I’m trying to find it Green Egg brand charcoal locally yo me in stock. The nearby store just closed during the economic slump.

It’s hard to find and I’m not wanting to pay Amazon $69 for a 20 pound bag that should be about $28.

A very popular locally owned store that sells tons of similar brands, but not the BGE brand, tells me their other brand will be just fine and that they sell lots of it to BGE owners. One brand they mentioned on the phone was Jealous Double or Devil. Never heard of it.

My local Costco has a huge bag of hardwood lump charcoal, I think the brand was Cowboy something or another.

It may be nothing, but I don’t want to ruin or crack an expensive BGE.

What to do? Thanks

Very doubtful that another brand of lump charcoal will crack your egg.

I have used several brands and none of them will damage your egg, the Cowboy brand is the worst lump charcoal I have used it's full of rocks and nails and burns very fast.

Wicked good is my go to brand for lump charcoal.

Check out this site for lump charcoal testing.

http://www.nakedwhiz.com/lumprankdata.htm?compare

Thanks,

You are way over thinking it. Use any natural lump charcoal. I have used several different brands for everything from high temp searing to 18 hour brisket smokes. I just buy whatever natural lump is on sale at the grocery store. My BGE has eaten them all no problem for the past 4 years.

It's not a delicate flower.

I've used precisely one bag of BGE lump, and ever since have had incredible results with Royal Oak lump. You can usually get it in large bags at HD or Lowes. Careful - they make briquets as well, I was tricked into those once. Still worked fine but not the same.

In my experience, that Cowboy shit is, well, shit. Random sized pieces from grains to breadbox sized, and is a way too fast burn. Oh - and the occassional piece of roofing or full lumber.

That link above is great, I've got it in my saved items from a few years ago.

quote:

Originally posted by archerman:
the Cowboy brand is the worst lump charcoal I have used.

I've had pretty good results with the Cowboy brand. Never any foreign material. I did notice that it did burn rather quickly, though.

I'm going to have to examine that comparison chart at length. Thanks for posting it.

Cowboy is pretty hit or miss and mostly miss. It is primarily scrap from hardwood floor production in Kentucky. Since the wood is super dry when it goes into production the scraps make super dry charcoal. Hence it burns very fast.
You can almost always find Royal Oak at Walmart and often at a really good price. It's decent lump. Certainly a step up from Cowboy. BGE charcoal is made for them by Royal Oak. Same stuff..vastly different price.
For the last several years I've bought mine from the food service industry providers. I have a GFS near by and they have good lump at a good price under their own brand. I think their market is a bit limited so you may not have one in your area.
The other place to try is Sysco. I used to buy from them but they are farther away than the GFS so I haven't done so in a while but they aways had good lump at a good price for restaurant use. Individuals can buy from them, no problem and they often have a "cash and carry" store that you can visit.

ETA: if you find a brand you want to try look for where it is produced. Some of the South American lump is excellent but pricy. Made in Mexico is a huge NO.

Royal Oak is complete shit, burns super fast and the pieces are tiny. I have had the best luck with Kamado Joe big block XL, I find it at Costco when they are having a Kamado Joe roadshow.

Cowboy lump sucks. Sparks a ton and a lot of small pieces. Lowes usually carries Kamado Joe big block and Ace hardware has a few good brands.

I love this stuff, I switched a couple of years ago.

https://www.fogocharcoal.com/p...arcoal%20bbq%20grill

I have the best luck w/ the BGE charcoal, but have tried other brands with varying results.

Royal Oak and Cowboy both gave me an off flavor that I didn't care for when smoking. They seemed OK for grilling other than it seemed to burn faster.

Black Diamond charcoal was better than Royal Oak and Cowboy, but it was more expensive than BGE.

Royal Oak is crap and burns very fast and has a lot of small pieces. You can use any natural charcoal in your BGE. Ace hardware might be your friend. They usually stock BGE and many others. If they don't stock it you can pay for it at the store or on their website and it's shipped to your local store for free.

I really like B+B oak natural charcoal and it's my preferred charcoal. FOGO is oak and highly rated by members here. Jealous devil is also rated very highly.

I've also tried Fire and Flavor- piece size is good but I've found it's a little bitter as it's a mix of oak and hickory. Piece size and burn time on Kamado Joe charcoal is also very good, but also imparts a very bitter taste sometimes and other times not as it's a mixture of 3 different woods and I've found one of them is bitter and depends how much of that wood is in the bag or grill. I went through 105 lbs of Kamado Joe before switching to B+B. I've tried Royal Oak and Cowboy and would avoid both.

TRUST ME, B+B oak is both a deal and excellent charcoal as far as taste and longevity go for the money.

I buy FOGO super premium hardwood lump from Amazon. 35 lbs for 55 bucks delivered.

BGE lump is made by Royal Oak

The brands I use are:
Rockwood
Komado Joe Big Lump
Fogo. (I order directly off their website)

B&B for everyday burger, steak, Chx type cooks

quote:

Fogo. (I order directly off their website)

Do tell more. Looks like it's cheaper than AMZN with the free shipping. That's some stinking big chunks!

It's all lump charcoal and you can use any of them. It's wood that has been burnt with nothing more. It is all the same (burnt wood) and you can use any of them in your BGE.

Some are of better quality in wood used, size and cleanliness but all are usable in the BGE. You won't damage anything.

Try what you have available until you find one you like.

Whatever brand of smoker you're using, I think Cowboy and Royal Oak are absolute crap. I find the Kamado Joe brand to actually be very good.

And unless you're running your Egg up to like 1k degrees or something, you don't need to worry about cracking it.

Never found much different by brand but to the consistency of size is very important to me.

quote:

Originally posted by Georgeair:

quote:

Fogo. (I order directly off their website)

Do tell more. Looks like it's cheaper than AMZN with the free shipping. That's some stinking big chunks!

They have a points reward system also for discounts, also email coupons to you

Burns great. I’ve had to make some smaller with a hammer. Just ordered 4 premium and 2 each of the exotics. Shipped today. I ran out of my stockpile of KJ lump I found getting clearance from a Home Depot for $8 a box. So I bought 20 of them

Thank you all for your suggestions.

We now have 2 bags and ready to make fire.
.

The Royal Oak green bag is usually good, the red back sucks.
Cowboy is REALLY hit or miss, usually miss.

Menards always has the green bag royal oak on sale, so I usually just use that. I know there is better, but 1$+/lb for scrap wood is stupid. I think I usually pay 5-6$ for 20lb.