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Big Green Egg, Primo, Kamado Joe, and Akorn JR pork butt

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Baby Back Maniac

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This was fun. One of the questions I got after the Weber charcoal sale at Home Depot was “Can you burn briquettes in a kamado?” I know the official answer is no, but I do it all the time in the Weber Summit Charcoal grill so I don’t know why it would be an issue in the ceramics except for ash.

I got to thinking about the lack of chemicals (so they say) in the Weber charcoal and then it occurred to me this is a great excuse to make a video testing it out. So I pulled out all four of my kamadas and did a pork butt test run.

I was doing fine until the wind picked up (if you are going to watch, at least give it till the 8 minutes and 30 seconds mark…You’ll know why when you get there.)

I hope you enjoy it.

https://youtu.be/CFX7KzV7fb0
 
I like that the cheap little clearance scratch and dent cooker did the best work.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
 
SimcoBBQ said:
what would you say the ash comparison to lump would be? Or the Weber compared to KBB
Click to expand...

This is a great question. I decided to let the cooker burn down and my intent was to keep an eye on how long it ran and then do some mental calculations on how much ash it produced per hour based on that picture.

What ACTUALLY ended up happening is we got a new roof put on the next day and I totally forgot to check with all the banging. Lol.

Some people say the Weber makes less ash than K. Right now I don’t think that’s the case but I could see why they think that because the charcoal seems to burn a really long time. So if you aren’t using much of the coal in a cook, it would produce less ash...if that make sense.

I think the ash production if very similar to a dense hardwood lump. Maybe a little more. Defintely more the Royal Oak but like I said, you don’t go through it as fast. Hope that makes sense.
 
SimcoBBQ said:
what would you say the ash comparison to lump would be? Or the Weber compared to KBB
Click to expand...


I've done several long cooks (12 to 14 hour range) in a WSM using both KBB and Weber briquettes and KBB produced noticeably more ash than the Weber briquettes. I also don't like the way the KBB smells when using the Minion method even though it never seems to affect the taste of the food.

To me the added cost for the Weber briquettes is worth it. KBB works fine though.

I've also used lump in a WSM for long cooks but it's often a pain. I've had much more trouble keeping the temperature stable with lump in a Weber Smokey Mountain.

Interesting to know that coals work Kamado's. Good to know in a pinch if that's all you can get.


Side note. What's up with Royal Oak from Home Depot. Seems like it's totally hit or miss. Last batch I got was like a bag of marbles. Tons of small pieces. Maybe they just get thrown around more from Home Depot???
 
Baby Back Maniac said:
This is a great question. I decided to let the cooker burn down and my intent was to keep an eye on how long it ran and then do some mental calculations on how much ash it produced per hour based on that picture.

What ACTUALLY ended up happening is we got a new roof put on the next day and I totally forgot to check with all the banging. Lol.

Some people say the Weber makes less ash than K. Right now I don’t think that’s the case but I could see why they think that because the charcoal seems to burn a really long time. So if you aren’t using much of the coal in a cook, it would produce less ash...if that make sense.

I think the ash production if very similar to a dense hardwood lump. Maybe a little more. Defintely more the Royal Oak but like I said, you don’t go through it as fast. Hope that makes sense.
Click to expand...

They conducted a test of Weber vs. Kingsford charcoal on the Virtual Bullet. Here: (very interesting)
http://virtualweberbullet.com/kingsford-long-burning-weber-hardwood-charcoal-burn-test-2017.html

His conclusion: “Weber 100% All-Natural Hardwood Charcoal Briquettes appeared to burn longer than the three Kingsford charcoals. It produced slightly more ashes by weight and 20% more ashes by volume than Kingsford Original, but the same percentage of ashes at 18.6%.
Weber's new charcoal offering is intriguing because it appears to burn longer than any of the Kingsford products and with the same percentage of ash production as Kingsford Original, but with 20% greater ash volume than Original and at a much higher cost of $1 per pound versus Kingsford Original's 27¢ per pound sale price.”

So, your instincts were proven right here (as far as ash production goes). I have yet to try one the 16 bags of Weber I scored at HD for $3.90 each but am definitely intrigued by the long burn time that they measured.
 
pjtexas1 said:
I like that the cheap little clearance scratch and dent cooker did the best work.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Me too...though I'm going to get trolled forever about that. My "favorite" part of youtube...not. Still, it is what it is. lol
 
Interesting! I do not have a kamado, but my dad-in-law does and he uses briquettes and just straight in, with no kick ash basket. It seems to work well for him although I thought he was wrong when I first found out because I thought you had to use lump in those to run well. Thanks for the insight!
 
Justin been watching your videos lately. Good job and keep them coming.
 
pjtexas1 said:
I agree! Lots of guys wouldn't be able to admit that their expensive cookers aren't the chit.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

That's part of why I try to have an objective opinion on these things. Because I got burned a few times by people who did that and I realized they were not doing me any favors. It's tough though because it pisses people off. Like if I say "I think the Summit is one of the best smokers I've ever used but it's ridiculous they put plastic wheels on a $2K cooker" people accuse me of both being a fan boy and a hater...like back to back comments. No room for nuance. lol.
 
Baby Back Maniac said:
That's part of why I try to have an objective opinion on these things. Because I got burned a few times by people who did that and I realized they were not doing me any favors. It's tough though because it pisses people off. Like if I say "I think the Summit is one of the best smokers I've ever used but it's ridiculous they put plastic wheels on a $2K cooker" people accuse me of both being a fan boy and a hater...like back to back comments. No room for nuance. lol.
Click to expand...
It's funny what ticks ones senses. I don't really care about the wheels, replacement wheels are cheap. But that propane ignition system just looks ugly. Plus, based on my reading, for a low temp cook, it can't even be used.
So, for me, I look at it and think, "That's another air leak to cause temperature regulation issues".
I know of no other komado cooker that has an propane igniter, what were they thinking?

I'd like to find a cheap used one and fabricate a plate to seal the air leak. Then I can play.:-D
 
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