Briquettes Question

[keith157]

BBQF I think you've hit several nails on their heads. Years ago all the general public had was whatever supermarkets & garden centres had to sell, and the lumpwood on offer was very poor. The pieces were irregulary sized and had vastly differing burn rates within a bag. Okay I was only grilling but, got pi$$ed off being spat at by my bbq so went for briquettes, they stacked easier, lit easier (no chimneys) and in my limited experience burned far cleaner and more regularly.
Now however there is a selection of quality lumpwood out there, however I'm an old f@rt and change comes slowly. That and not having a bookers card means I'll stick to briquettes, however in the few visits we've had to competitions the last couple of years the big blue bag has been highly visible.
Depending on finances I may take a chance and have a look at the Barbie logs/briquettes Ed trialled, purely for home use.
So you pays your money, and takes your chances. Whatever you use we are in a far better place BBQ wise then 20+ years ago thanks to the emergance of cheap holidays, healthy appetites and a desire and will to replicate the "Q" eaten in the US

[Verminskti]

I love the big blue bags. Huge pieces of glistening black tree! However I do find it painful to light. I went to lump pre-chimney finding it easier to light than briquette. Settled on a mix especially with the chimney starter (1/3 lump, 1/3 briquettes with another 1/3 lump on top. High heat to start longevity to grill as it went).

Having gone to the big blue bag I'm wondering if there's actually enough small pieces to have the surface area to light. I'm getting black handed rifling through the bag for small pieces each time for the bottom of the chimney but it's very slow in the chimney crackling away at the bottom not putting out much heat for 20+ minutes before taking another half hour to rise to the top. With the supermarket junk all I'd need is one match, three sheets of paper and a forgiving wind, this I've taken to using a block of lighter to decrease the chimney time, something I only usually need do if it's blowing a gale.

[keith157]

Rubber gloves, saves on soap

[UKEgger]

I love the big blue bags. Huge pieces of glistening black tree! However I do find it painful to light. I went to lump pre-chimney finding it easier to light than briquette. Settled on a mix especially with the chimney starter (1/3 lump, 1/3 briquettes with another 1/3 lump on top. High heat to start longevity to grill as it went).

Having gone to the big blue bag I'm wondering if there's actually enough small pieces to have the surface area to light. I'm getting black handed rifling through the bag for small pieces each time for the bottom of the chimney but it's very slow in the chimney crackling away at the bottom not putting out much heat for 20+ minutes before taking another half hour to rise to the top. With the supermarket junk all I'd need is one match, three sheets of paper and a forgiving wind, this I've taken to using a block of lighter to decrease the chimney time, something I only usually need do if it's blowing a gale.

Okay where do you buy the big blue bags....

[aris]

Booker sell them - i'm assuming they are the same ones Makro sell too.

Booker sell them for 8.49+VAT for a 12kg bag.

http://www.booker.co.uk/bbimages/139345 ... 00_600.jpg

[BBQFanatic]

So the blue bags of Carbon which I think is actually from Bar-b-quick, but not sure is generally good but sometimes is junk. We buy from 3 locations

Bookers - generally the cheapest, but you need a bookers card.
Makro Online - Online ordrs dont need a Makro card and the prices are as good as bookers but you pay £4 for deliver. Regardless of how many bags you order. They had a special a few weeks back, £7.99 incl vat.
Our Local Camping/Gas Store - £11.99/bag, but they only have 3-4 bags in stock at any one time.

As for lighting, you could always do 1/2 chimney or briquettes and then dump on top of lump if you smoking. If you grilling and want smaller pieces, throw the bag around before opening which break it up a little. You still getwt the massive logsbut you can also get a nice size for chimney usage.

On a side nite we have been using the BigK 15kg bags this season as we got a really good price from a certian team on the forum that are sponsored by them. Good quality as well if you can get for a good price. I called the wholesalers directly and they were prepared to give me wholesale price if I bought in volume and collected from their nirth London warehouse once I explained what I was using it for.

[The Social Smokers]

Heat beads all the way for us. If we were to mix in lumpwood it would be the Devonshire Artisan stuff. Expensive though..