Hi Everyone, Today we’re going to test the “conventional wisdom” of if charcoal briquettes really do burn longer than lump charcoal. Obviously this experiment is going to be just a single data point using my cookers and two random brands of charcoal, but I would encourage all of you to do this test at home on your cookers with the brands of charcoal that you like to see if my results match up to your results. To begin with you will need two of the same bbq pit, or you can do it with just one, you'll just have to repeat the experiment with the second type of charcoal. Luckily I have two Char-Griler Akorns. I love these pits for a bunch of reasons but today its going to be because of their extreme fuel efficiency. What that is going to do for us today is really exaggerate the difference in burn time between these two fuel sources. With the grills set up we’re going to weigh out exactly one pound of charcoal briquettes, and one pound of lump charcoal. We will put that charcoal into their own separate chimneys and use a single firestarter to light the chimney. Once the firestarter has burned out go ahead and put your fuel into the cookers, one type in one and one in the other. I chose to leave the grate out of the cookers just to eliminate as many variables as possible, the only think inside the Akorns during this test was a thermometer probe to measure the ambient temperature. In the interest of time I chose a fairly high temperature to have these Akorns settle in at, 320 degrees fahrenheit, but you could obviously choose whatever temperature you wanted at home. Once the temps lock in just do your best to make sure the cookers stay right with each other, which is a pretty easy task on the akorn. In my test we found that the one pound of lump charcoal held 320 in the Akorn for 2 hours, while the charcoal briquettes held 320 for 2 hours and 45 minutes. So there you go, in my test the briquettes did burn longer. However this test brought me to a realization, one pound of charcoal is extremely small, using either of these fuel sources it would be no problem to get a very long cook out of these pits. So with that being said I would ask that while you consider burn time when it comes to what fuel you use. Also consider things like how easy it is to use, do you like the fragrances coming off of your charcoal when its cooking, the size and uniformity of the pieces. I guess what I’m saying is you’ll have your favorite fuel for your own reasons, and burn time may be one of those, but definitely use the fuel that you enjoy the most in your cookers so you can always be having a great time cooking outside. I hope you try this experiment and if you do, let me know how it goes for you. Till next time, y’all take it easy.
Char-Griller Akorn - www.chargriller.com/products/...
--AFFILIATE LINKS FOR THERMOWORKS PRODUCTS USED IN THIS VIDEO---
Smoke Thermometer - www.thermoworks.com/Smoke?tw=C...
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