Kroger Lump

Bacchus

Anyone ever try it? I wonder who makes it for them.

Lisa99

Egg is two days old and one bag of Kroger lump is all I've bought so my experience may be an anomoly.

...there are no large pieces in the mix. The largest piece was a little bigger than a golfball and there were only 2 or 3 of those. Most of the pieces are flat, skinny and about 3" long or less.

It lights easily and burns clean, but I don't think I could do a long low and slow with it.

Bacchus

Your egg didnt come with a bag of BGE lump?

PS. IMHO, too big a deal is made out of the size of the lump pieces. I recently cooked for well over 24 hours straight on a massive load of lump that was all shake.

Lisa99

No sir it didn't. And not only that but the dealer that we bought it from last Thursday was supposed to deliver on Saturday.

They didn't show up and weren't open on the weekend. Finally reached them Monday morning and their response "sorry about that we'll try to get it to you in the next day or two".

Husband and I got in the truck and went and rescued the poor thing. Didn't give us a discount, didn't get charcoal, nothing!

And thanks for the tip on the size not mattering. I thought you had to build in puzzle pieces large to small for a long cook.

TXTriker

I thought I read Kroger is really Royal Oak.

Bacchus

Ouch. Well I think it is up to the Dealer about what to include, but I thought most threw in a bag of lump to get you started.
Regarding my tip on lump size, many on this forum would disaqree. And probably there is a greater liklihood of the fire going out without the air flow allowed by larger chunks. But I just dump and light, whatever the case may be. Have only had 1 fire die in 2 years of egging.
Good Luck and welcome to your new hobby.

stike

...yep

Davidg5700

I've gone through about a half dozen bags and found that it burns fairly hot, but does seem to fill up the ash box quicker than the BGE stuff. I've also found that there seems to be a pretty decent mix in the sizes of lump, but with a bit more dust than others.

If I'm going to make an attempt at a long and slow, I think I might go with one of the more premium brands. But you can't complain about the price and convenience of picking up a bag when you pick up the rest of the supplies for the cook.

stike

fyi... Royal Oak=BGE=Kroger (among others)

some R/O is south american and sparks like a banshee.
but the american stuff seems pretty consistent.

i've had bags where the pieces were small, and those where they were large. haven't seen a continuing pattern, i just think it's whether it is bagged at the beginning or end of a batch, and how well it is handled and stored, that determine whether pieces are big or small

Bacchus

Thanks Stike. I knew RO made BGE and suspected they made Kroger also.

gtalvola

For long low temp cooks, lump size doesn't really matter because you don't need much airflow to keep the fire going. But if you try to achieve higher temps with a large load of small lump, you may have trouble due to restricted airflow such as temperature stalling, puffs of smoke and flame coming out of the bottom vent, and so forth.

If I need to use a bunch of small lump, I solve the problem by setting a vertical chicken roaster on top of the fire grate and then dumping the lump around it. The vertical chicken roaster seems to keep a clear airflow path up the middle of the lump and prevents the problems I described above.

Another approach is to simply use less lump if all you have is small lump pieces.

Bacchus

Or Dump and burn. :P

East Cobb Eggy

Seen it but have not tried it.

Greg

CaptainJimmy

Lisa99 wrote:

And thanks for the tip on the size not mattering. I thought you had to build in puzzle pieces large to small for a long cook.

i just dump and light pretty much. I try and save the real big pieces for low and slow - and even those I mix with smaller pieces and chips. I never have problems with keeping temps. The small pieces are easier to light too.