Royal Oak red bag lump burns fast?

[rdstoll]

I've seen a couple of vague references around the site on this but just wanted to share my own experience. Doing a brisket and butt today for my football draft and in the interest of sleep I decided to fire up the UDS for this effort. Same procedure as all the other times I've cooked - N8man method for filling/starting the basket and sticking random chunks of wood in there (apple and hickory in this case). Started cooking at 9pm last night and was rocking a solid 250*.

Anyway, I was able to get my sleep apart from the 2am wake up to check and wrap the meat but when I woke up at 6am I went out and saw the temp had dropped to ~200*. No problem, that's happened before. So I opened the lid to manufacture a temperature "spike" in order to get the coals going again and immediately noticed that almost the entire charcoal basket was empty save a few random burning coals and a whole lot of white ash.

Needless to say, with the brisket still plenty tight and reading 170* I sprung into action to get the stickburner up and running, and thankfully I'm able to get that thing up and running with a clean, hot fire in less than half an hour (thank you weedburner!).

Now I've done plenty of 12+ hour cooks on this UDS and have NEVER encountered a situation where I was fearful of running out of fuel, even in zero degree weather. I've use about a half dozen other brands (Cowboy, Grove, Fire King, others) but this was the first time I had ever used Royal Oak and all I can say is I'm sorely disappointed!!

Before writing RO off forever I just want to see if this fast burn is "normal" for them. I've been generally impressed with the good size lump in the bag and less dust than I'm used to seeing. But fast burning = going back to another brand of lump whenever I use the UDS!!

 

[nucornhusker]

It does burn quickly in my experience. It's great for quick, hot grilling, but I'd used a different lump for long smokes.

 

[Wickedcajun]

Sorry to tell you... It does burn hot n fast

 

[IamMadMan]

Now I've done plenty of 12+ hour cooks on this UDS and have NEVER encountered a situation where I was fearful of running out of fuel, even in zero degree weather. I've use about a half dozen other brands (Cowboy, Grove, Fire King, others) but this was the first time I had ever used Royal Oak and all I can say is I'm sorely disappointed!!

Before writing RO off forever I just want to see if this fast burn is "normal" for them. I've been generally impressed with the good size lump in the bag and less dust than I'm used to seeing. But fast burning = going back to another brand of lump whenever I use the UDS!!

We all realize that not all charcoal is created using the same methods and manners of production. There are various levels of the quality in the production of both lump charcoal and charcoal briquettes. Simply put there is no equality in the use of different types or brands of charcoal.

Generally speaking Lump charcoal is made from pieces of wood whereas briquettes have binders and other additives which hold them together and control the rate of burn.

Lump Charcoal - Just as it states, these are random sized pieces (lumps) of hardwood charcoal. It is just wood that has been turned into charcoal using heat without combustion. Lump charcoal contains is almost pure carbon and contains less impurities. Carbon (Lump Charcoal) will burn at a higher temperature and will leave less ash than briquettes.


Briquette Charcoal - Are uniform pillow shaped pieces of charcoal. Most briquettes are simply the left over by-products of wood manufacturing products and scrap. They take the by-products and left over pieces and grind them to a consistent size and then use potato, wheat or corn starch as a binding agent. Some Producers also add mineral char, coal, limestone,
starch, borax, and sodium nitrate.


The advantage of briquettes to some people is that they will burn at a lower temperature for a longer period of time.

Some say briquettes are ideally suited if you are doing ribs or using the low and slow cooking method for long hours. Briquettes now also come in flavors by impregnating bits of hickory or mesquite chips into the briquettes have for an added ease of usage.

Many users say the binders and additives used in briquette production give the meat an off taste during the cooking process.

I have no problem getting a 14 hour burn from an eight pound bag of lump charcoal in my smoker using low and slow. In my opinion it is just as easy to control the burn of lump in my cooker as it is with the briquettes I used to use, I just don't have all that ash.

Bottom line it is: Use what you like to use or what works best for you...

EDIT:

Here is a link to the rating of Royal Oak Lump in the red bag... Click Here

It allows to to see or compare to others.

.

 

[Teamfour]

The issue with lump is that the irregular size of the pieces causes a lot of space in the pile of lump. This will lead to accelerated burn times. I like to stomp on the pile to break the pieces up and create a denser pile of lump. I find this help extend the burn.

 

[Uncle Drew]

In my experiences with RO, it is the fastest burning lump charcoal I have used.