Mangrove Charcoal in Australia

egginoz

G'day all!

Well i've just finished off my first bag of charcoal with my large BGE. I went with the BGE lump charcoal to begin with, but that's obscenely expensive in Australia (AU$70 for 20 pound bag).

I've been looking around for alternate supplies and have found someone actually fairly close to me selling mangrove charcoal that they described as being from stick and branches. It's a 40 pound bag for AU$23. Has anyone used this and can report on it?

Alternatively, if there are any other Aussies on here that could let me know where they get their chacoal from?

Much appreciated!

egginoz

Gator Bait

 
Hi egginoz,

Welcome to the forum. I have never heard of Mangrove charcoal! At least not here in the U.S. Here in the States the Mangroves are protected and it takes special permits just to prune one. The price sounds good, I would give it a try. BGE charcoal is $23-$24 U.S. for 20 pounds. Here in Florida I usually pay $6.37 for 10 pounds of Royal Oak. Good luck with your search.

Gator

 

chemon

Hi - I get mine from gaganisbros on port road adelaide.

Works well but takes a bit longer to get going.

I think I need to get on of those butane lighters as we aren't allow the electric ones here in OZ seeing we have 240volt.

Cheers

StoicDude

I have no clue what type of charcoal that is and it seems to me that the BGE is not really that popular outside the US.
Congratulations on getting one and using it.
I was in Germany last month and was checking out their charcoal. I din't see any briquettes there. All lump.

I just picked up a bag of Lazzari Mesquite charcoal. It was a 20lb bag and cost me $11 at Raley's. BGE charcoal is $25-$30 here.

Lazzari had about 10-15 giant pieces of lump in the bag, which I will have to break down in smaller pieces. I have never seen lump like that. :woohoo:

Let us know how that charcoal is.

James MB

Chemon - if you want an electric lighter for 240V take a look at the LooftLighter. It works well (if you have the electricity near by) but you have to keep your finger on the button while it lights - this is a good thing as it works well- within a minute.
I couldn't see a supplier in Oz but I bet they turn up on ebay or the like.

BobS

Just out of curiosity, were you able to buy your BGE in Australia or did you have to import it?

I have several close friends in Sydney and Brisbane that are interested in BGE's, but my quick surf, did not show any dealers.

FWIW, my wife and I just got back from a trip to NZ and Auz. (Sydney). It was our 4th trip to Auz and we absolutely love our vacations down there. We stayed in Manly.

An Egg Downunder

I have used the mangrove wood and it was okay. I think it's Asian (Indonesian) in origin as mangroves are protected in most parts of Australia.

I buy my charcoal in bulk from a guy who supplies local (South East Queensland)restaurants and charcoal chicken outlets.

Look under 'charcoal' in the yellow pages or try googling it.

chemon

you can get them from Barbeques galore - pretty expensive now though - got mine when they first arrived and were on special.

Also got a second hand one from ebay which was imported - doesn't have a spring hinge lid but still in good nick.

Cheers

egginoz

Thanks to all that responded.

To BoBs, I got my large BGE from BBQ's Galore. Normally I wouldn't go near them as they are a bit too $$$ for my liking, but I managed to get the egg, nest and plate setter for AU$1350, was normally over AU$1700.

And yes, mangroves are protected in australia as well.

I'd looked in the yellowpages and the only place that came up locally (i'm in Melbourne) is the one selling the mangrove charcoal. Might pop into the local charcoal chicken establishment and see if i can have a look at what they use.

Thanks all! I'll probably buy the mangrove charcoal (called kachi is asia) and give it a try. AU$23 for 44lbs is pretty easy to live with, and it's not as though I have to use it if it sucks.

Cheers,
egginoz

egginoz

Well, to update you all, I went and bought the mangrove charcoal on the weekend. 20kgs for AU$23. Nice and affordable!

I actually found out the place I got it from stocks a lot of charcoal chicken take away places in the area. As a positive, I got there at closing time and they were actually using the mangrove charcoal in a BBQ they were making for themselves out back.

It's all fairly uniform pieces that are cylindrical, about 4-5 inch long and vary from about 1 inch thick to 3 inches thick. I had 2 cooks with it over the weekend.

First off I did some beef short ribs for 5 hours at 220F. They were magnificent. I deliberately didn't smoke them (just seasoned the meat) to see if I could taste a difference with the mangrove charcoal and I couldn't.

Then I thought I'd see how it went with high heat, so I set it up to do pizza. I probably made a bit of a mistake here. Because of the shape of the charcoal pieces, it's obscenely easy to stack them in a way that maximises the airflow up through the bottom vent.

Now I've gotten the egg to 700F previously a couple of times with BGE lump, but the light and heat coming out of this was radiant and terrifying. I'm guessing closer to 1000F. Will have to try and measure somehow. The mangrove gave off a fair bit of smoke and ash at that temperature, but I'm most charcoal would?

Sufficed to say, being a bit unprepared for the extreme heat generated, I burnt the absolutely crap out of the pizza. :(

Obviously got a few more cooks with it before I decide if I'll stick with this charcoal or not. Tonight is steak, so will attempt a quick high temp sear and then a 400F roast and see how it turns out.

At least one real positive of this stuff, because it's so cheap, I'll be using the egg more and more, which can only be a good thing, right?

Cheers,
egginoz