ACE Hardware

fishlessman said:

if i remember right that weekend warrior needs that extra 5 minutes to burn clean.  i never went the pallet route with it because i still had ozark oak and maple leaf available, lee ann the co owner of wicked good sold those as well

TechsasJim said:

I keep hearing good things about Rockwood but down here in the Houston area I have never come across it.   If anyone here is from the Houston area and knows if/where it is carried please advise.   Always willing to try new lump.

Thanks!
JJ

TechsasJim said:

I keep hearing good things about Rockwood but down here in the Houston area I have never come across it.   If anyone here is from the Houston area and knows if/where it is carried please advise.   Always willing to try new lump.

Thanks!
JJ

mpenacho said:

Everything mentioned here is why I'm not a fan of all these YouTube charcoal tests.  There is so much more to what makes a good charcoal than how long or how hot it burns, or basically almost everything that is quantitative.  Even the worst charcoal will burn long enough and hot enough to do what you want.  None of us bought our eggs primarily to save money on cooking, so price/pound, while important, isn't #1 either.  I've thrown out whole bags of charcoal that were not worth using, and I don't buy those brands anymore.  Hopefully now that the weather is turning for much of the country, the lighter fluid crowd will ease up on their use, and we will have better lump availability soon.

mpenacho said:

show previous quotes

rekameohs said:

I'm not following a couple comments:

"Even the worst charcoal will burn long enough and hot enough to do what you want."

" I've thrown out whole bags of charcoal that were not worth using, and I don't buy those brands anymore. "

What was wrong with the ones you threw out?

Much of this thread is people (myself included) lamenting the fact that we can't for the time being find the lump charcoal we prefer, and settling for something we don't like as much, for various reasons.  I was pointing out that these reasons are not what most charcoal 'tests' measure.

Most charcoal tests I've watched on YouTube, or read on forums, concentrate on how hot the charcoal will burn if left uncontrolled, how long it will burn at a set temperature, what the price/burn time is, or something else that can be numerically measured and tabulated.

What isn't measured by these tests, which people state for actual reasons they like one brand or the other, are how the charcoal behaves; does it impart a bad taste to the food?, does it smoke too much or is otherwise hard to use?  Burn time or high temperature is never why I like or dislike a charcoal, but it is at the top of the numerics for these 'tests'.

I've tried a lot of different brands of charcoal since I started egging, and I've thrown out bags that burn with a bad odor, have so much dust they smolder instead of burning clean, or are not carbonized fully, so they burn either too hot or not at all.  After trying several brands, I've gravitated the last couple of years towards the brand that has been part of our Ace Hardware 'lament'.

stlcharcoal said:

show previous quotes

TechsasJim said:

Overall he said the shortage is real.   It's not for a lack of trees rather getting them to the mill and completing the process.    

That's not really correct......there is not enough slab wood, kilns, EPA permits, workers, bagging lines, etc to sustain the demand.  The supply hasn't been interrupted, it's just that charcoal plants can't flip a switch and double their output.  It take 3-6 months for the wood to season before it goes in a kiln, then it's in a kiln for 5-7 days, and then there's only so much you can bag in a week unless you're running two bagging lines or multiple shifts......which in the middle of the Mark Twain National Forest, there just aren't enough people.  Even if we could scale to meet demand like that tomorrow, in a year from now when things are back to normal, then all that stuff is going to sit idle and not pay for the loans it took to build it all.

fishlessman said:

all youtube can do is test how it burns,  they cant really test for consumers likes or dislikes on many fronts. some enjoy the taste of certain lumps, some want it burning so clean there is no added bbq flavor. i prefer cowboy lump over much of the so called high quality and its because of the flavor it imparts. why anyone would watch a youtube on burning lump........