Charcoal Tested RO Briq v Kingsford

[---k---]

A few weeks ago, John, better known as Patio Daddio, posted some results from a charcoal test he performed. Good stuff. But I wondered how well his test methods would translate to a UDS or WSM. I've been wanting to do my own test for a while. I finally got some time this weekend.

First,I tried to be all scientific and accurate, but there are a lot of variables. Some that I can control and some I can't. There are also a lot of different results that can be tested for, but you can't test for everything with one test. I did the best I could to produce results that I think might mean something in a reasonable amount of time and effort. I'm sure there are better ways to test this, you're free to try them out.

I wanted a test mainly to see the differences (or lack thereof) for myself. I wanted to use as close as possible to my real world conditions. I also wanted to use my Pitmaster, because I thought this would be the great equalizer. My thinking it would correct for differences in amount lit, etc. I've also seen graphs in the past that slowly trail off. I wanted to use the Pitmaster to keep the temp up and not allow the trail off (or at least that was the plan). So, what I did: I took a regular coffee can and cut off the top and bottom. I then drilled holes around the outside in order to allow more airflow. I then placed the coffee can inside my standard UDS basket. The coffee can acts as a reducer to shorten the test time. I then counted and hand filled the coffee can to the top with briquettes. I was mainly measuring by volume, but the weight came out similar. The briquettes were measured on a digital kitchen scale. I then removed briquettes from the basket to the first ridge in the coffee can. These were placed in a chimney and lit. Once the edges had ashed over, I dumped the hot coals back in the coffee can and loaded it into the UDS. The Pitmaster was set to 250* and I used a Maverick probe next to the Pitmaster probe to track temps.

Kingsford
20# Bag
briquettes used: 56 briquettes = 2.72#, 12 lit = .58#

Royal Oak Briquettes
18# bag, $5.79 @ Menards every day price
briquettes used: 45 briquettes = 2.75#, 10 lit = .61#


https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-3lJHnc7xYEs/TwkuOivIrrI/AAAAAAAAAjs/5GqLB9kcnlk/s800/P1000549.JPG

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-xdIL0v0Mz3k/TwkuPgBvZfI/AAAAAAAAAj0/kFH69O3aLkI/s800/P1000551.JPG

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-fLbHgfwJ9ZU/TwkuQ-YhLNI/AAAAAAAAAj4/7eEQWVSvxKY/s800/P1000552.JPG

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-9jxX2IhZn9U/TwkuRaPSOtI/AAAAAAAAAj8/Ux6wmqd176M/s800/P1000556.JPG

Results
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-kbM3ed-xZEA/Twkvukufi2I/AAAAAAAAAkU/lc9wISdlG4o/s800/charcoal_test_010712.jpg

Ash left from Kingsford
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-pVI7Mn8LRI8/TwkuR0A7GeI/AAAAAAAAAkA/5DhbqV3CuAo/s800/P1000567.JPG

Ash left from RO Briquetts
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-1hoF5ujc5PY/Twkuwy3fFgI/AAAAAAAAAkM/M8x8AHPf13A/s800/P1000581.JPG

I really don't know what to make of it, if anything yet. There were definite differences. But are they big differences? Are they big enough to be repeated or within the margin of error? Were they mostly due to differences in the outside temperature?

A few notes:

It seemed like the Pitmaster struggled with temps more than normal. Probably because of the smaller diameter ring. Easier to overshoot and undershoot with a higher lit/unlit ratio? It also didn't have me opening the lid to release heat or a big slab of cold meat, so maybe not ideal for the programming. Or maybe it was because I was watching it closer and recording temps about every 5 minutes.

It got colder out later in the day when I ran the RO test.

The RO Briquettes are much more difficult to light, but have a stronger smell and more or real wood. After lighting the Kingsford and coming inside I didn't have much smell on me, but did have some good wood smell on me with the RO Briqs.

Visually, the RO Briquettes had less ash. Maybe 20% to 30%, but that is just a guess. I didn't attempt to weigh it.



I also bought a bag of RO Lump today while at Menards. It is the real target of my tests. It will be a little different, but since I'm measuring by volume and not weight I think it will be fair. I'm not sure when I'll get the time, but I will update afterwards.

[Durzil]

Im curious how the RO chefs best would compare as well. Great bang for buck briquette.

[KnucklHed BBQ]

Im curious how the RO chefs best would compare as well. Great bang for buck briquette.

and a much larger briq too by far!! I love the RO chef's briqs, $18 for 40lbs from do it best's - can't beat that! :thumb:

Thanks for the work K!

[---k---]

Im curious how the RO chefs best would compare as well. Great bang for buck briquette.

This is the RO briquettes I used. These used to not have ridges under the same name. The ridges are a new thing in the last year. I believe it is the same as the "Chef's Best", but have never seen/used the Chef's Best. Royal Oak has two different briquettes on their website, the Premium, which I used, and the Ultra 100. So maybe someone with more knowledge of Royal Oak can say.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-I7eXJj2GH0E/TwmfEK8oxrI/AAAAAAAAAkc/Khtv2GmcBow/s800/P1000572.JPG
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-AeYBUMVq5bM/Twmg-YWIUuI/AAAAAAAAAkk/L0h8QdFOLIE/s800/P1000573.JPG

[KnucklHed BBQ]

The RO Chef's select is a bit different - I get mine from DoIt Best hardware stores: http://www.doitbest.com/Charcoal+and+Lighting+Items-Royal+Oak-model-192-104-026-doitbest-sku-838136.dib

Here's a pic of the size diff

http://i965.photobucket.com/albums/ae133/knucklhedbbq/DSC07163Medium.jpg
http://i965.photobucket.com/albums/ae133/knucklhedbbq/DSC07165Medium.jpg

Now I noticed in the link that they call it chef's best - Here's an older pic of it when they called it chef's select...

http://i965.photobucket.com/albums/ae133/knucklhedbbq/DSC07160Medium.jpg

[---k---]

Thanks. The Chef's Best you show in your photo looks very similar to what I used to get in the Premium Briquette from Menards. I always thought they were the same, but maybe not... I swear the bag used to say All Natural also, but I can't find it anywhere on the bag now. Must have been my imagination. But these do look and feel closer to Stubs than Kingsford. Maybe the Chef's Best is the same as the Ultra100 on their website? I got a Do-It-Best not far from me. I'll have to see if they have some in stock. But, I want to get the Lump done first.

I also have been thinking that my small test ring might work better with a lower temp, say 220*. But that would be changing my test method... I'm not trying to be consistent enough to be a professional charcoal tester, I just want to be consistent enough that I can make sense of it for my own usage.

[morgaj1]

Thanks. The Chef's Best you show in your photo looks very similar to what I used to get in the Premium Briquette from Menards. I always thought they were the same, but maybe not... I swear the bag used to say All Natural also, but I can't find it anywhere on the bag now. Must have been my imagination. But these do look and feel closer to Stubs than Kingsford. Maybe the Chef's Best is the same as the Ultra100 on their website? I got a Do-It-Best not far from me. I'll have to see if they have some in stock. But, I want to get the Lump done first.

I also have been thinking that my small test ring might work better with a lower temp, say 220*. But that would be changing my test method... I'm not trying to be consistent enough to be a professional charcoal tester, I just want to be consistent enough that I can make sense of it for my own usage.

I have a Do It Best store in town, but they don't routinely stock the RO Chef's Best. I go online to www.doitbest.com and order it there. If you have it shipped to your local store, there is no shipping charge. Takes about a week for it to come in at my store. It is now my go-to charcoal.

[---k---]

The way back of my brain is still being occupied by whether there was a difference.

The RO Premium Briqs took about 10 minutes longer to get going. I think it was just the difference in how well they were lit and the outside temperatures. But, you can see what I think is the programming within the Pitmaster iQue110. After the RO got going, the slope almost matched perfectly. I adjusted the graph to remove this initial 10 minutes. I post this here just because I find it interesting how near perfect the curves match.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-ztUxGJKNFaM/TwoCedCw63I/AAAAAAAAAk0/DkeLB_pplGI/s800/charcoal_test_010712-corrected.jpg

It seems like there might be some difference, but not much... But it is opposite what I thought I've experienced on real long cooks. Maybe my imagination...

[bigabyte]

This matches my own results experimenting with RO Briq's vs Kingsford in my WSM. This was before either brand had "ridges". I couldn't tell an appreciable difference back then either.

[---k---]

I finally got time to finish up a test using Royal Oak Lump. Same test. Filled a small coffee can up to the top with Lump. Weighed it on a kitchen scale = 1.299#. I took out of that about the top 1" and put it in a chimney to light. Once lit, added back and into my UDS with the Pitmaster iQ110 set to 250*.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-xY-TZgfaCDA/Ty8FurKpleI/AAAAAAAAAoM/lpBWjo4kEhc/s800/charcoal-test-020512.jpg

I was really hoping that the same volume of Lump would last longer than the same volume of Briquettes. Since a bag of Lump is about the same price as a bag of briquettes and about the same volume.... It would have been easy to decide a winner. However this doesn't seem to be the case. The lump in this test seemed about a hour less. But, the Pitmaster also overshot and the temp was up there for a while....

I'm still trying to decide what to make of this and if it scales up to a full basket being lit and tested. I also don't know how repeatable it would be. This bag had some of the largest, unmolested pieces of lump I've ever had out of a bag. I broke a few in half to get them to fit in the coffee can better.


And as an added bonus:
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-KJBe9egFxv0/Ty8IJmfkPyI/AAAAAAAAAoQ/VwnTLnV3-Pc/s800/lump-test.jpg

[troytime]

i think if you're going to compare burn times, it needs to be by weight instead of volume.

[---k---]

Why? The amount of charcoal that can fit inside my basket is limited by volume not weight. I typically measure the amount of charcoal by the # of chimneys. Secondly, if you compare based on weight, lump is 2x the cost, but based on volume it is a lot closer.