B&B Char-logs second opinion

[Poochie]

I've talked a lot of people into using these Char-logs and have sung the praises to the high heavens on here. Today is a sad day for it. For my very first cook I loaded the basket with this stuff and lit it with a Looftlighter. It caught just fine and was working its way to my goal temperature of 300.  I go inside for about 10 minutes and come back out and smell something that ain't right. My wife walks into the shop and says "are you smoking a cigar?" Since I've never smoked the answer was no, but the KK was.  It smelled like a cross between day old garbage and a stinky cigar...like there's another kind.  I ended up picking up the hot as hell basket and setting it in my Kudu. I dumped it all out and started over with Royal Oak lump briquettes...Tony's favorite.  It took a while to get the smell out of the shop, but in the end, the KK was smelling good again and the yardbird and pork belly slices came out excellent. 

So for everyone that bought this stuff because of me...sorry. You may never get a bag this bad, and I'm sure it's a fluke. I've been using this stuff for around 8 years. But I can't trust it now. So 2 bags are going in the trash. One last boring detail. I fired up a chimney of the Char-logs just to isolate it and make sure nothing else was causing the smell.  It was 100% the Char-logs. I'll still use B&B regular lump but avoid this stuff like it's got the virus. 

[tony b]

17 hours ago, Poochie said:

I dumped it all out and started over with Royal Oak lump briquettes...Tony's favorite.  

👍😄

[jonj]

23 hours ago, Poochie said:

the yardbird and pork belly slices came out excellent. 

No photos; didn't happen...  😉

Edited February 6, 2022 by jonj

[Syzygies]

23 hours ago, Poochie said:

I dumped it all out and started over with Royal Oak lump briquettes...Tony's favorite.

I'm trigger happy to start over given the slightest provocation if there's time. I'm reminded of Laurie and my stepdaughter: "No Mama! It's dead."

[Tyrus]

You know what they say Pooch, one bad apple don't make the whole tree bad. I got two sitting in the shed and I like to use them in my Santa Maria, the only thing is I find they burn out fast. Other than that I haven't experienced a bad odor. Give their customer service a call, 8 years of reliability is a lot to away on one incident.

[Poochie]

I agree with you Tyrus.  I've loved this stuff for years. But you'd probably be gun shy too if you're ready to put meat on the pit and you think there's an intruder smoking a cigar at your place.  I willing to bet that I would never get another bad bag of this stuff if I lived to be 100. 

[Poochie]

11 hours ago, jonj said:

No photos; didn't happen...  😉

I agree with that. I'll start taking photos from this point on. I was busy "learning the pit" in the cooking process. It's rock steady and I have no worries about it. 

[tony b]

5 hours ago, Poochie said:

It's rock steady and I have no worries about it. 

As if??

[Poochie]

I figured it would take a while to used to a 32".  The "no worries" is more about me than the KK.  Shape is different, lump to bottom and top grate is different, time to get up to temp is different. I know Dennis tries to make these fool proof, but as the old saying goes "make something more foolproof, they'll build a better fool."  Anyway, first overnighter tonight. An 8lb Boston butt..first boneless one I've ever cooked. The plan is to cook it around 230-240 so it takes all night to cook. I usually get up between 2 and 3 so I'm sure it'll still be cooking if I put it on around 7 or 8 tonight.  Pictures and quick notes tomorrow. 

[C6Bill]

Don't worry if that boneless jumps up to 165 or so real quick. It should stall for a long long time @ 235 degrees in the pit.

[Poochie]

You're right C6Bill, it did stall for hours. I was sleeping at the time so it's OK. I've come to the conclusion that I'd prefer a bone in vs boneless. They cook different, for sure. 

[Cheesehead_Griller]

I tried a bag of this over the past weekend. I noticed the smell was a bit off. Didn't seem "natural" as claimed on the bag. The smell was just a bit off. I did like the steady temps but I can't get past the smell. There was also a ton of ash. 

@Poochie What is your go-to lump now? 

Edited January 25, 2023 by Cheesehead_Griller

[Tyrus]

I have a bag of this sitting in the coal house waiting for destiny. It's destined to be burnt in the open air or in the weber at higher temps. It doesn't do well in the KK especially at low temps because it's Oxygen starved. I find them good on the Santa Maria with wood and functional at higher temps in the Weber, at 30lbs for $22 it's hard to beat.  It's like putting regular gas in a car that requires high test only, something is bound to go wrong.