Bought a Weber BBQ about a month ago and have since been testing various types of Charcoal.
Have so far tried Weber's own brand, Wilko's own brand, Diall from B&Q as well as this charcoal from Home Bargains.
The Home Bargains material was far the best - burnt hotter and for longer than all the other brands. The bags also had less fines/dust - so more of the briquettes were intact.
The Weber product was surprising only second best, followed by Diall then finally the Wilko product.
Had both Briquettes, Lumpwood and some bags of 4kg Instant Lite.
May be late for most as Barbecue season is mostly over but owners of a Weber Kettle charcoal BBQ are able to use it all year round!
15 comments
Van1973
11 Sep 17#1
Bought a Weber BBQ about a month ago and have since been testing various types of Charcoal.
Have so far tried Weber's own brand, Wilko's own brand, Diall from B&Q as well as this charcoal from Home Bargains.
The Home Bargains material was far the best - burnt hotter and for longer than all the other brands. The bags also had less fines/dust - so more of the briquettes were intact.
The Weber product was surprising only second best, followed by Diall then finally the Wilko product.
Had both Briquettes, Lumpwood and some bags of 4kg Instant Lite.
May be late for most as Barbecue season is mostly over but owners of a Weber Kettle charcoal BBQ are able to use it all year round!
jaydeeuk1
11 Sep 17#2
How very selfless of you having to do all that BBQing just to test the different brands. Its a tough job, but somebody had to do it.
greekmick
11 Sep 17#3
Try the Big K restaurant grade briquettes.
backinstock
11 Sep 17#4
This should get hot........
.............................once the coals start to glow.
windym
11 Sep 17#5
Welcome to the world of Weber. We love ours and BBQ all year round. A Sunday roast with a full chicken on convection mode is delicious.
We've experimented with charcoal and like Lidl's briquettes. From memory they are either £2.99 or £2.79. Definitely worth a try.
Van1973 to windym
11 Sep 17#6
Thanks - I'll try the Lidl stuff if I can find it. I was very impressed with the Home Bargains material - very good quality, even better than the Weber stuff which I thought was good.
you_gotta_be_kidding
11 Sep 17#7
Excellent price for Lumpwood, I would never use charcoal due to the chemicals etc
AndySX
11 Sep 17#8
I wonder if I got something like this, and then tipped a few bags of lumpwood into it if it would keep better over the winter? wickes.co.uk/Wic…345
Van1973 to AndySX
12 Sep 17#10
I would guess that would be fine. Wouldn't be too much of a problem if the charcoal got wet as it would dry out on the BBQ if you had some dry stuff to get it lit.
I bought 10 bags yesterday and was just going to store then in the garage but I may do same as what you where suggesting!
Nice info on here for someone who's looking to start bbq'ing again, thanks gang.
Jamminator
12 Sep 17#12
Cheers, bought 12 bags earlier, doing the BBQ happy dance!
Van1973
12 Sep 17#13
Will also share my "smoking" observations/experience! I just have a Weber 57cm Premium Kettle and not a Smokey Mountain or anything like that but it is possible to smoke in a small way on the kettles.
I have experimented with purchased wood chips (whiskey oak, Beech) as well as wood from my own garden (cherry, apple and pear trees). Cannot say that I could detect any difference between any of the woods - all gave a pleasant flavour to the chicken I was cooking but indistinguishable from each other. I'll be sticking my own trees in future and not purchasing any more wood chips.
rexdare
12 Sep 17#14
heat beads are in my opinion the best briquettes, with no chemicals and long burning, perfect for smokey mountain. For lump wood try oxford charcoal.
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Opening post
Have so far tried Weber's own brand, Wilko's own brand, Diall from B&Q as well as this charcoal from Home Bargains.
The Home Bargains material was far the best - burnt hotter and for longer than all the other brands. The bags also had less fines/dust - so more of the briquettes were intact.
The Weber product was surprising only second best, followed by Diall then finally the Wilko product.
Had both Briquettes, Lumpwood and some bags of 4kg Instant Lite.
May be late for most as Barbecue season is mostly over but owners of a Weber Kettle charcoal BBQ are able to use it all year round!
15 comments
Have so far tried Weber's own brand, Wilko's own brand, Diall from B&Q as well as this charcoal from Home Bargains.
The Home Bargains material was far the best - burnt hotter and for longer than all the other brands. The bags also had less fines/dust - so more of the briquettes were intact.
The Weber product was surprising only second best, followed by Diall then finally the Wilko product.
Had both Briquettes, Lumpwood and some bags of 4kg Instant Lite.
May be late for most as Barbecue season is mostly over but owners of a Weber Kettle charcoal BBQ are able to use it all year round!
Its a tough job, but somebody had to do it.
.............................once the coals start to glow.
We've experimented with charcoal and like Lidl's briquettes. From memory they are either £2.99 or £2.79. Definitely worth a try.
wickes.co.uk/Wic…345
I bought 10 bags yesterday and was just going to store then in the garage but I may do same as what you where suggesting!
I have experimented with purchased wood chips (whiskey oak, Beech) as well as wood from my own garden (cherry, apple and pear trees). Cannot say that I could detect any difference between any of the woods - all gave a pleasant flavour to the chicken I was cooking but indistinguishable from each other. I'll be sticking my own trees in future and not purchasing any more wood chips.