Kingsford Briquettes vs. Royal Oak Ridge Briquettes: Burn Temperature, Time, and Ash Comparison

[worldbfreebase]

So the question at this point is duraflame and r.o. one in the same.

 

[worldbfreebase]

also, wally world and lowes in this area have ridged briquettes and the packaging does not have royal oak on it.

 

[yankee2bbq]

So the question at this point is duraflame and r.o. one in the same.

I don’t know the answer.

also, wally world and lowes in this area have ridged briquettes and the packaging does not have royal oak on it.

Does not matter about royal oak on it. It’s all about ‘ridged’ briquettes. Look at Home Depot and look at Embers. Let me know what you see on there charcoal briquettes bag.

 

[Fueling Around]

Never run into duraflame.
Local W mart has the store brand (which appear to be Royal Oak by the"ridged" briquette shape) and periodically has twin bags of Royal Oak

 

[Chasdev]

It's that time of year just before Memorial Day when "bulk" charcoal goes on and off sale, with deep discounts, up to 50%. July 4th will be the next opportunity, then Labor Day. After Labor Day you can often find "clearance" sales that are unbelievable as stores empty their summer stock to make room for Christmas, etc. I once picked up 20 lb bags of Lazzari Mesquite Lump charcoal for something like $3.30 a bag. I bought all they had.

But I digress. I've noticed that the recent reformulation of Kingsford Original has cut into my long smoke time by quite a bit, dropping from 18-20, sometimes 22 hours, down to 14-16, maybe 18 hours. When I open my WSM to add fuel, it looks like a huge ash pillow with a few little red, glowing eyes looking up at you from the pillow.

I still have 120 lbs of the pre-formulation KBB remaining, having used up a few hundred pounds of the new stuff. As I restock during these sales, I felt it might be time for a change.

Lowes has Royal Oak "Ridge" briquettes on sale through 6/14/17 (edit) for $4.00 for a 15.4 lb bag, or 26 cents a pound. But I wanted to know how it compared to the Kingsford. Being the engineer (by education) that I am, time for a test. Below are the results.

Conclusion: The new Kingsford Original is worse than what I tested below. The Royal Oak Ridge, though it produced the exact same amount of ash as the old Kingsford formula, held temps longer and WAY outlasted the KBB. Even the ash held onto heat significantly longer than the KBB. I have pics of the entire process, including how the briquettes slowly disappeared. Right now I have to go buy some more Royal Oak Ridge Charcoal.

Although I haven't smoked with it yet, I will this weekend.

Kingsford Briquettes vs. Royal Oak Ridge Briquettes: Burn Temperature, Time, and Ash Comparison

24 Kingsford Briquettes @ .8 oz each = 19.2 oz.

24 Royal Oak Ridge Briquettes @ 1.0 oz each = 24 oz.

Picture of 24 briquettes in a 4 cup measuring cup:

Kingsford:

Kingsford Briquette Burn and Ash Experiment 015.JP

• noboundaries
• May 24, 2017

Royal Oak Ridge:

Royal Oak Ridge Briquette Comparison 001.JPG

• noboundaries
• May 24, 2017

Plan:

1. 
   Test Kingsford first, complete test, then repeat test with Royal Oak Ridge.
2. 
   Remove cooking grate from Weber Kettle, put clean pizza pan on charcoal grate, then replace cooking grate.
3. 
   Load 24 briquettes in a chimney starter, ignite for 2 minutes on propane side burner on gas grill, then put chimney on the cooking grate over the pizza pan.
4. 
   Wait 15 minutes, then take picture of inside of chimney.Use infrared thermometer to find hottest spot in chimney.Record results.
5. 
   Repeat picture and thermometer reading every 10 minutes until all charcoal has fallen through to the pizza pan, nothing but ash remains, and the temperature of the ash is less than 100F.
6. 
   Measure volume of ash.
7. 
   Start of test: 7 AM PDT. 60F.Light wind.Shade.
8. 
   End of both tests:11:35 AM PDT.74F.Light wind.Shade.

Time (minutes) Kingsford Temp Royal Oak “Ridge” Temp

15 978F 977F

25 977F 977F

35 863F 977F

45 713F 978F

55 601F 949F

65 473F 681F

75 243F 728F

85 157F 667F

95 201F 466F

105 88F (1 hr 45 mins) 343F

115 NA 232F

125 NA 243F

135 NA 189F

145 NA 131F

155 NA 82F (2 hrs 35 mins) (148% of KBB older formula)

Kingsford Ash:

Kingsford Briquette Burn and Ash Experiment 030.JP

• noboundaries
• May 24, 2017

Kingsford Briquette Burn and Ash Experiment 031.JP

• noboundaries
• May 24, 2017

Royal Oak Ridge Ash:

Royal Oak Ridge Briquette Comparison 036.JPG

• noboundaries
• May 24, 2017

Royal Oak Ridge Briquette Comparison 037.JPG

• noboundaries
• May 24, 2017

And that's why I use the Pro/Comp version.

 

[Fueling Around]

Never tried Pro/Comp. May have to give it a try.

I quit using RO briquettes this year as something changed. They took longer to get started in the chimney, poor heat output, faster burn out, and excessive piles of ash.
I had tried RO lump and that stuff is crap.

A friend gave me a bag of Frontier lump after he switched to a pellet pooper.
Frontier is very good quality lump and all I've used since since dumping the briquettes.

 

[noboundaries]

I quit using RO briquettes this year as something changed. They took longer to get started in the chimney, poor heat output, faster burn out, and excessive piles of ash.
I had tried RO lump and that stuff is crap.

I wondered if the pandemic would cause changes. I'm still using up a supply from two years ago. If the new stuff is crap, I'll be sure to test it and post it here.

 

[Fueling Around]

I wondered if the pandemic would cause changes. I'm still using up a supply from two years ago. If the new stuff is crap, I'll be sure to test it and post it here.

I definitely noticed it after burning up last year's supply.
Save the good stuff and get a couple bags of the 2021 for a trial.

 

[chopsaw]

I quit using RO briquettes this year as something changed.

You're on to something for sure . I didn't really put 2 and 2 together Until I saw this .
My old stash ran out a couple months ago .
2 New bags . First bag went fast . Seems to be a lot of ash like you said .

 

[Mr. Zorg]

Y'all that (formerly) liked RO "Ridge" briquettes might want to check out the Members Mark charcoal briquettes rolled out at Sam's Club earlier this year. I purchased some but I haven't cooked with them yet.

BBQ Fuels & Grill Charcoal - Sam's Club

Shop Sam’s Club for liquid propane for grilling and grill charcoal.

www.samsclub.com

 

[Fueling Around]

Y'all that (formerly) liked RO "Ridge" briquettes might want to check out the Members Mark charcoal briquettes rolled out at Sam's Club earlier this year. I purchased some but I haven't cooked with them yet.
...

I didn't notice the briquettes, but did grab a club sized bag of Frontier lump .
The Frontier lump is outstanding. I get 2-3 uses from each piece. The ash is minimal.
After finding quality lump, I will not go back to briquettes.

 

[Mr. Zorg]

I didn't notice the briquettes, but did grab a club sized bag of Frontier lump .
The Frontier lump is outstanding. I get 2-3 uses from each piece. The ash is minimal.
After finding quality lump, I will not go back to briquettes.

Frontier lump in those 30 lb. bags at Sam's Club are a great value IMO. It's been my go-to lump since 2013. My nearest Sam's Club stocks this, but two others in my area don't.

Here's a web link for the Members Mark charcoal briquettes, not every store stocks this stuff.

BBQ Fuels & Grill Charcoal - Sam's Club

Shop Sam’s Club for liquid propane for grilling and grill charcoal.

www.samsclub.com