GFS Hardwood Charcoal Briquettes

[kettlebb]

I'm not going to get scientific and technical here. I've been wanting to try the GFS hardwood briquettes for a while now and just went and got a bag. I started kettle grilling with lump. Bought GFS lump which I found out is Royal Oak. Don't really like lump for a few reasons and switched to Stubbs. Love Stubbs. I consider it a premium fuel. The first thing I noticed is the bag says the GFS briquettes are 60% larger than normal briquettes. Also states that its food service quality. 20 pound bag was $8.99.

Stubbs retail = .71 per pound
GFS retail = .45 per pound

Stubbs on sale for me was .43 per pound

Size comparison




Weight

GFS 44.7 grams



Stubbs 27 grams




20 minutes to light a full chimney of GFS. Never timed the Stubbs.

More to come...


Crimson Performer Platinum "AH", Red MT "P", Red Mist SSP "EZ", Faded Black "A", Black OTG "DE".

[kettlebb]

Had to slow down the grill to help with bath time for the kiddo and bedtime routine. Lid temp after dumping the coals was 450. Same as Stubbs. After an hour it was 350. When lighting it doesn't smell bad but nowhere near as good as Stubbs does. After burning a while in the kettle the smell reminds me of sulfur? The smell after fireworks. Not pleasant. Now I'm cooking in the dark.

Sorry for the terrible review. I may try this again. My initial take is this is somewhat misleading. It's obviously not a "natural" hardwood charcoal briquette and although the smell isn't pleasant to me it didn't make the steaks taste bad. This might be a good fuel for grilling but I'll never use it for smoking.


Crimson Performer Platinum "AH", Red MT "P", Red Mist SSP "EZ", Faded Black "A", Black OTG "DE".

[HoosierKettle]

Interested in your thoughts on this. 8.99 puts it right up there with kbb doesn't it?


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[Darko]

Those GFS briquettes look like RO briqettes.

[kettlebb]

I called GFS to confirm it is RO but I can't confirm if it's standard RO or chefs select. I've never used kbb to be honest so I have nothing to compare to other than Stubbs and lump.

@HoosierKettle I'd look into shipping the remaining supply if you want to try it.


Crimson Performer Platinum "AH", Red MT "P", Red Mist SSP "EZ", Faded Black "A", Black OTG "DE".

[HoosierKettle]

Thanks for the offer but I'll pass for now. I've tried royal oak before and prefer kbb for taste. However I wouldn't hesitate to use royal oak if that's what I had on hand.

Also I'm guessing shipping would be as much or more than if I bought some from gfs assuming mine has it. Haven't been in there for awhile nor was I aware they had charcoal.


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[HoosierKettle]

Do you have a menards?  Cheapest per pound I have found is royal oak for $5.99 for a 18# bag


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[kettlebb]

Not close. Just for the hell of it I should probably give kbb the old college try sometime.


Crimson Performer Platinum "AH", Red MT "P", Red Mist SSP "EZ", Faded Black "A", Black OTG "DE".

[crowderjd]

I recently used royal oak briquettes for the first time.  I really liked them.  I'm a KBB guy, but I found Royal Oak burned longer, hotter, and had less ash.