Charcoal

[tony b]

16 hours ago, Dono said:

Personally am looking forward to having both of Dennis’s in plentiful supply again.  

Aren't we all??

[C6Bill]

I’ll be using coffee char for the first time tomorrow. I hope I don’t like it as I know I can’t get more right now LOL

[BOC]

I’ll be using coffee char for the first time tomorrow. I hope I don’t like it as I know I can’t get more right now LOL

Good luck. It’s become my favorite charcoal of all. But I can’t say I’ve tried an abundance of variety either. Really like the flavor profile though.


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[johnnymnemonic]

On 8/11/2021 at 10:42 PM, Dono said:

Let us know what you think Johnny.  

@Donowill do.  The only issue is since I have never tried CoCoChar, I won't be able to give any accurate comparison.  Maybe I'll take a couple of pictures of it out of the box and burning in the firebox of my BGE and people can tell whether it's comparable or inferior by the look of it.

[johnnymnemonic]

15 hours ago, BOC said:

Really like the flavor profile though.
 

This is all that matters.

[johnnymnemonic]

I tried Blazing Coco.  I will post pictures if anyone is interested. The reason why I'm not posting any is "it's not worth it".  Price/performance of this product is not worth it.  Just use a high quality regular lump.

Cons:

A -  it's not as odorless and pure as y'all describe Dennis's CocoChar and looks very different.  It doesn't have a hole in it.  It has some kind of binder or filler in it.

B - Previously burned pieces of the charcoal want to turn to dust.  I think the ash content is probably low if you actually burn all of it, but when you're on your second cook, you find yourself with a BUNCH of unburned black powder in your grill.  I hate it.   (In other words, maybe this is an "OK" charcoal for your weber b/c most kettle grill users let the charcoal burn out - but - if you are a Kamado user and want to reuse charcoal, this stuff is "the pits").  I felt like it was almost like a low quality briquette with how much powdery mess was left over.

C - not as great for grilling. I'm used to my kamado being able to "ramp up quickly".  This blazing coco stuff takes forever to get ramped up if you give your grill more air, even after you have had it going a while at 300-400.  I hated trying to grill with it - I'm sure if I wanted a really hot fire I could spend an hour or two getting this stuff going but - not worth it.  Regular lump is better for grilling.  This may be typical of all coconut charcoal, so I'm not as concerned about this point.

Pros:

- Due to the density it lasts a long time, so it's good for low and slow (as long as you don't mind crap-tons of black powder in your grill when you are getting ready for your next cook).  I Successfully cooked a really nice pork shoulder on my BGE with this charcoal. 

- It does have less flavor than most lump, so you still can get a more pure flavor profile.  I used some premium pecan wood chunks from Cutting Edge Firewood. The Pecan came through. It had almost no other smoke flavor.

 

Conclusion: "As a Kamado user" -- I just don't think this charcoal is worth the money and the hassle of all that black dust.  You can reuse pieces that don't turn to dust, but that's only about 50% of it.  Wait for Dennis's CoCo Char.  I've seen live videos of that on youtube.  It's a far superior product to this junk.  Do not buy (unless you just want to experiment and see if my review is any good).

Edited August 24, 2021 by johnnymnemonic
more description

[tekobo]

1 hour ago, johnnymnemonic said:

I tried Blazing Coco.  I will post pictures if anyone is interested.

Thanks for posting Johnny.  I would be interested in photos.  I have never had the chance to use Dennis' coco char but I do use coconut briquettes here in the UK and they work well for me. Curious to see if the Blazing Coco stuff is different.  I would also be interested in seeing the link you found to videos of Dennis' cocochar.  We are unlikely to get it in the UK anytime soon but we can dream.

[tony b]

@tekobo - we all dream of the day that we can get Dennis' coco-char again! I'm hoarding my last boxes like gold!

[johnnymnemonic]

@tekobohere are some pictures. 

In the first picture I put a pencil in the picture to reference the box size.  It's 20lb in a very small footprint. You can tell this is some dense stuff. 

In the second picture you can see the average sizes of the pieces.  Some are broken, some are whole.  The one in the bottom of the picture is standing on end so you can kind of see a cross section.  A "log" is 6-10" in length.  They are not very uniform.  Looks like they are pooped out of a machine and dried in an oven or kiln. 

In the 3rd picture I have a piece of kindling from the box.  It's kind of nice that they provide a little wood kindling you can use to start your fire or put underneath your charcoal chimney.  In the 4th picture, I'm holding a "log".

The fifth picture is my cold green egg with leftover blazing coco.  Looks pretty good at first glance.

The sixth picture is after I just stir the firebox up with my hand a little bit.  Note that all the logs are just crumbling.

In the seventh picture, I'm holding a partially burnt log.

In the 8th picture you can see how it easily turns to dust.  I crumbled it very easily.

Here's a video I found containing Dennis's CoCo Char being lit.  It looks much more uniform and higher quality than this stuff.  Maybe it still turns to mush after it is partially burned, IDK.  My personal preference for a kamado is a charcoal that doesn't turn to dust after being partially burned.

 

[tekobo]

Aha.  Very exciting to see some actual Dennis cocochar, thanks @johnnymnemonic.  This is the stuff that I use: https://proqsmokers.co.uk/products/proq-coconut-shell-briquettes.   It is excellent, no crumbling after the cook, slow burning and very efficient.  That reminds me - I'm running low.  Will put in an order in case they get a shortage.  No KK person likes to be without their favourite fuel.  

[johnnymnemonic]

@tekobo  That Pro Q stuff that you use looks really good.  Thanks for the link. 

[Troble]

I had a pallet of coffee wood and coco char that carried me through last year. I used the coffee most of the time and the coco char for special cooks. There is nothing better than coco char in terns of smell, duration and even burning. I’m out of coffee wood and have gone back to cheap Royal oak. I use that for everyday grilling but still have a few boxes of coco char that I’m saving for special cooks, I love the coco char 

Edited August 29, 2021 by Troble

[Basher]

Don’t you hate that when you fall into a routine of using a quality product, then supply chains break down and you have to search for an equivalent replacement?
I have been enjoying the Gidgee charcoal, it’s now thin on the ground, tried mangrove charcoal. It’s horrible. I had forgotten what bad charcoal imparted into your food!


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[tony b]

14 hours ago, Troble said:

I’m out of coffee wood and have gone back to cheap Royal oak. I use that for everyday grilling

Give the Jealous Devil a try. I'm liking it a lot. 

[Troble]

@tony b will do. I picked up 6 bags of total oak at home depot about two months ago when my coffee charcoal ran out and I was in HD picking up liquid chlorine, so I’m still working through that but my next purchase will be JD. you’ve never led me astray with prior recommendations 

Edited August 29, 2021 by Troble