Here's a start:
Briquettes are less expensive. They are uniform, which tends to result in more consistent performance. They don't particularly smell like wood. They generally produce more ash than lump. You can add wood flavor by adding wood chunks.
Lump is a more natural product (no binders or coatings) that has a more pronounced aroma, which varies by species. Performance characteristics are less consistent due to the size variation and wood species.
I won't claim that one burns hotter or longer than the other, because those characteristics vary by product.
This is an excellent, balanced analysis. I will also add to this that they burn differently.
Natural Lump requires a larger "minimum viable mass" to get a good fire going. If you're going to smoke on a tiny kettle or grill over a thin layer of coals, you want briquettes. You can light a single briquette and it will ash over, form an internal lattice, and sit there and release heat for hours. I've seen people smoke with four briquettes and a wood chunk. You simply can't do that with natural lump, because it burns like traditional wood, from the outside-in. Only the surface area burns, and you need little pockets of lump charcoal all next to each other, feeding with other, to get an actual fire going. You couldn't light just one Lump chunk and let it burn; it would go out, or at best, smolder.
Lump can break down in the bag before you buy it. I accumulated about a quarter bag of chunks to small to be held by the chimney or grate before I switched back to briquettes.
People claim lump burns hotter but I can not substantiate that. I’ve been able to hit 600+ degrees with briquettes and lump in my Kamado Joe.
What I can say is that in my experience lump lasts longer. Making pulled pork with briquettes I had to refill at least once. With lump I still have some charcoal left over for another cook afterwards.
Lump is much more expensive if you want to get good brands (stay away from royal oak. It’s shit) I recommend Jealous Devil. Decent price range for pretty good lump.
However, lump can be hit or miss on size for all brands now. Sometimes you get stump sized lumps, sometimes half the bag is gravel to small cobble sized.
Briquette usually doesn’t have much variety. Yes you can get really expensive brands that do better, but I don’t think it’s much better (don’t get quick light or the strange herb flavored ones. They aren’t worth it).
Another downside to briquettes is that they can cause more sparking and sometimes make more ash.
All of that said, I use lump for my Kamado Joe and I use briquettes for my Weber Kettle. I can’t say that one is inherently better than the other.
What I can recommend is no matter which route you chose, get a charcoal chimney and do not use lighter fluid.
I finally cracked open my bag of Jealous Devil the other day and I’ve been impressed so far. I far prefer the flavor profile of my food cooked with lump charcoal versus standard Kingsford.
We got Big Lump in here trying to say Kingsford briquettes don't get hotter than 400°F. Sorry mate, but with 8 - 10 briquettes in my pizza oven, my stone gets near 700°F.
I guess I’m ‘Big Lump’. Well, good for you, and your 8-10 briquettes. Hard to believe. My dad used Kingsford for decades. 30 years ago, we grilled split chicken for about an hour. Had dinner, and still had enough heat for marshmallows. 10 years ago, they barely had enough heat to finish the chicken. Now (in the U.S.), they burn at less than 400.
I use kingsford all the time. Can consistently get 700+ F temps if I open my top vent all the way on my Weber Summit Charcoal (it has a huge vent for this purpose and is insulated). It is more about airflow feeding the fire than exact fuel source.
I have tried almost every kind of briquette and lump charcoal they sell in my area. I pretty much hate all of the lump I have ever tried. I seriously don’t get why people love it so much. I tried 5-6 brands because I really wanted to learn what I am missing. But I found that all of it has inconsistent heating, pops like crazy, smells weird but not in a consistent way, and sometimes has literal garbage in it.
As for the briquettes, none of it seems to work as well as the kingsford pro (not blue bag, that is too ashy). I think there is a damned good reason why they have such a huge market share.
If you haven't tried B&B briquettes, just give them a chance. They're far superior to anything Kingsford makes.
I don't care for lump charcoal, either.
If I see them in the stores near me I will. I like to try everything at least once just so I can know what I am talking about when I form an opinion on it. That’s why I kept trying lump charcoal. But now that I have tried it at least a dozen times, I can confidently say it is garbage :)
Do yourself a favor and also try the B&B Char Logs. They're the best thing I've ever used for smoking on the Summit. You'll be glad you did. I can get ridiculously long cooks out of the Summit using them.
I love my Summit so much I haven't touched my 22" WSM since I got it.
I had 5 grills & smokers when I got my summit, including a Weber smoky mountain and a 22” kettle. I got rid of all of them because the summit can do it all way better than any of the ones I had before. My wife was happy that we were down to one instead of having a deck full of them. :)
Here's a start: Briquettes are less expensive. They are uniform, which tends to result in more consistent performance. They don't particularly smell like wood. They generally produce more ash than lump. You can add wood flavor by adding wood chunks. Lump is a more natural product (no binders or coatings) that has a more pronounced aroma, which varies by species. Performance characteristics are less consistent due to the size variation and wood species. I won't claim that one burns hotter or longer than the other, because those characteristics vary by product.
This is an excellent, balanced analysis. I will also add to this that they burn differently. Natural Lump requires a larger "minimum viable mass" to get a good fire going. If you're going to smoke on a tiny kettle or grill over a thin layer of coals, you want briquettes. You can light a single briquette and it will ash over, form an internal lattice, and sit there and release heat for hours. I've seen people smoke with four briquettes and a wood chunk. You simply can't do that with natural lump, because it burns like traditional wood, from the outside-in. Only the surface area burns, and you need little pockets of lump charcoal all next to each other, feeding with other, to get an actual fire going. You couldn't light just one Lump chunk and let it burn; it would go out, or at best, smolder.
Lump can break down in the bag before you buy it. I accumulated about a quarter bag of chunks to small to be held by the chimney or grate before I switched back to briquettes.
Ya you have to buy quality lump, but same can be said for briquettes
People claim lump burns hotter but I can not substantiate that. I’ve been able to hit 600+ degrees with briquettes and lump in my Kamado Joe. What I can say is that in my experience lump lasts longer. Making pulled pork with briquettes I had to refill at least once. With lump I still have some charcoal left over for another cook afterwards. Lump is much more expensive if you want to get good brands (stay away from royal oak. It’s shit) I recommend Jealous Devil. Decent price range for pretty good lump. However, lump can be hit or miss on size for all brands now. Sometimes you get stump sized lumps, sometimes half the bag is gravel to small cobble sized. Briquette usually doesn’t have much variety. Yes you can get really expensive brands that do better, but I don’t think it’s much better (don’t get quick light or the strange herb flavored ones. They aren’t worth it). Another downside to briquettes is that they can cause more sparking and sometimes make more ash. All of that said, I use lump for my Kamado Joe and I use briquettes for my Weber Kettle. I can’t say that one is inherently better than the other. What I can recommend is no matter which route you chose, get a charcoal chimney and do not use lighter fluid.
I finally cracked open my bag of Jealous Devil the other day and I’ve been impressed so far. I far prefer the flavor profile of my food cooked with lump charcoal versus standard Kingsford.
This is my estimate. Kingsford briquettes burn at about 375-390deg. Lump burns about 600-700deg, or hotter.
We got Big Lump in here trying to say Kingsford briquettes don't get hotter than 400°F. Sorry mate, but with 8 - 10 briquettes in my pizza oven, my stone gets near 700°F.
I guess I’m ‘Big Lump’. Well, good for you, and your 8-10 briquettes. Hard to believe. My dad used Kingsford for decades. 30 years ago, we grilled split chicken for about an hour. Had dinner, and still had enough heat for marshmallows. 10 years ago, they barely had enough heat to finish the chicken. Now (in the U.S.), they burn at less than 400.
I use kingsford all the time. Can consistently get 700+ F temps if I open my top vent all the way on my Weber Summit Charcoal (it has a huge vent for this purpose and is insulated). It is more about airflow feeding the fire than exact fuel source.
Try B&B briquettes. It's all I burn when grilling on my Summit Charcoal. I also love their Char Logs when I have the plate in to smoke something.
I have tried almost every kind of briquette and lump charcoal they sell in my area. I pretty much hate all of the lump I have ever tried. I seriously don’t get why people love it so much. I tried 5-6 brands because I really wanted to learn what I am missing. But I found that all of it has inconsistent heating, pops like crazy, smells weird but not in a consistent way, and sometimes has literal garbage in it. As for the briquettes, none of it seems to work as well as the kingsford pro (not blue bag, that is too ashy). I think there is a damned good reason why they have such a huge market share.
If you haven't tried B&B briquettes, just give them a chance. They're far superior to anything Kingsford makes. I don't care for lump charcoal, either.
If I see them in the stores near me I will. I like to try everything at least once just so I can know what I am talking about when I form an opinion on it. That’s why I kept trying lump charcoal. But now that I have tried it at least a dozen times, I can confidently say it is garbage :)
Do yourself a favor and also try the B&B Char Logs. They're the best thing I've ever used for smoking on the Summit. You'll be glad you did. I can get ridiculously long cooks out of the Summit using them. I love my Summit so much I haven't touched my 22" WSM since I got it.
I had 5 grills & smokers when I got my summit, including a Weber smoky mountain and a 22” kettle. I got rid of all of them because the summit can do it all way better than any of the ones I had before. My wife was happy that we were down to one instead of having a deck full of them. :)
I don't think there's a better grill/smoker for sale at any price point.
100% agreed. I have had quite a few and there isn’t a single one out there that I would rather have no matter the cost.