Uneven charcoal startup

[Lightning]

A couple of days ago I went to cook a ham steak so I loaded up a chimney with briquettes and set it over the gas ignition flame on the performer to get it started.  I shut the gas off once the charcoal in the bottom of the chimney was lit up enough to continue on its own and let it go until the smoke stopped and flames were coming out the top of the chimney, the usual indication that briquettes are ready to pour out and finish lighting up on the charcoal grate.

When I dumped them out though, the briquettes were all unevenly ashed with large splotches of unlit area on the briquettes mixed with splotches of ashed over grey.  I had to pile the briquettes up and give them a long time to finish asking over before cooking, and even then some of them still didn't ignite properly. This is a rare event, but does happen every once in a while. I had it happen before I got the performer and was using crumpled up newspapers in the bottom of the chimney.  How do I avoid this happening?  And what's the best way to deal with it when it does?

[kettlebb]

May I ask what kind of briquette and how are you storing it? My last chimney of Stubbs took a bit longer to light but almost 25% was reused and I think with all the rain and moisture maybe it picked up a bit of that.


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[Lightning]

It was all new Royal Oak briquettes.  I keep my open bags of charcoal in the back vestibule so they're convenient to get to when I want to set up a chimney so they're stored in an enclosed but not heated area.  Maybe moisture worked its way into in the charcoal.  It has been rainy and damp here for a while now.  I might barbecue tomorrow night and give the charcoal a much longer than normal head start just in case it does need to burn off more moisture content before it is able to ignite fully.

[THROUGH THE MUD BBQ TEAM]

I am almost done my first bag of Royal Oak briquettes. Have always used Kingsford before. Ive noticed uneven burning out of the chimney as well.

Tried waiting longer for them to be totally lit. But that significantly cut down on useable burn time.

Where we live Kingsford is $4 more per bag. Worth every penny.......

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[Vwbuggin64]

I've had issues in the past with Royal Oak also. While the price here is tantalizing, I'm happy with my Coshell and/or Stubbs.


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[Darko]

I've found the same issue the other day. I had the baskets together and filled with an equal(ish) amount of royal oak. 1 side lit up beautifully, but the other took forever to get going.

[pbe gummi bear]

Was your gas assist flame centered? The fire is concentrated a few inches in front of the outlet so you need to move the chimney accordingly.

[HoosierKettle]

When flames start to shoot out of the chimney, my charcoal is all pretty uneven at that point. It doesn't even out unless I let it go for a long while after that. I usually just pour in and let them burn in during preheat.

I guess what I'm saying is it sounds somewhat normal unless I'm missing something.


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[Darko]

Yes. it was.  I think what the issue was is it's been very humid here lately. We have not had a normal winter so far, it's more like what @SixZeroFour  is used to. I think the one basket may have had more briquettes from the top of the bag, which may have absorbed more moisture than others deeper inside the bag. This is just a guess on my part.

[Lightning]

I'm wondering if the recent humidity here's more of a factor than I thought.  I was thinking about it and realized when I went to set up the barbecue tonight that the problematic charcoal the day I did the ham steak was the very end of a bag of Royal Oak, so those briquettes had been in the enclosed vestibule longer than the others in the bag that I had used earlier and had no trouble with.  I wonder if the additional time caused them to absorb more moisture to an extent that was enough to cause trouble igniting?

When I cleared out the barbecue today, I had to scoop out some largely unburnt briquettes that never started during the whole cook.  Tonight, I put a dent in what was left of a bag of Maple Leaf briquettes also stored in the vestibule and I gave them a good, long time to start up and there were no problems.

[LightningBoldtz]

I will never buy RO briquettes again, I had a bad experience at a cook off and will never look back.

Kingsford and Stubbs for me.

[HoosierKettle]

Kingsford is my brand. I'd like to try Stubbs but I can't get past the price. It's a fair amount more expensive than kingsford in my area.


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[Hell Fire Grill]

The sure fire way to find out if the moisture content of the charcoal is to high is to take the bag your using in the house for a couple days and let it sit with the bag wide open. That should allow any excess moisture to evaporate.

I keep my charcoal in an unheated garage. The bags are always kept elevated off the floor because charcoal is like a moisture magnet. It'll pull the moisture out of a concrete or dirt floor if you keep it directly on those types of floors, even if it seems dry its still got moisture in it that can transpirate to the charcoal. If the bag is left with the top wide open in a humid place it'll pull the humidity in that way too.

For best results store your charcoal on a pallet or a pair of 2X4s parallel to each other, with air space in between the 2Xs.

Always keep the top of the bag closed and lightly covered with an empty bag because the char will pull moisture from the air faster than anything.

Keep the charcoal 180* form any appliances like a fridge, freezer, washer & dryer or any natural gas fired furnace or water heater.

If you keep it dry as possible you'll get a hotter more consistent burn.

[SixZeroFour]

@Lightning
@Darko

All great advice so far!

Moisture is most likely the culprit so anything you can do to get the bags up off the floor is a big help. Once a bag is opened its even more vulnerable to any moisture in the air so try to roll it up nice and tight or even stick it in a garbage bag so that its somewhat sealed.

Another thing I would suggest would be to "roll" or mix the charcoal while its lighting in the chimney as this will create a much more even burn on the briquettes. Essentially you want to light your firestarter or start the gas-assist and then let it run for 4 or 5 min to get the bottom coals going... next pick up the chimney and give it a rolling shake (almost like mixing salt into popcorn) so that the briquettes are mixed up in the chimney and the ones at the top can get some direct flame to get started as well. I find this goes a long way in starting you off on the right foot - especially for long burn cooks.

Good luck and let us know how you make out!

Matt