Wicked (not so) Good Charcoal

[Crüe-B-Cüe]

I picked up a couple of WGC Weekend Warrior a few weeks ago. Just got around to trying it out last night for some steaks. I have to say, that I was not that impressed with it for grilling. I have yet to try it for smoking. First thing was it was very hard to light. Even with the weedburner. There was lots of popping, cracking and sparks flying everywhere. I finally got it lit and left the dome open for a few minutes to let it get going good. I closed the lid, set my vents for about 450* fire and went inside. I came back out about 15 minutes later and was shocked when I opened the egg. The entire inside was white. It looked like someone took a spray can of paint to inside of the egg. Even the grate and rig were white. You can see where I scraped a little bit off in the pic. I threw the steaks on. They turned out great. I rubbed them with DP Cowlick and Raising the Steaks and served with some twice baked taters.

I was also surprised at the amount of ash after the cook. Way more than RO lump. I think for half the price, less fireworks and less ash, I'll stick with RO.

[Spydermike72]

Wow, what the heck happened!!

The food looks awesome!!

[Don Marco]

I had the same once with a couple of bags of argentinian "quebracho" lump charcoal.
There were sparks all over the place and a very fine white dust.

The importer said it happens every once in a while that they get some other type of wood mixed within wich sometimes slip through the random sampling. Got full replacement for those bags and it never happened again.

DM

[ique]

Work great for me. Sometimes it takes a bit longer to get the WGC fully lit cause its pretty dense. Weird that you had a problem with ash, my experience is the WGC produces very little. Maybe you just got a bad bag.

[KC_Bobby]

Feel free to put your unused portion in my garage. I'm more than happy to use it.

[CTSmokehouse]

I really like using Wicked Good Weekend Warrior, especially for smoking... Much to my dismay today my local supplier only had small bags! I find that it burns a little hot for grilling...but you learn to use it properly. I find almost no ash left over. I did a cook with charcoal recently...man the ash was about 4 times as much. What I like about it my smokers are that the pieces are large and look like real wood and they burn a long time. In my backyard cookers that means about 50% less hands on time...worth the extra cost. Royal Oak is my back up.

Yours in BBQ,

Cliff

[HeSmellsLikeSmoke]

Have you thought about contacting them to see what they have to say about it? I suspect they want to keep their very good reputation and may work something out for you.

[jiarby]

A couple years ago there were a bunch of reports of Kamado Extruded Coconut charcoal doing the same thing, but it wasn't consistent. Didn;t happen in every box or to every user.

[1_T_Scot]

Intereseting I have not experineced that with Cowboy or RO.

[Norcoredneck]

I had the white stuff recently with RO. Freaked me out.

[Crüe-B-Cüe]

I emailed them. I'll post their response when I get it.

[Jeremiah]

Agree that it sounds like a bad batch, I use this stuff nearly exclusively and it rocks, consistent heat and very low ash production.

[tjv]

Man, that is strange, never seen that happen to the rig. I'd be curious to see what the manufacturer says. T

[jason]

Where'd you get the Wicked Good from? Biloxi?

[Que'inKC]

Originally Posted by KC_Bobby

Feel free to put your unused portion in my garage. I'm more than happy to use it.

I'll take it off your hands...I wouldn't use anything but!!!

I know some people say they have a hard time lighting it, but I've never had that problem...We use it for comp and at home...