Using All Re-used Briquettes for a Cook

[Eapples]

Hello, Everyone:

A day or so ago I did a cook using all re-used briquettes, a full chimney starter.

I noted that the kettle temp was much lower than with a full chimney starter of unused briquettes.  The temp held steadily, but lower than what I expected.

Is this normal with re-used briquettes?

I also noted that it was a bit breezy.

Thanks for your input.

[Johnpv]

I've done cooks with nothing but re-used lump and don't have any temp issues.  It definitely could have been that it was breezy.  By me the wind is always cold and loves to pull heat out of the kettle.  Only other thing I could think of is maybe the way the briquettes landed had them too clumped together, causing there to not be enough air flow. 

[1buckie]

It's that time of year......


.....were they stored in a very dry place?


I make the mistake of scooping up ones that have sat in a kettle, or were somehow uncovered in the elements, and assume they'll work OK.....just the moisture in the air will foul things up quite nicely.......even without getting rained on......

[MacEggs]

So, it was "re-used briquettes" and not re-used lump?

@Johnpv and @1buckie have some excellent points and concerns.

I reuse both lump and briquettes. Leftover lump is not such a big deal.
However, leftover briquettes tend to lose some of their "heat" properties after one use.
I will shake them down to remove the ash. They go from marshmallow size, to "mini" marshmallow size. (slight exaggeration)
Then I will mix lump and used briqs and dump them un-lit into a charcoal basket. Then lit charcoal goes on top. (Minion method)

I like to go with fresh briqs or lump in a chimney to get a good heat "blast" to a cold kettle when starting a cook session, then adjust the vents from there.

BTW, this thread potentially belongs in the Kettle Cooking Discussions section.

[1buckie]

 Kettle Cooking Discussions section.


Yep.....that's what we're talkin' about.......

[SixZeroFour]

BTW, this thread potentially belongs in the Kettle Cooking Discussions section.

Behold the power of the Interweb! 

[Troy]

kingsford is especially bad at re-use. so much of the briq is filler and burn agents that once its fully engulfed there isn't a lot left.

i re-use coshell all the time and its freaking awesome.
i actually can't remember the last time i used a full-sized chimney (and my daily cooker is a 26)

[Johnpv]

The denser the charcoal, the better its going to be at re-using.  Like Troy said, that's why a lot of briquettes are bad at re-use, specially the Kingsford stuff.  That's also why stuff like Wicked Good's lump, or Japanese Binchotan work so well for it.  Hell Binchotan is meant to be reused on a lot of packages you'll see it telling you to drop the unused portion (when you're done cooking) into some water and let it air dry.