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Charcoal in a BGE

Smokin-AJ's
Smokin-AJ's Posts: 99
edited November -1 in EggHead Forum
So far, I have been using lump charcoal in my big green egg but I do have to ask if there are any eggers out there who have used regular charcoal briquettes in their BGE. I have a few bags of Rancher charcoal that I thought about doing using in the EGG. Let me know if this is a bad idea or it is ok to do.. Still learning the EGG and it's been fun so far.

Comments

  • Slotmercenary
    Slotmercenary Posts: 1,071
    greetings,
    you can certainly mix some in during cooks it will just produce more ash.
    i won't tell if you don't..................
  • gdenby
    gdenby Posts: 6,239
    Don't plan on any long cooks. A firebox of briquettes will produce enough ash to fill the bottom up to the grate, and block the airflow. Otherwise, they work well enough.
  • Essex County
    Essex County Posts: 991
    No reason not to use it. As Slotmercenary says, it will produce more ash. And you probably know this already: don't use lighter fluid!

    Paul
  • Grandpas Grub
    Grandpas Grub Posts: 14,226
    :huh: :woohoo: :laugh: :laugh: I guess, if you really, really have to and you miss that old charcoal taste, soot and extra ash.

    Other than that it might be a great idea.

    With big hugs, GG
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    looks like Mr. "i'm too busy today" has plenty of time on his hands after all, eh?

    hey
    you missed our (my and the Bobster's) sighting of 'Quanni'. Bob and I both saw this weird "log" looking thing which two times rose up out of the water, then went fully under, and stayed under. it moved diagonally away from shore INTO and slightly across what was about a steady 20 mile an hour wind, with gusts to maybe 30. strange.

    We named it "Qiannie" (for Lake Quannapowitt ). Maybe it'll be a regular siting at Fred's Franks.
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • Bacchus
    Bacchus Posts: 6,019
    It might come in handy for a camping trip or something. Or if you ever use a dutch oven.
  • Old Salt
    Old Salt Posts: 357
    I use it quite often in my old egg. Low and slo does create a lot of ash but with regular Qing I clean the ash every 4th cook. No problems with odor.
  • Eggtucky
    Eggtucky Posts: 2,746
    At the risk of sounding like a purist...wth would you want to use it??...charcoal is cheap, lump is cheap, lump lights faster, burns hotter with less ash and doesnt have all those nasty chemicals in it and wont create so much ash that it blocks the airflow...other than that..what the hay!...
  • i've used Rancher briquettes--as you probably read on the bag, it's just ground-up lump charcoal with some kind of starch added as a binder.
    as others have said, it produces a lot of ash, but for short cooks it works fine. just be ready to take out the unburned briquettes and use your shop vac to vacuum out all the ash.

    some have commented about a "briquette" smell--not true here. run of the mill briquettes have who-knows-what for ingredients. i would never use those due to foul taste.

    i'm no salesman for rancher, just happened to pick up several 20lb bags for $2 each at home depot last year.