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Sorting Lump

55Kevy
55Kevy Posts: 238
in EggHead Forum
Just thought I'd share a process I've started using to sort my lump.  Not really original to me - germ of the idea I got from a YouTube vid, can't remember who.  I have three 5 gal buckets and sort my lump roughly by size into them: large, medium, small.  I started with Royal Oak (the only lump available locally) and my large was never very full, and large pieces were mostly less than fist-sized.  The mediums were maybe 2" - 4", and the small was everything else.  Needless to say most RO was small or fines.

I have since started buying Fogo de Carbon through Amazon, and boy what a difference.  The photos attached show the sorting of my most recent bag (about 2/3rds of it is all that would fit in the buckets.  The large pieces are really large, easily 7" - 9", the mediums are all fist-sized or larger, and the smalls are up to 4".  I'm really happy with the Fogo - both in terms of lump size but also it produces a neutral smoke, and burns long.

Kevin

Beautiful Santa Ynez Valley, CA
XL BGE, Woo2, AR


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Comments

  • Wanasmoke
    Wanasmoke Posts: 388
    I also am impressed with Fogo. I sort using two 5 gallon containers. Works great and they fit in my egg cart
    LBGE in Elm Grove, WI
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  • blasting
    blasting Posts: 6,262

    I used to separate the usable from the non usable with Royal Oak.  Got tired of doing this and went Rockwood.  Dump and light baby - no going back for me.

    Phoenix 
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  • tarheelmatt
    tarheelmatt Posts: 9,867
    I never sort.
    ------------------------------
    Thomasville, NC
    My YouTube Channel - The Hungry Hussey
    Instagram
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    My Photography Site
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  • slovelad
    slovelad Posts: 1,742
    I just buy rocwood and spend my time playing with my dogs and drinking cold beer... Not sorting lump
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  • Shiff
    Shiff Posts: 1,835
    I used to sort my lump charcoal but stopped doing it when I did some testing and found that my fire works just as well when I just dump in from the bag.  Now I just stir the old lump a few times and dump in the new stuff on top and light.  When the ashes start building up, I scrape them out and dump them - usually about every fourth cook.
    Large BGE
    Barry, Lancaster, PA
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  • Carolina Q
    Carolina Q Posts: 14,831
    blasting said:

    I used to separate the usable from the non usable with Royal Oak.  Got tired of doing this and went Rockwood.  Dump and light baby - no going back for me.

    There IS no non-usable RO. It's all I buy and I use every bit of it. Dump and light baby.

    I hate it when I go to the kitchen for food and all I find are ingredients!                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

    Michael 
    Central Connecticut 

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  • MelSharples
    MelSharples Posts: 260

    Recently, I said to myself "Self I think I've seen it all", well I guess I lied...

    LBGE 2015 - Atlanta
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  • Chubbs
    Chubbs Posts: 6,929
    I like to let @stlcharcoal sort it for me
    Columbia, SC --- LBGE 2011 -- MINI BGE 2013
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  • Hungry Joe
    Hungry Joe Posts: 1,582
    edited January 2016
    I sort my charcoal by the color of the bag, then open it and dump it in. Been doing it that way for ten years and never had any problem.

    I agree, Fogo is one of the best charcoals I've used but the price has been to high for the past year or more. My second favorite is Wicked Good, by the pallet, roughly $16 a 22lbs bag. Then third, the good old Royal Oak that everyone seems to trash, I've had a couple bad bags over the years but @$11 per seventeen something pound bag I can't go wrong.

    Everyone's favorite was the worst five bags of dust and chips I ever bought. The large pieces were great but I'm not paying a premium for that again.
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  • blasting
    blasting Posts: 6,262
    Carolina Q said:
    blasting said:

    I used to separate the usable from the non usable with Royal Oak.  Got tired of doing this and went Rockwood.  Dump and light baby - no going back for me.

    There IS no non-usable RO. It's all I buy and I use every bit of it. Dump and light baby.

    I disagree, but maybe your RO isn't pulverized like mine was.

    The fire can snuff itself out if there is too much dust and little chips.  This happened twice to me - both times when I tried the "dump and use it all mindset".  

    Rockwood so far for me has been dump and light.  I'm only on my fourth bag, but so far it is worlds different.

    Phoenix 
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  • DoubleEgger
    DoubleEgger Posts: 19,208
    You've got way too much time on your hands. 
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  • Jeepster47
    Jeepster47 Posts: 3,827
    Kevin, what is the reasoning behind sorting the lump?

    Washington, IL  >  Queen Creek, AZ ... Two large eggs and an adopted Mini Max

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  • Jupiter Jim
    Jupiter Jim Posts: 3,351
    I don't sort the lump now, I did back when I first started Egging because that was what a lot of people did on the forum back then but after a short time I got lazy and just started dumping from the bag and have had no problem. I now do keep an eye on what comes out of the Royal Oak bag because now I find a lot of wood and not charcoal, the wood smokes for a very long time and stinks very bad. When I'm in FL for the winter I can get Carbon Del Sir at restaurant depot and I just dump it right into the Egg and light. :)

    I'm only hungry when I'm awake!

    Okeechobee FL. Winter

    West Jefferson NC Summer

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  • 55Kevy
    55Kevy Posts: 238
    @Jeepster47 I guess it's the engineer in me. I've convinced myself that I can build a better fire with large pieces on the bottom and smaller on top.  Obviously the sense of this board is to dump n light.  Maybe after a year or so of this process I'll move into that camp as well. Sorting is only a 15 min job...

    Kevin

    Beautiful Santa Ynez Valley, CA
    XL BGE, Woo2, AR


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  • bgebrent
    bgebrent Posts: 19,636
    Darby_Crenshaw said:
    i dump it straight from the bag, stir it, and light it.  ;)
    This works well.
    Sandy Springs & Dawsonville Ga
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  • Hungry Joe
    Hungry Joe Posts: 1,582
    55Kevy said:
    @Jeepster47 I guess it's the engineer in me. I've convinced myself that I can build a better fire with large pieces on the bottom and smaller on top.  Obviously the sense of this board is to dump n light.  Maybe after a year or so of this process I'll move into that camp as well. Sorting is only a 15 min job...
    Try downing 2 or 3 cocktails before getting the egg ready, my bet is you will be more likely just to dump and light. :)

    FWIW I don't dump the fines at the bottom of the bag.
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  • feef706
    feef706 Posts: 853
    I normally sort the good size pieces and set them aside, I use them on the very bottom for low and slow, but once I build up enough off the bottom I then dump from the bag, haven't had any issues. I mostly use cheap stuff available locally from SAMs or lowes/HD.
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  • Mattman3969
    Mattman3969 Posts: 10,458
    I always just dump and light my RW and judging from the size that you've shown of Fogo I would just dump and light it too.  RO on the other hand...

    -----------------------------------------

    analyze adapt overcome

    2008 -Large BGE. 2013- Small BGE and 2015 - Mini. Henderson, Ky.
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  • Carolina Q
    Carolina Q Posts: 14,831
    Mattman3969 said:
    I always just dump and light my RW and judging from the size that you've shown of Fogo I would just dump and light it too.  RO on the other hand...
    Nonsense. I've never done anything else with RO. For the better part of six years now. You RW guys are such SNOBS! It's just charcoal ferchrissake!

    I hate it when I go to the kitchen for food and all I find are ingredients!                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

    Michael 
    Central Connecticut 

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  • Jupiter Jim
    Jupiter Jim Posts: 3,351
    55Kevy said:
    @Jeepster47 I guess it's the engineer in me. I've convinced myself that I can build a better fire with large pieces on the bottom and smaller on top.  Obviously the sense of this board is to dump n light.  Maybe after a year or so of this process I'll move into that camp as well. Sorting is only a 15 min job...
    Hey 55Kevy it's all good man! we all need to do what works for ourselves and there is no wrong way! I take from here what works for me and forget the rest. I'm happy to read what others do and learn and I tend to just read past the chit I don't care for. :)

    I'm only hungry when I'm awake!

    Okeechobee FL. Winter

    West Jefferson NC Summer

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  • Jupiter Jim
    Jupiter Jim Posts: 3,351
    Carolina Q said:
    Mattman3969 said:
    I always just dump and light my RW and judging from the size that you've shown of Fogo I would just dump and light it too.  RO on the other hand...
    Nonsense. I've never done anything else with RO. For the better part of six years now. You RW guys are such SNOBS! It's just charcoal ferchrissake!
    Nonsense my $ss some of the Royal Oak in the last year or two has been real crap........... I would not use it if I could get a better option in West Jefferson NC without paying to much for shipping....... I have always been a Royal Oak fan but I get a lot of under cooked wood this days. :)

    I'm only hungry when I'm awake!

    Okeechobee FL. Winter

    West Jefferson NC Summer

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  • Mattman3969
    Mattman3969 Posts: 10,458
    Carolina Q said:
    Mattman3969 said:
    I always just dump and light my RW and judging from the size that you've shown of Fogo I would just dump and light it too.  RO on the other hand...
    Nonsense. I've never done anything else with RO. For the better part of six years now. You RW guys are such SNOBS! It's just charcoal ferchrissake!
    I'm just jabbin at the whole lump topic.   I honestly haven't used RO in at least 3yrs since I found RW.  

    I have thought about buying some RO to use in the mini because I'm getting tired of busting up the Rockwood.   









    Just another jab. Well sorta....  Lol.  

    -----------------------------------------

    analyze adapt overcome

    2008 -Large BGE. 2013- Small BGE and 2015 - Mini. Henderson, Ky.
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  • Carolina Q
    Carolina Q Posts: 14,831
    Mattman3969 said:
    I'm just jabbin at the whole lump topic.   
    Me too. LOL. Still, I could buy WG for about the same cost per pound as RO. But I don't.

    I hate it when I go to the kitchen for food and all I find are ingredients!                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

    Michael 
    Central Connecticut 

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  • Mikee
    Mikee Posts: 897
    I sort when needed. Opened a bag of Frontier and couple of nights ago. On top was some big chunks. Threw them into another bag as I was wanting medium size pieces. The only time I had to physically sort a complete bag was because it mostly small pieces.
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  • theyolksonyou
    theyolksonyou Posts: 18,459
    Darby_Crenshaw said:
    i dump it straight from the bag, stir it, and light it.  ;)
    I skip the stir most of the time. 
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  • YukonRon
    YukonRon Posts: 17,261
    First, I am totally dismayed you only use three sizes. I will not even discuss them not being laid properly within the bucket to maximize content. Further, are your buckets aligned in a manner that you are able to reach for the proper size in sequential nature? 
    Personally I prefer metal buckets because of the general lack of static and dust cling. Further where are the lids? How can you keep lump hermetically sealed without them? 
    I use 12 metal trash cans, with lids, defined metrically by size of lump. Each piece is stacked close and tight. 
    Step up your game. This is the big leagues, this is the BGE FORUM.
    Make Us Proud!
    But most important, HAVE SOME FUN!!!!
    "Knowledge is Good" - Emil Faber

    XL and MM
    Louisville, Kentucky
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