmokin

I'm either lucky, or inobservant.  I've never found a rock yet, not in the bag, and not in my egg with ash, and I tend to pull out my ash by the fist full so I would expect I would feel a rock if it was there.

stlcharcoal

Skiddymarker said:

All lump has some form of "treasure" in it. Some has plastic, chunks of wood and metal. It is not exactly rocket science to make this stuff. Moon rocks are best considered to be good luck. I have a flower bed next to my pit that is getting full of "lump rock". 

I think you would be surprised how complicated a such a simple process is.  Timing and temp has to be right on, even with about a dozen variables working against you (species, moisture content, exterior humidity/temp/pressure, and more, not to mention that fire has a mind of it's own.)

So you try to guess what's happening behind a foot of concrete--if it's done.  Then shut off the oxygen and wait 4-5 days.  Hopefully when the kiln doors open you have lump charcoal, not wood or a pile of ash--because if you do, you just wasted a week and a bunch of wood. 

theyolksonyou

@stlcharcoal I know what you mean, people think carpet is easy to make as well. What goes into manufacturing any quality product is amazing. 

Dobie

stlcharcoal said:

You're going to get rocks in any brand of lump charcoal.  Just the nature of the beast and how it's produced.  When the trees fall on the forest floor or get dragged across it, rocks get lodged in the tree.  That causes a defect and that wood gets rejected by the mill, so it goes in the slab pile.  Charcoal or mulch companies buy the slabs, age them, then into the kilns they go.  A lot of the time that rock is encased on several sides in charcoal until the charcoal burns away from it.  Or if it does come down the chute by itself, it looks no different than a chunk of charcoal.  The good news is that most bags have a little overage to cover for the occasional extraneous object.

We have had arrowheads, barbed wire, bullets, and even a lone railroad spike show up in our bags......no way to stop it without inspecting EVERY SINGLE chunk of charcoal before it goes in the bag, thus raising the price about 1000%. 

Finding an indian stone arrowhead would be cool 

Determination

Never had a issue with other brands.  Guess from the majority I have 2 choices, live with it and assume they have overfilled the bag to cover the added "treasures" or purchase another brand.  I heard from the store that BGE has "off-shored" and "out-sourced" the charcoal operation. Any truth to that?

stlcharcoal

Determination said:

Never had a issue with other brands.  Guess from the majority I have 2 choices, live with it and assume they have overfilled the bag to cover the added "treasures" or purchase another brand.  I heard from the store that BGE has "off-shored" and "out-sourced" the charcoal operation. Any truth to that?

It'a hit or miss where stuff shows up.  All depends on where that tree was dropped.  

No idea on them.....too busy with our brand to worry about anyone else.

MrCookingNurse

Determination said:

Never had a issue with other brands.  Guess from the majority I have 2 choices, live with it and assume they have overfilled the bag to cover the added "treasures" or purchase another brand.  I heard from the store that BGE has "off-shored" and "out-sourced" the charcoal operation. Any truth to that?

Or you could just cook in your oven 

Smokinpig

Determination said:

Never had a issue with other brands.  Guess from the majority I have 2 choices, live with it and assume they have overfilled the bag to cover the added "treasures" or purchase another brand.  I heard from the store that BGE has "off-shored" and "out-sourced" the charcoal operation. Any truth to that?

Says on the bag made by royal oak.