Question for Rockwood users

jak7028 · January 2016

I have mainly used Fogo, but bought two bags of Rockwood because the price of Fogo went up and I have heard good things about Rockwood. I have almost used both bags of Rockwood now.

I posted on here before, but the first bag was mainly flat long pieces, no big clumps. The second bag was awful. Pretty much golf ball and smaller sizes pieces. I used most of it for grilling, so it wasnt that big of deal. Tried to find big pieces for a long cook, and could only even get a few tennis ball sizes pieces from the whole bag.

Is this the typical size? Was I just spoiled by the size of Fogo?

The main reason for my post though is the fuel consumption. I have a large BGE. When I fill it to the fire ring with Fogo and 6-8 tennis ball size chunk of wood, I can cook 16 hours easy, and consume about 2/3 of the fuel.

With Rockwood, I started the fire around 6 PM, had the meat on around 8PM, stabilized it at 250 and went to bed around 10PM. My temp alarm went off at 3AM. Went out and checked, and about 90% of the fuel was already burned. I added charcoal until about half the bowl was full, went to bed, and that was enough to finish the cook.

Point is, I used twice the amount of charcoal with Rockwood vs Fogo, using the exact same method. Fill to top of firebowl, light middle of fire charcoal, slowly bring temp up, start closing down the vents to dial in the temp. Let it stabilize at 250 for about an hour to burn clean smoke, then put the meat on.

Any ideas for why the high fuel consumption? Or does Rockwood typically burn quicker?

One observation, Fogo tends to be easy to settle in at 250 for a long cook on a large BGE, but not any lower. Rockwood wanted to stay in the 230-240 range, I left it there, I actually prefer that range for longer cooks.

lousubcap · January 2016

I have no experience with Fogo so I can't compare but I do use Rockwood and have not had the experience you describe regardless of lump size. I have had bags with the small pieces throughout but not to the size you mention.
Interestingly enough, for quite a while I was getting Rockwood from a relatively (60 miles one way) close supplier. My easy source of delivery left the area so I have been ordering thru Firecraft. In general, the pieces are larger in the bags that come from Firecraft. Better handling I guess.
No further insights here-

Tbent · January 2016

I generally don't worry about lump size. I've used Fogo quite a few times and Rockwood is what I use most of the time. No noticeable difference in burn time for me.

Fill to the top of the fire ring for long cooks instead of the top of the fire bowl, and you should have no problem going much longer than 16 hours regardless of brand.

cajunrph · January 2016

jak7028 said:

Point is, I used twice the amount of charcoal with Rockwood vs Fogo, using the exact same method. Fill to top of firebowl,
.

You filled to the top of the fire bowl for low and slow? I've always filled up to the top.of the Fire RING for LnS cooks.

Jeepster47 · January 2016

Rockwood lump (and most likely all lump) leaves the manufacturer in good shape ... 'cuz the fines and small stuff are sold to briquette manufacturers. The folks who stock the shelves at your local store tend to treat lump in the same category as briquettes. If you're getting small pieces, talk to the store owner ... s/he's probably unaware of what's happening in the stock room. I've been fortunate in that all of my Rockwood purchases have come directly off a pallet shipped from the plant. Have yet to open a bag with with golf ball size or smaller stuff inside.

Lump is made from lumber mill discards. Making it from the complete log would be prohibitively expensive. Thus, you'll see board-like cut offs from squaring up the logs ... and smaller branches, cut-off ends, etc..

When my son and I need more lump, my dealer adds a pallet to his next order. When it arrives, we show up with a pickup and offload the pallet ourselves. Since he has no labor involved, no storage costs, and his shipping cost per pallet is lower, he gives me a good deal on the price.

Can't help you on burn times. Once I worked my way through the main Royal Oak variants, I settled on Rockwood. But, the only time I've run out of fuel was on a short hot fire ... dumb me believed "the egg is sooooo efficient" sales pitch. Now I fill to the top of the fire bowl for all short cooks and almost to the plate setter on all low-n-slow cooks.

buzd504 · January 2016

Fogo, in my experience, is insanely large. No other brand has come close in terms of size of pieces.

That said, I've never had a problem with Rockwood. If you are burning through lump at the rate you describe, you are not putting enough lump in the egg or your temp isn't calibrated. A full LBGE should go over 24 hours at sub-300 temps with any lump.

jtcBoynton · January 2016

Size of the pieces in the bag is primarily a function of how the bag was handled in the distribution process. Rockwood is more carbonized than some other brands which makes it more brittle than lump with lots of uncarbonized wood helping to hold it together.

As a practical matter, charcoal is charcoal in terms of BTUs per pound. To hold a given temp you need a certain BTU output which requires burning a certain amount of charcoal. I think we often perceive how much charcoal is in the fire bowl and is burned by visual appearance (i.e. volume). Actual amount of charcoal consumed should be measured by weight (which is not very practical in egg use). Size of the lump makes a major difference in the volume of voids in the lump pile, which can influence our perception of how much charcoal we are using.

Jeepster47 · January 2016

jtcBoynton said:

... Actual amount of charcoal consumed should be measured by weight (which is not very practical in egg use). ...

@jtcBoynton ... that's a good point that needs to be repeated. One cubic inch of "out of the bag" lump is going to be heavier (more carbon to burn) than one cubic inch of "been in the fire" lump. Thus a right out of the bag fill will burn longer than the same volume of used lump. That's why it's a good idea to fill with new lump when going for a brisket cook.

pgprescott · January 2016

Jeepster47 said:

jtcBoynton said:

... Actual amount of charcoal consumed should be measured by weight (which is not very practical in egg use). ...

@jtcBoynton ... that's a good point that needs to be repeated. One cubic inch of "out of the bag" lump is going to be heavier (more carbon to burn) than one cubic inch of "been in the fire" lump. Thus a right out of the bag fill will burn longer than the same volume of used lump. That's why it's a good idea to fill with new lump when going for a brisket cook.

Wouldn't that support the theory that small pieces will last longer? They will occupy the same space with less air gaps there should theoretically be more lump by weight in the same space if the pieces are small? Right?

FarmerTom · January 2016

I now use only Rockwood. But I too had one bag that I thought burned very quickly. Since I also have a wood stove, cut my own wood, and am familiar with how different hardwoods burn and sometimes variations among the same species, I wrote it off as some softer wood probably got in the mix when going into the kilns. Not hard to do, no matter how closely you inspect, especially when looking only at the slabs.
I think weather/air conditions can also affect burn times. No data here, just my observations. Also agree with the handling statements. As hard and brittle as Rockwood is, a bag doesn't have to be mishandled many times to cause the lump to shatter. I suspect they often get tossed from one stock boy to another.
But in general I have found Rockwood to be a high quality product and usually consistent in size. Now if stlcharcoal could get it down to $15 a bag retail, I would be ecstatic.

Mayberry · January 2016

I know a lot of people Love Rockwood, but I had very poor results with it. Not necessarily with the size of the pieces, but there were way too many impurities in the bags. I found large rocks, pieces of insulation, chunks of metal, and even a large railroad tie spike that was easily a two or 3 pound piece of metal. Took a chunk out of my egg when it dumped into the firebox. I contacted the owner, and at first he seemed reasonable. However, he quickly turned to it being more my fault and unreasonable expectations, as if all lump has these things in them. Nothing was offered....especially a sincere apology, so I use other brands now. I've found Nature Glo very consistent. Also, Wicked Good Weekend Warrior has been great for low and slow cooks. They dropped off in quality for a while, but have gotten very good again.

buzd504 · January 2016

pgprescott said:

Jeepster47 said:

jtcBoynton said:

... Actual amount of charcoal consumed should be measured by weight (which is not very practical in egg use). ...

@jtcBoynton ... that's a good point that needs to be repeated. One cubic inch of "out of the bag" lump is going to be heavier (more carbon to burn) than one cubic inch of "been in the fire" lump. Thus a right out of the bag fill will burn longer than the same volume of used lump. That's why it's a good idea to fill with new lump when going for a brisket cook.

Wouldn't that support the theory that small pieces will last longer? They will occupy the same space with less air gaps there should theoretically be more lump by weight in the same space if the pieces are small? Right?

Yes, but by using exclusively smaller pieces, you run the risk of inhibiting air flow.

YukonRon · January 2016

Bought a bag of Fogo. No doubt it has large pieces that I liked, but so does Carbon Del Sur. The Rockwood I have been getting, and my favorite of the three, has always had very large pieces.
burn times and consumption is about the same. Low and slow cooks show zero difference. Temp control is a function of air intake management, so no gain there.
Quality, convenience and price are the hot buttons for me. Forgo is a good product, but Rockwood seems to be the one that works for me. Carbon Del Sur is next. Forgo is a bit further down due to cost and convenience.

FarmerTom · January 2016

pgprescott said:

Jeepster47 said:

jtcBoynton said:

... Actual amount of charcoal consumed should be measured by weight (which is not very practical in egg use). ...

@jtcBoynton ... that's a good point that needs to be repeated. One cubic inch of "out of the bag" lump is going to be heavier (more carbon to burn) than one cubic inch of "been in the fire" lump. Thus a right out of the bag fill will burn longer than the same volume of used lump. That's why it's a good idea to fill with new lump when going for a brisket cook.

Wouldn't that support the theory that small pieces will last longer? They will occupy the same space with less air gaps there should theoretically be more lump by weight in the same space if the pieces are small? Right?

There is a lot to consider here. Breaking a big piece into smaller pieces gives more surface area to ignite. So a bigger piece should burn longer. However, loading with smaller pieces of lump also increases the amount of lump in the EGG, but decreases the air flow. Not really sure how it all works out. Need stlcharcoal to chime in. In the end, just fill er up, put the torch to it and grab a cold one.

YukonRon · January 2016

FarmerTom said:

pgprescott said:

Jeepster47 said:

jtcBoynton said:

... Actual amount of charcoal consumed should be measured by weight (which is not very practical in egg use). ...

@jtcBoynton ... that's a good point that needs to be repeated. One cubic inch of "out of the bag" lump is going to be heavier (more carbon to burn) than one cubic inch of "been in the fire" lump. Thus a right out of the bag fill will burn longer than the same volume of used lump. That's why it's a good idea to fill with new lump when going for a brisket cook.

Wouldn't that support the theory that small pieces will last longer? They will occupy the same space with less air gaps there should theoretically be more lump by weight in the same space if the pieces are small? Right?

There is a lot to consider here. Breaking a big piece into smaller pieces gives more surface area to ignite. So a bigger piece should burn longer. However, loading with smaller pieces of lump also increases the amount of lump in the EGG, but decreases the air flow. Not really sure how it all works out. Need stlcharcoal to chime in. In the end, just fill er up, put the torch to it and grab a cold one.

Last sentence, extremely important. However with wine, I prefer 55F-58F.

jak7028 · January 2016

1) Both brands I filled to the same spot, the top of the firebowl, not the fire ring. That was more than enough lump with Fogo,usually had about 1/3 of lump left.

2) Rockwood was ordered direct from Firecraft - UPS or Fedex, I am sure tossed it around and broke some of the bag. Fogo gets shipped the same way, so it makes since Rockwood is more brittle and can get damaged more by handling it rough. I dont have a local option I am aware of other than BGE or the selection at Wal Mart. The BGE i get locally was good size pieces for the few bags I bought.

3) On low and slow cooks, I completely take everything out of the egg, remove all pieces and ash, and unplug holes. Then hand pick big pieces to stack in the bowl to make sure I get good airflow. I do not use partially burned lump for low and slow.

4) Thinking about weight, I actually would have used even more Rockwood than I originally thought, since the pieces were smaller. It filled in gaps restricting my airflow, but by weight, more Rockwood was used than Fogo chunks to fill the same area.

5) Thermometers - used my usual digital thermometer for the grate, and used a freshly calibrated (in boiling water) dome thermometer. Once stabilized, they read within 5-10 degrees of each other.

I am very detailed oriented and picky when it comes to my low and slow cooks. I check over all the equipment and make sure it is ready. Then I have set steps I take to fill the bowl and start the fire. I spend the extra time to do it right so I can put the meat on and forget about throughout the night.

Overall, the rockwood worked will for direct grilling. This is the first time in a long time I have had to wake up to even check an overnight cook, let alone add charcoal. Just puzzling, trying to figure out what happened. I need to order more charcoal pretty quick, and as of right now, will avoid Rockwood. In Rockwood's defense, it is a small sample size.

Jeepster47 · January 2016

pgprescott said:

Jeepster47 said:

jtcBoynton said:

... Actual amount of charcoal consumed should be measured by weight (which is not very practical in egg use). ...

@jtcBoynton ... that's a good point that needs to be repeated. One cubic inch of "out of the bag" lump is going to be heavier (more carbon to burn) than one cubic inch of "been in the fire" lump. Thus a right out of the bag fill will burn longer than the same volume of used lump. That's why it's a good idea to fill with new lump when going for a brisket cook.

Wouldn't that support the theory that small pieces will last longer? They will occupy the same space with less air gaps there should theoretically be more lump by weight in the same space if the pieces are small? Right?

@pgprescott ... Taken to the extreme, we could sand down a bag of lump to the constancy of sand grains ... all square of course for reduced air space. Then carefully fill the egg with that ... lots of energy, but probably impossible to keep it lit. Or, go to the opposite extreme and create a solid "plug" of lump that would exactly fit the inside of the egg. Same energy again, but just as difficult to get and keep burning.

It seems to be a balancing act in the egg between energy density and air space to easily keep the lump burning.

I'm still fascinated by the fact that a piece of lump is not simply burning on the outside surface, but with the right airflow, the interior is also being consumed.

stlcharcoal · January 2016

Mayberry said:

I know a lot of people Love Rockwood, but I had very poor results with it. Not necessarily with the size of the pieces, but there were way too many impurities in the bags. I found large rocks, pieces of insulation, chunks of metal, and even a large railroad tie spike that was easily a two or 3 pound piece of metal. Took a chunk out of my egg when it dumped into the firebox. I contacted the owner, and at first he seemed reasonable. However, he quickly turned to it being more my fault and unreasonable expectations, as if all lump has these things in them. Nothing was offered....especially a sincere apology, so I use other brands now. I've found Nature Glo very consistent. Also, Wicked Good Weekend Warrior has been great for low and slow cooks. They dropped off in quality for a while, but have gotten very good again.

I have no idea how your story has morphed into this after almost a year.

Looking back at your multiple emails.....

1 - You never mentioned insulation, that is new and wouldn't have come from us as there is no insulation used at the plant. I still have the pictures you sent--no insulation.

2 - The railroad spike pictured was as long as daisy wheel as pictured, 6 inches. That size spike weighs about 0.8#, not 2-3#.

3 - You told me you felt you may have damaged your firebox when you "stirred your lump" and the railroad spike "slammed into the sides" as you stirred.....NOT when you dumped it in your Egg. Then you took it a step further of stating there were "health effects of burning metal below your food".

4 - I apologized several times, you refused to accept it demanded "resolution". I have no idea what you wanted, but if you would have asked for it, I would have considered it.

5 - I offered you a refund and/or replacement bags and you refused to take it "since a majority of the charcoal was good." I had given you two FREE replacement bags 6 months earlier when you complained about rocks in ONE bag.

And I still stand by my position that all lump is subject to some foreign material in the bag. Depending on what country it is from (thus how it is manufactured), is what's going to be in the bag. Domestic--anything that has ever gotten hammered, shot, or attached to a tree (e.g. nails, bullets, barb wire, etc.) There's a chance for insulation will steel kilns, chance for concrete with concrete kilns, always a chance for metal banding due to how the wood is held together during loading, and always a chance for rocks. The guys do their best to get all this stuff out and we still load every bag with 20.4#-20.6# to account for any foreign material. In a case where this process fails, we offer a refund or a replacement bag(s).

lousubcap · January 2016

Related to the above @stlcharcoal comment "Domestic--anything that has ever gotten hammered, shot, or attached to a tree (e.g. nails, bullets, barb wire, etc.) ". Been there, turning down wood to create a baseball bat. Dinged a few lathe chisels on bullets from a long time ago. It happens-

stlcharcoal · January 2016

@Mayberry

This was a post from right after the email about the spike. You say, "all lump has some added, unwanted objects". You don't seem near as bitter as you do now almost a year later. What happened????

http://eggheadforum.com/discussion/comment/1698846/#Comment_1698846

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5017260/uploads/editor/3p/ne5qjgafzdvi.jpg

----
------------------- This next was your post after I had given you those two free bags after you complained about the rocks. Seemed like you seemed to be happy with our resolution then. Wish I could have helped you again, but I was at a loss what you wanted. Not sure what provoked this PERSONAL attack of my integrity either.
http://eggheadforum.com/discussion/comment/1597553/#Comment_1597553

ScottNC · January 2016

ROCKWOOD ROCKS!

Jupiter Jim · January 2016

stlcharcoal said:

Mayberry said:

I know a lot of people Love Rockwood, but I had very poor results with it. Not necessarily with the size of the pieces, but there were way too many impurities in the bags. I found large rocks, pieces of insulation, chunks of metal, and even a large railroad tie spike that was easily a two or 3 pound piece of metal. Took a chunk out of my egg when it dumped into the firebox. I contacted the owner, and at first he seemed reasonable. However, he quickly turned to it being more my fault and unreasonable expectations, as if all lump has these things in them. Nothing was offered....especially a sincere apology, so I use other brands now. I've found Nature Glo very consistent. Also, Wicked Good Weekend Warrior has been great for low and slow cooks. They dropped off in quality for a while, but have gotten very good again.

I have no idea how your story has morphed into this after almost a year.

Looking back at your multiple emails.....

1 - You never mentioned insulation, that is new and wouldn't have come from us as there is no insulation used at the plant. I still have the pictures you sent--no insulation.

2 - The railroad spike pictured was as long as daisy wheel as pictured, 6 inches. That size spike weighs about 0.8#, not 2-3#.

3 - You told me you felt you may have damaged your firebox when you "stirred your lump" and the railroad spike "slammed into the sides" as you stirred.....NOT when you dumped it in your Egg. Then you took it a step further of stating there were "health effects of burning metal below your food".

4 - I apologized several times, you refused to accept it demanded "resolution". I have no idea what you wanted, but if you would have asked for it, I would have considered it.

5 - I offered you a refund and/or replacement bags and you refused to take it "since a majority of the charcoal was good." I had given you two FREE replacement bags 6 months earlier when you complained about rocks in ONE bag.

And I still stand by my position that all lump is subject to some foreign material in the bag. Depending on what country it is from (thus how it is manufactured), is what's going to be in the bag. Domestic--anything that has ever gotten hammered, shot, or attached to a tree (e.g. nails, bullets, barb wire, etc.) There's a chance for insulation will steel kilns, chance for concrete with concrete kilns, always a chance for metal banding due to how the wood is held together during loading, and always a chance for rocks. The guys do their best to get all this stuff out and we still load every bag with 20.4#-20.6# to account for any foreign material. In a case where this process fails, we offer a refund or a replacement bag(s).

Well this is the first I have ever heard of someone not liking Rockwood!!!!!!! and I can't believe you did not try to help this customer, but some people will complain when you give them a $100.00 dollar bill because it's a used one and not fresh from the mint!!!!! If I had found a RR spike in a bag of lump I would have considered it a Trophy and have been proud to have it......... Oh and it's all just lump not Diamonds!

Ozzie_Isaac · January 2016

My prefrence is Rockwood. I have done some calculations and here are my resukts:

Condition: Egg = XL, Lump = Rockwood, Load = 13 lbs, Egg Temp = ~240 deg F, Weather = 15deg low/40 deg high drizzle, Burn Time = 20hrs, Consumed Lump = 7.8 lbs, Lump Left = 5.2 lbs

Burn rate was 0.4lbs/hr

Process: I completely emptied my XL out. I cleaned all the ash and removed all the old lump. I put some big pieces of rockwood carefully on the bottom, worked to place the lump, got tired of doing that and dumped the rest in. I filled the egg up to the top of the fire ring. I moved the lump around until my Woo2 and stone would fit on top of the fire ring and not the lump. I lit a small fire in the center of the lump.

Next I attached my Flame Boss 100 and hit go to 190. Temp climbed to 300, fought with that for 2 hours, finally realized the copious amount of foil I used around my wires was keeping the lid slightly propped open and I could actually see into it from around the dome/base intersection. Well no duh I couldn't cool it off. I fixed that and the temp began to drop. When it hit 280 I put on a 9.5 lb brisket. Temp ramped down to 240 and stayed there for the duration of the cook, except for a minor ramp of 30 minutes at the end.

The weather over night was cold, it began to rain around 9am the next day and drizzled on and off till i pulled at 5:45PM. At that point I capped the Egg and shut it down. Total burn time was 20hours.

I removed all the lump left and weighed it. I had 5.2 lbs left. So I could have gone for another 10 hours or so.

Side notes, I weighed all the bags of Rockwood I had and @stlcharcoal might want to retrain his guys. They loaded exactly 21 lbs in all 6 bags I have, even though I only bought 20lb bags! I guess I can forgive the occasional pebble I have come across

Also, when your wife asks why you are bringing the scale to the garage it is best not to answer. When your neighbors ask why you loaded all the used lump into grocery bags, again it is best not to answer. People might get the wrong idea and begin to think you are crazy.

Ozzie_Isaac · January 2016

As another point, I do not want to pay for sterile fully sifted lump. I like the price tradeoff I get. Imagine how much it would cost to have every single bag fully inspected for foreign matter.

It is just lump after all!

FarmerTom · January 2016

Jupiter Jim ,I don't know, but for the exorbitant price stlcharcoal charges, you would think they could hand fill every bag, maybe run them through xray to catch all the metal, package each bag in bubble-wrap. Heck, for $22 one shouldn't have to put up with such a shoddy product.

Jeepster47 · January 2016

@FarmerTom ... if you call ahead of time, Jonathan promises to do exactly that ... just for you. He couldn't be pulling my leg ... he won't do that would he?

stlcharcoal · January 2016

FarmerTom said:

Jupiter Jim ,I don't know, but for the exorbitant price stlcharcoal charges, you would think they could hand fill every bag, maybe run them through xray to catch all the metal, package each bag in bubble-wrap. Heck, for $22 one shouldn't have to put up with such a shoddy product.

Yep, that would be about the only way to ever know for sure--xray. Because a lot of that smaller metal (nails, bullets, staples, etc.) have a knot that form around them. That's what the wood mill rejects, and what comes to the charcoal plants. Even after it kilns, that stuff is still encapsulated. As far as the rocks and other extraneous material, when it's covered in charcoal dust, it can look just like a chunk of charcoal.

The only way I've ever though of to sort it would be water--charcoal floats whereas metal/rocks/concrete sinks. But then how to you dry it and what to do with all the black water? Wet charcoal weighs more by volume so you get less in the bag, so the consumer still loses (more than an occasional rock at least).

Ozzie_Isaac said:

Side notes, I weighed all the bags of Rockwood I had and @stlcharcoal might want to retrain his guys. They loaded exactly 21 lbs in all 6 bags I have, even though I only bought 20lb bags! I guess I can forgive the occasional pebble I have come across

Did you account for the weight of the bag? That's 6-8oz. The scales auto calibrate to tare based off the bag hanging from them. Pretty slick because MO's Weights & Measures folks have zero sense of humor. Sometimes as the scales shut the filler off, there's a big chunk or multiple little chunks that continue to fall into the bag just because of gravity and laws of motion--you win on that, so thank your uncle Isaac [Newton].

FarmerTom · January 2016

stlcharcoal said:

......because MO's Weights & Measures folks have zero sense of humor. ....

Another reason you want that stuff very dry when it goes in the bag and not losing weight to evaporation.. Imagine their excitement if they found bags listed at 20# weighing only 19#. Been down that road in the tobacco industry. You're right about no sense of humor, or common sense for that matter.

stlcharcoal · January 2016

Rather than quote a bunch of stuff, here's the deal on the chunk size as I understand and observe it.

The chunk size does not matter--as far as burn time goes--when it comes to something like the BGE. Reason being, you are metering the oxygen getting the fire. It doesn't matter whether you have a basketball size chunk, or break it into 50 pieces, it's going to burn for the EXACT same amount of time *if* all the conditions remain the same (O2 flow, exterior temp, humidity, etc.)

If you have an open "park style" grill, lump is going to burn like crazy, especially if the pieces are smaller. It has an unthrottled amount of O2 and will create a raging fire if it has access to the O2. This is where [all natural] briquettes can be a better option since they are compressed and burn evenly.

So why can't you just grind it into powder or fines and it be the same as big chunks? The BGE's firebox. It's shaped like a funnel and all the ash falls to the bottom and choke the airflow around the charcoal. Even if that O2 is metered, it still needs to get to the chunks. If they're too small, they nest together and lose the surface area. You need SOME surface are and it needs to flow from the bottom up.

So why not make a huge basketball size hcunks?? Can't->for a lot of reasons. Think about cooking a big 10# roast--it's pretty tough to get a constant temp from the exterior all the way through. Same here, the outside gets so brittle that it breaks off and becomes fines. The inside is undercabronized and is still wood. It's tough to light since the inside is dense and cold, and acts as a heat sink. And then how to package it?? In any case you would need to start with HUGE pieces of wood, that you are not going to be able to procure domestically--since you are never going to be afford (or be approved) to harvest trees just for charcoal.

It comes down to the density per pound to what you can fill your fire box with. You can fit more undercarbonized oak charcoal in a firebox and it will burn longer than properly carbonized charcoal (since it's still wood and you are in essence finishing the kilning process.)

NEXT, let's say the carbonization or carbon content is EQUAL between different species of woods (e.g. lightweight cherry at 80% vs. dense walnut at 80%)......the walnut is going to burn longer. But here's the b!tch, unless you're loading a kiln with 120 tons of ALL walnut, it's going to carbonize at a slower rate than the lighter woods. Or if you try to properly carbonize the extra time for the walnut, the lighter woods will be all fines. Best analogy--cook a 10,000's turkey all at once in the same oven and try to get the white & dark meat to cook at the same rate on every single one. Underdone dark meat or over cooked white meat unless you have somehow mastered the laws of thermodynamics.

Hope this helps.

stlcharcoal · January 2016

FarmerTom said:

stlcharcoal said:

......because MO's Weights & Measures folks have zero sense of humor. ....

Another reason you want that stuff very dry when it goes in the bag and not losing weight to evaporation.. Imagine their excitement if they found bags listed at 20# weighing only 19#. Been down that road in the tobacco industry. You're right about no sense of humor, or common sense for that matter.

Another reason to bag by volume, not weight!!! Ha!

It's usually well under 5% moisture when it goes in the bag.

lousubcap · January 2016

@stlcharcoal - I appreciate all the behind the curtain information you have provided and have to address in the business. Definitely puts all in a different perspective when grabbing that bag of charcoal. And dealing with mother nature is a bit--. There are those variables you cannot process or engineer out of the equation. Thanks for being forthright and contributing to our collective knowledge here. And on a Sunday of day drinkin'

Question for Rockwood users

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Burn rate was 0.4lbs/hr

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