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



## noboundaries

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:


Test Kingsford first, complete test, then repeat test with Royal Oak Ridge.

Remove cooking grate from Weber Kettle, put clean pizza pan on charcoal grate, then replace cooking grate.

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.

Wait 15 minutes, then take picture of inside of chimney.Use infrared thermometer to find hottest spot in chimney.Record results.

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.

Measure volume of ash.

Start of test: 7 AM PDT. 60F.Light wind.Shade.

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


----------



## tropics

Ray that is great review!

I used the RO last year to cook and liked it,the new KBB I bought a bunch on sale and I am not happy with the burn 

Points for your work
Richie


----------



## travisty

Point! Thanks so much for doing such a detailed test. Looks like ill skip the blue bag and grab some of the royal  it remains at $4!
I did grab a few bags for the "Embers" brand, which is apparently the exact same thing, but branded for Home Depot instead of Lowes. It even has the Royal Oak logo on the side. However, they were selling it for $4.99. Ill be swinging by Lowes on my way home from work today.


----------



## noboundaries

tropics said:


> Ray that is great review!
> 
> I used the RO last year to cook and liked it,the new KBB I bought a bunch on sale and I am not happy with the burn
> 
> Points for your work
> Richie


Thanks Richie, for the nice words and the point! 


Travisty said:


> Point! Thanks so much for doing such a detailed test. Looks like ill skip the blue bag and grab some of the royal  it remains at $4!
> I did grab a few bags for the "Embers" brand, which is apparently the exact same thing, but branded for Home Depot instead of Lowes. It even has the Royal Oak logo on the side. However, they were selling it for $4.99. Ill be swinging by Lowes on my way home from work today.


Thanks T!  The point is greatly appreciated.  When I compared my the Winco grocery stork briquette with the Royal Oak Ridge briquette, they were identical.  Now I know who makes my grocery store's briquettes.  Regular price is $5.48 for a 16.6 lb bag, or 33 cents/lb.  I shop there 2-3 days a week for fresh veggies.  Will have to keep an eye out during the year for sales. 

I swung by Lowes and picked up 10 more $4 bags.  I should be good now for the year, except some lump here and there. 

Below are my notes during the two tests.  I'll post a couple comparison pics that are very telling. 

*Kingsford Briquettes, last formulation, not current one.*

7 AM.  Outside temp 60F.  Light wind.  Shade of the house.

15 minutes on the timer the briquettes were completely ashed over.  Max temp was 978F.

25 minutes on the timer the briquettes were already starting to ash out.  Hottest temp in the chimney was 977F.

35 minutes on the timer, three briquettes had fallen through the chimney grate, collecting on the cooking grate.  Max temp had dropped to 863F. 

45 minutes on the timer, many more briquettes had fallen to the cooking grate.  Max temp was 713F.

55 minutes on the timer, briquettes were largest briquette was less than half original size.  Max temp was 601F.

65 minutes on the timer, briquettes were almost gone from the chimney.  Max temp was 473F.

75 minutes on the timer, the briquettes were just about ash.  A few knocks on the side of the chimney and they disappeared.  One remaining briquette had a 243F temp.  Touched (OUCH!) to confirm temp.  Confirmed. 

85 minutes on the timer, one “Lonely King” was all that remained, about ½” round.  Temp was 157F. 

95 minutes on the timer, the Lonely King was still there.  Knocked grate, temp went up to 201F.  Max temp in the ash pile was also 201F, so it may have been reading the ash.  Could feel the heat of the ash with my hand. 

105 minutes on the timer, the Lonely King was gone and the ash was reading 88F.  Could easily pick it up and move it to the kitchen, out of the light wind, to measure the ash volume.

Ash: About 400 ml, or a cup and a half.  Fairly fine ash.  There was one tiny red ember still in the cold ash (lesson why to use a metal bucket to store ash for several days). 

*Royal Oak “Ridge” Briquettes.  *

9 AM.  Outside temp 68F.  Light wind.  Shade of the house to start. 

Slightly noticeable difference in the aroma of the smoke.  Similar to Kingsford, but not as sharp, acrid, or gassy.  Did not burn my eyes initially, but did by the 15 minute mark.

15 minutes on the timer the briquettes were still half black.  Max temp was 977F.   

25 minutes on the timer, the briquettes were completely ashed over.  Max temp was 977F.  Some ash on the pizza pan.

35 minutes on the timer, max temp was 977F.  More ash on the ash pan.  Nothing has fallen through the grate.

45 minutes on the timer, max temp was 978F.  More ash on the ash pan but still nothing fallen through the grate.

55 minutes on the timer, max temp 949F.  Briquettes shrinking but nothing has fallen through the grate.

65 minutes on the timer, max temp dropped to 681F.  Briquettes were falling through the chimney grate.

75 minutes on the timer, and knocking the chimney a few times to knock off ash, max temp climbed to 728F.  Noticeably more briquettes remaining on the chimney grate than the Kingsford.

85 minutes on the timer, knocking the chimney a few times, still some briquettes remaining in chimney.  Max temp 667F.

95 minutes on the timer, couple of knocks, briquettes remaining in chimney.  Max temp 466F.

105 minutes on the timer, couple of knocks, very few briquettes remaining in chimney or on the cooking grate.  Max temp 343F.

115 minutes on the timer, couple of knocks, only two briquettes remain in chimney.  Max temp 232F.

125 minutes on the timer, couple of knocks, everything fell through the chimney and cooking grate.  A few large pieces in the ashes.  Max temp of ashes 243F.

135 minutes on the timer, ashes only, max temp 189F.

145 minutes on the timer, ashes only, max temp 131F.

155 minutes on the timer, ashes only, max temp 82F.


----------



## bbqwillie

Very nice review. Thanks.


----------



## noboundaries

Comparison Pics:

15 minute Kingsford Original.  Fast start.  Completely ashed over.













Kingsford Briquette Burn and Ash Experiment 009.JP



__ noboundaries
__ May 24, 2017






15 minute Royal Oak Ridge.  Still progressing toward ash. 













Royal Oak Ridge Briquette Comparison 006.JPG



__ noboundaries
__ May 24, 2017






45 minute Kingsford Original.  Fading fast.













Kingsford Briquette Burn and Ash Experiment 020.JP



__ noboundaries
__ May 24, 2017






45 minute Royal Oak Ridge.  Working hard and still there.













Royal Oak Ridge Briquette Comparison 011.JPG



__ noboundaries
__ May 24, 2017






Kingsford 75 minute.  Almost gone.













Kingsford 75 minute.JPG



__ noboundaries
__ May 24, 2017






Royal Oak Ridge 75 minute.  Still there, but fading.













Royal Oak Ridge 75 minute.JPG



__ noboundaries
__ May 24, 2017






Kingsford 85 minute.  The "Lonely King" briquette.  Almost ashes to ashes, dust to dust.













Kingsford 85 minute.JPG



__ noboundaries
__ May 24, 2017






Royal Oak Ridge 85 minute, still holding court, but fading.













Royal Oak Ridge 85 minute.JPG



__ noboundaries
__ May 24, 2017






Royal Oak Ridge 115 minute.  The last gasp before waiting 40 minutes for the ashes to cool below 100F.













Royal Oak Ridge 115 minute.JPG



__ noboundaries
__ May 24, 2017


----------



## steelhorsep

Thanks again for the dedication to the craft!  POINTS!


----------



## pc farmer

WOW.   Great post.

The RO is one sale.  Gonna stock up with this post.

Thanks.


----------



## noboundaries

BBQWillie said:


> Very nice review. Thanks.


Thanks Willie!  Always a joy to help people.  Thanks for the points!


steelhorsep said:


> Thanks again for the dedication to the craft! POINTS!


Steelhorsep, what a great compliment.  And thanks for the points!


c farmer said:


> WOW.   Great post.
> 
> The RO is one sale.  Gonna stock up with this post.
> 
> Thanks.


Adam, happy to help you save money and get charcoal that works for you!  Thanks for the points!


----------



## 801driver

Thanks for the post.  Last bags of K's seemed different, now know why.  Need to make a trip to Lowe's.


----------



## steelhorsep

Noboundaries,

Just got back from Lowe's.  Picked up another 100#'s of RO Ridge based on your report.  Thanks again.  I started a post a few days ago on Royal Oak Lump Charcoal On-Sale at HomeDepot for $7.88.  

My plan is to use 1/2 Royal Oak Lump All Natural Charcoal and 1/2 RO Ridge Briquettes going forward. 

The best part is I was able to stock up with 265 lbs of charcoal (Natural Lump and Ridge) this week for a mere $70 or $0.30/lb!  This should hold me for a while.

Thanks again for all the great support everyone!

Michael


----------



## travisty

The Lowe's here kept me to the strict 6 bag limit, so I might have to go back again and get the limit again. 
Because of the limit, I picked up a few other bags while I was there, including just one of the KBB twin packs and some cowboy lump they had on sale. 
Also got some Kingsford Competition, and some of the Embers (RO Home Depot style) from home Depot. 
The wife might not let me go there alone again.












IMG_20170524_180757435.jpg



__ travisty
__ May 24, 2017


----------



## HalfSmoked

Thanks for the great post and the time you spent doing this test. That's what is so great about this forum everyone is always trying to help everyone else. I too have found kingsford not what it use to be last bag had a lot of trouble just trying to get it lite. I have not found any lump that I like they all seem to burn up so fast.








for a great report.

Warren


----------



## wild west

Great post. I  never thought the difference would be that much. I would like to point out that you started with 20% more oak ridge by weight but even if the Wright's were equal it seems the oak ridge would out perform the kbb


----------



## travisty

wild west said:


> Great post. I never thought the difference would be that much. I would like to point out that you started with 20% more oak ridge by weight but even if the Wright's were equal it seems the oak ridge would out perform the kbb


I thought the same thing initially, but when I looked online ant several other tests of charcoal products I notice that pretty much everyone tests by volume, and finally it clicked... We usually do our cooks by volume and not weight. Most people use the same exact amount of briquettes on each cook, whether they hand pick out an exact number or just fill the chimney to the brim its all volume not weight, so a test by volume is actually more relevant than one by weight.

Just the thought I had anyway.


----------



## noboundaries

801Driver said:


> Thanks for the post.  Last bags of K's seemed different, now know why.  Need to make a trip to Lowe's.


You're welcome 801Driver.  When Kingsford changed their "Original" formula in 2015, they claimed same number of briquettes, same burn time and temps, but the briquettes were lighter.  It is NOT the same stuff. 

The Royal Oak Ridge reminds me of the Kingsford from long ago, pre-2006.  The bricks are heavier, take a little longer to light, and hold their temps.  When ashed out, the ash is grittier than the current KBB, which is how the significantly older KBB (pre-2006) used to be.  I was a Kingsford user for decades.  I'm moving on to Royal Oak.


----------



## noboundaries

Travisty said:


> The Lowe's here kept me to the strict 6 bag limit, so I might have to go back again and get the limit again.
> Because of the limit, I picked up a few other bags while I was there, including just one of the KBB twin packs and some cowboy lump they had on sale.
> Also got some Kingsford Competition, and some of the Embers (RO Home Depot style) from home Depot.
> The wife might not let me go there alone again.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> IMG_20170524_180757435.jpg
> 
> 
> 
> __ travisty
> __ May 24, 2017


Nice haul T! 

My Lowes didn't have a limit.  When I went there on Tuesday to get my first 10 bags, the RO Ridge was no where in the BBQ aisle.  A VERY helpful sales associate named Oscar found two pallets on the storage racks 40 feet in the air.  He got a lift and loaded my 10 bags.  I actually sent Lowes a commendation e-mail for his effort.

When I went back to get another 10 bags yesterday, the last day of the sale, the pallets up high had not moved and nothing was in the aisle. I asked another associate for assistance and he walked me several aisles over to another section of the store having nothing to do with BBQ.  There were 6 opened pallets with the wrong price, $5.99/bag, no limits.  Makes me wonder though how much they could have sold if the product had been positioned better with the right sales price.


----------



## wild west

Travisty said:


> I thought the same thing initially, but when I looked online ant several other tests of charcoal products I notice that pretty much everyone tests by volume, and finally it clicked... We usually do our cooks by volume and not weight. Most people use the same exact amount of briquettes on each cook, whether they hand pick out an exact number or just fill the chimney to the brim its all volume not weight, so a test by volume is actually more relevant than one by weight.
> 
> 
> Just the thought I had anyway.


 I didn't realise they test by volume. Just thought we purchase by the lb and  tend to break it down to price per lb.


----------



## noboundaries

wild west said:


> Great post. I never thought the difference would be that much. I would like to point out that you started with 20% more oak ridge by weight but even if the Wright's were equal it seems the oak ridge would out perform the kbb


Thanks WW! 

Actually, the difference in weight between the two is 25%, not 20% (24/19.2, or 4.8/19.2, or 1/.8, or .2/.8).  I was aware of the difference, and for transparency, pointed it out at the beginning of the test.  The briquettes are essentially the same size (pics below).  There is not a 25% difference in size. 

I chose to work by volume instead of weight because that's how I fill my smoker and grill.   

If you take as a reference point the pictures above where there was essentially nothing left in the chimney, which is 75 minutes for the KBB, 115 minutes for the RO Ridge, that's still a 53% improvement over the KBB, far outweighing the 25% difference in weight. 

Weight aside, the temp performance alone was enough to sell me on RO Ridge. 













001.JPG



__ noboundaries
__ May 25, 2017


















005.JPG



__ noboundaries
__ May 25, 2017


----------



## noboundaries

HalfSmoked said:


> Thanks for the great post and the time you spent doing this test. That's what is so great about this forum everyone is always trying to help everyone else. I too have found kingsford not what it use to be last bag had a lot of trouble just trying to get it lite. I have not found any lump that I like they all seem to burn up so fast.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> for a great report.
> 
> Warren


Warren, you are welcome.  Thanks for the points!  You hit the nail on the head with the characterization of SMF.  We want everyone to succeed.


----------



## travisty

As others speculated they would, it appears that lowes has extended the sale for the RO charcoal through 6/5:













Capture.JPG



__ travisty
__ May 25, 2017






I will be stopping back by tonight to grab some more that price is just too good to let slip by.


----------



## crimsontidetn74

Thanks for the review! I was about to go pick several bags of Kingsford on my way home this afternoon, but now I will try the Royal Oak Ridge instead! Point for you!


----------



## noboundaries

crimsontidetn74 said:


> Thanks for the review! I was about to go pick several bags of Kingsford on my way home this afternoon, but now I will try the Royal Oak Ridge instead! Point for you!


Crimsontiden74, thanks for the point from a VandyCommodoren77!  Ah, the old legendary Bear Bryant days. 

Enjoy the RO Ridge!


----------



## crimsontidetn74

Noboundaries said:


> Crimsontiden74, thanks for the point from a VandyCommodoren77!  Ah, the old legendary Bear Bryant days.
> 
> Enjoy the RO Ridge!


I have very vague memories of the Bear, I was only 7 yrs old when he passed.  But the man is a legend in college football!  I now live outside of Memphis, TN in the country and being a Bama fan in TN will make you be an honorary Vandy fan for sure! (Vols fans are hard to deal with around here) I always pull for Vandy when they play anyone other than Bama.


----------



## johnmeyer

Great post. I wish I could give you more than one point!


----------



## crimsontidetn74

At the Lowe's by me they said the 6 per customer is a suggested limit. So I bought 20 bags! 
	

	
	
		
		



		
			


















IMG_2745.JPG



__ crimsontidetn74
__ May 25, 2017


----------



## dward51

I picked up 6 the other day.  If it's just a "suggestion", it's time to load the pickup bed!!!


----------



## crimsontidetn74

dward51 said:


> I picked up 6 the other day.  If it's just a "suggestion", it's time to load the pickup bed!!!



I thought about it, but knew I was already pushing my luck with Boss Lady at home, so I stopped at 20. But that's not to say I won't go back before the sale is over. Haha [emoji]128540[/emoji]


----------



## noboundaries

Just fired up the WSM with a half load of used charcoal (KBB and RO lump), chunks of hickory, half load of cold RO Ridge, few more chunks of hickory, and 1/3 chimney of hot RO Ridge.  Out of my 6+ decades of life, I've got a lot of muscle memory hauling KBB around the garage, yard, BBQ, and smoker.  As soon as I picked up a full charcoal bucket with the RO Ridge in it, everything felt like old school KBB, pre-2006.  It even fired up like the old stuff.  I'm letting the temp controller bring it up to temp.  Sniffing the white smoke, all I can smell is hickory wood, not the charcoal. 

Smoking 6 lbs of "pork riblets" in a roasting pan this afternoon.  Turns out pork riblets are the trimmings from cutting down a full rack of spares.  Not boneless like I thought, but that's okay.  I love those meatier rib tips, YUM!  Plus, they are perfect for adding to smoked baked beans, which are on the menu this weekend.    

Now, to convince my wife I need to go buy another 20 bags of RO Ridge.  Won't happen, but I'll give it a shot. 













001.JPG



__ noboundaries
__ May 26, 2017


----------



## crimsontidetn74

Noboundaries said:


> Just fired up the WSM with a half load of used charcoal (KBB and RO lump), chunks of hickory, half load of cold RO Ridge, few more chunks of hickory, and 1/3 chimney of hot RO Ridge.  Out of my 6+ decades of life, I've got a lot of muscle memory hauling KBB around the garage, yard, BBQ, and smoker.  As soon as I picked up a full charcoal bucket with the RO Ridge in it, everything felt like old school KBB, pre-2006.  It even fired up like the old stuff.  I'm letting the temp controller bring it up to temp.  Sniffing the white smoke, all I can smell is hickory wood, not the charcoal.
> 
> Smoking 6 lbs of "pork riblets" in a roasting pan this afternoon.  Turns out pork riblets are the trimmings from cutting down a full rack of spares.  Not boneless like I thought, but that's okay.  I love those meatier rib tips, YUM!  Plus, they are perfect for adding to smoked baked beans, which are on the menu this weekend.
> 
> *Now, to convince my wife I need to go buy another 20 bags of RO Ridge.  Won't happen, but I'll give it a shot. *


In my previous post I had said that I didn't think my wife would be happy with the 20 bag purchase I made yesterday.  I could not have been more wrong.  When she found out what I paid for them, she wanted to know why I didn't get more! Ha, go figure.  I guess since she has been doing most of the grilling for dinner during the week lately, because with my new job I get home too late to grill during the week, she now realizes how much charcoal we go through.  Oh darn, guess I'll have to get more this weekend! :) Thanks again for putting in the work to test! Have a wonderfully smokey Memorial Day weekend!


----------



## noboundaries

I love this RO Ridge!  A relatively short smoke today.  From fire up to vent closure was only 7.25 hours.  I set a temp of 250F for 5 hours, wrapped the riblets, then cranked the temp controller up to 325F for the last hour and a half of smoke.  When I opened the WSM door to look at the coals just before vent closure, all I could see were glowing, full sized coals.  No bed of ash.  Will look at in the morning to see what's there for next time.


----------



## travisty

This is sort of partially related to the discussion here, but I am at a Competition as I'm typing, and picked up a few bags of the Kingsford Professional (formerly called "Competition") and man am I unhappy with the stuff! 
I was told it burned hotter and linger than any other Kingsford, and I know lots of teams use it, but I'm only 5 hours in and the ash over was so bad I almost entirely lost my fire. Got down below 200 by the time I noticed. 
Had to spent 15 precious minutes with the meat in the cold air trying to get the briquettes left to come back to life. 
Even beside the ash over a full basket of charcoal down to the amount remaining is pretty bad too. After just 5 hours at 235 I'm down to I py dregs. 
I know my minion method isn't spot on, but I've used 3-4 different types of briquettes and made it at least 10 hours per cook with no issue.


----------



## noboundaries

Travisty said:


> This is sort of partially related to the discussion here, but I am at a Competition as I'm typing, and picked up a few bags of the Kingsford Professional (formerly called "Competition") and man am I unhappy with the stuff!
> I was told it burned hotter and linger than any other Kingsford, and I know lots of teams use it, but I'm only 5 hours in and the ash over was so bad I almost entirely lost my fire. Got down below 200 by the time I noticed.
> Had to spent 15 precious minutes with the meat in the cold air trying to get the briquettes left to come back to life.
> Even beside the ash over a full basket of charcoal down to the amount remaining is pretty bad too. After just 5 hours at 235 I'm down to I py dregs.
> I know my minion method isn't spot on, but I've used 3-4 different types of briquettes and made it at least 10 hours per cook with no issue.


Oh T, that's the WORST!  Sorry to hear that is happening to you. You'll adjust nicely though.  Wishing you good luck at the comp!

Like I mentioned above, I had a relatively short smoke yesterday.  In my WSM I dumped 1/3rd chimney of the hot Royal Oak Ridge on a half load used KBB/RO Lump, half load of RO Ridge, and wood chunks.  Time from dump to vent closure was 7.25 hours.  Here's what my charcoal basket looks like this morning.  That's after warm-up, then running my WSM for 250F for 5 hours, then 325F for an hour and a half.  After seeing the charcoal basket, experience tells me this RO Ridge is going to have a LONG burn time.  In excess of 20 hours on a full load at 225-250.   

Convinced my wife I need 10 more bags at $4 a bag.  She bought into it pretty quick actually. 













002.JPG



__ noboundaries
__ May 27, 2017


----------



## travisty

After the fluctuating would not stop, i puled the meat out, put it into my other smoker (which wasn't on) and shook off the charcoal real well. scooted the remaining to one side, and instead of replenishing with the Kingsford comp stuff i used the Red Oak briquettes. Literally from that moment on the smoker held its perfect temp for the next 6 hours, i only say it deviate from the temp by 1 degree a couple of times. 

Likewise, i loaded my second smoker with the Red Oak briquettes to get my ribs started, and again they performed PERFECTLY for the entire 6 hour cook, AND once i shut it down and eventually pulled the basket there was very little ash build up, and i kid you not it looked like a brand new full basket after a 6 hour cook! 

100% i am converted to Red Oak, and i will be using this stuff exclusively from now on. As i mentioned, i also have some of the "Embers" branding f rom Home Depot, and ill use some and let you know if it is in fact the same exact stuff. 

This was in a competition environment and even the Competition Kingsford let me down, but the couple of "just in case" bags of Red Oak literally saved the cook. FYI, this was my first ever competition of any level, and this was a pro comp, and i took 4th in ribs and 3rd in Brisket! (thanks to the RO)


----------



## noboundaries

T, you're saying Red Oak, but we know you mean Royal Oak.  After one smoke myself, I too am an absolute convert.


----------



## travisty

Noboundaries said:


> T, you're saying Red Oak, but we know you mean Royal Oak. After one smoke myself, I too am an absolute convert.


You're right! oops! I do in fact mean Royal Oak


----------



## noboundaries

Picked up another 6 bags of the Ridge today.  That's 26 bags this week and I have no more room. Oh darn.


----------



## pc farmer

I am doing a brisket in my uds tonight with the RO.  Loving it so far.  Super rock steady​ temps.  Only bout 3 hours in so far.   I will be going back and stocking up.


----------



## WaterinHoleBrew

Thanks for this post Ray, I too have been a KBB fan for years.  I knew something wasn't right with these, but was really my only option other than a brand called Frontier...  Which in my opinion is even worse than KBB.  My local Lowes had not been carrying any RO briquettes.  Well, I called this morning & they said they do have them now.  I might be returning at least half the KBB I just got the other day to go get some RO.  I appreciate your time in testing &'posting this.  Point!


----------



## noboundaries

WaterinHoleBrew said:


> Thanks for this post Ray, I too have been a KBB fan for years. I knew something wasn't right with these, but was really my only option other than a brand called Frontier... Which in my opinion is even worse than KBB. My local Lowes had not been carrying any RO briquettes. Well, I called this morning & they said they do have them now. I might be returning at least half the KBB I just got the other day to go get some RO. I appreciate your time in testing &'posting this. Point!


You are very welcome, Justin, and thanks for the point! 

The first time I went to Lowes to get some RO Ridge, the floor rep told me it was new for them to carry the RO Ridge.  The Kingsford was prominently displayed, and on my subsequent two visits the RO Ridge was kind of buried in another section.  Meant I could find some for me, but it wasn't really in a place to sell a lot.  I know vendor reps give incentives for store placement, and the RO Ridge is not as well known, so that could explain the placement.  Hopefully that will change with time and recommendations from us experienced guys.


----------



## WaterinHoleBrew

Noboundaries said:


> You are very welcome, Justin, and thanks for the point!
> 
> The first time I went to Lowes to get some RO Ridge, the floor rep told me it was new for them to carry the RO Ridge.  The Kingsford was prominently displayed, and on my subsequent two visits the RO Ridge was kind of buried in another section.  Meant I could find some for me, but it wasn't really in a place to sell a lot.  I know vendor reps give incentives for store placement, and the RO Ridge is not as well known, so that could explain the placement.  Hopefully that will change with time and recommendations from us experienced guys.



Your welcome Ray, thank you again.  I agree with all you said there.  Done some burgers tonite with RO lump for the first time & man were they tasty.  Lookin forward to getting the RO briquettes!


----------



## pc farmer

I just used these for a brisket in the rain.

21 hours on a full basket and the uds was still at 234 degrees when I shook it out.


----------



## WaterinHoleBrew

c farmer said:


> I just used these for a brisket in the rain.
> 
> 21 hours on a full basket and the uds was still at 234 degrees when I shook it out.



Sounds like the old KBB, too bad they went the direction they did with their product.  Lookin very forward to stocking up with RO tomorrow.


----------



## noboundaries

Royal Oak Ridge is on sale at Lowes through 6/14/17 at the same price, $4 a bag. 

I know folks are influenced by the marketing strategy of Kingsford, putting two 18.6 lb bags (37.2 lbs) together for just under $10 on sale.  When you consider the fact the RO Ridge lasts almost 50% longer (48% actually) at a more constant temperature, two 15.4 lb bags of RO Ridge for $8 is like a twin pack of 22.8 lbs (45.6 lbs) of Kingsford.  Don't drink the Koolaid! 

And who said we'd never use math once we left school.


----------



## browneyesvictim

Ray,

I have been going back through these posts about all your testing and realized I have missed out. Not only on the conversation, but to thank you and credit your much deserved points. This all makes soooo much sense!

I have always been a RO fan, but the Kingsford is what I see displayed around here anymore. The actual Kingsford plant is only a couple miles from me right now, but I hold no brand loyalty. Again- your testing confirms what my gut was telling me. Now I haven't found RO "Ridge" available at my local stores other than their "Mesquite" flavored and the "minute light". Lowes is way across town for me. That is until yesterday... I found RO "Chefs Select" in Cash and Carry! It is $9.89 for a 20# bag regular price. So that makes it .49 a lb. I sure would like to know how the "Chefs Select" fares up against the "Ridge". The Naked Whiz site doesn't rate it either.


----------



## Rings Я Us

Browneyesvictim said:


> Ray,
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I have been going back through these posts about all your testing and realized I have missed out. Not only on the conversation, but to thank you and credit your much deserved points. This all makes soooo much sense!
> 
> I have always been a RO fan, but the Kingsford is what I see displayed around here anymore. The actual Kingsford plant is only a couple miles from me right now, but I hold no brand loyalty. Again- your testing confirms what my gut was telling me. Now I haven't found RO "Ridge" available at my local stores other than their "Mesquite" flavored and the "minute light". Lowes is way across town for me. That is until yesterday... I found RO "Chefs Select" in Cash and Carry! It is $9.89 for a 20# bag regular price. So that makes it .49 a lb. I sure would like to know how the "Chefs Select" fares up against the "Ridge". The Naked Whiz site doesn't rate it either.






I have wondered about the (chefs select restaurant type).? here too.. I see it at my HD .. I actually buy kbb and Royal O. 

Johnny B.


----------



## noboundaries

Rings R Us said:


> I have wondered about the (chefs select restaurant type).? here too.. I see it at my HD .. I actually buy kbb and Royal O.
> 
> Johnny B.


After doing research online, comparing pics, etc, it appears that the Chef's Select is the same as RO Ridge, just a 30% bigger briquette.  Now, that is a totally subjective guess based upon what I saw and read.  A bigger briquette would last even longer than the regular RO Ridge briquette.  Knowing how production lines work, I suspect it is the same composition, just a bigger form.


----------



## Rings Я Us

I'm looking at 2 shakes of my charcoal pan with the kbb charcoal in 12 hours.. it requires me taking off the body of the ECB with contents and lid...etc.. it's just a couple seconds to get it all back up to heat and go another few hours with clean coals. But I wish it would go 7 or 8 hours no touch and low ash build up.. I gotta pay my babysitting dues on the smokes one way or another.. 

Just glad I learned all these great mods after you all spent 10 years plus getting them in the forums. [emoji]127866[/emoji][emoji]129299[/emoji] thanks to all prior mod people.. Lol 

Johnny B


----------



## Rings Я Us

IMG_20170705_190215.jpg



__ Rings Я Us
__ Jul 11, 2017





Was what's left of  7 lbs kbb after 14 hours on brisket.. I'd say 1 lb left .. not to bad for a Smoke N Grill


----------



## browneyesvictim

Noboundaries said:


> After doing research online, comparing pics, etc, it appears that the Chef's Select is the same as RO Ridge, just a 30% bigger briquette.  Now, that is a totally subjective guess based upon what I saw and read.  A bigger briquette would last even longer than the regular RO Ridge briquette.  Knowing how production lines work, I suspect it is the same composition, just a bigger form.


Well I bought some RO Chefs Select. I made some pork belly burnt ends in the WSM Mini while camping that turned out real good using it, but.... Back to the charcoal....They are a little bigger, so I couldn't load as many briquettes in the mini basket. What that did for me was make it so they burned out more completely and without suffocating in ash, but it was a short burn time because I had less fuel to begin with. They went 3 hours of smoke at 250' while being managed by the BBQ Guru, then covered in a foil pan with butter, brown sugar and honey for an hour then the temp started dropping. I took a look and I had to reload more briquettes to finish them for another hour. The good news is there was a lot less ash than KBB. Also I had a lot of wind that played a part in it, but the Guru made the cook temp rock steady!


----------



## kam59

I love Royal Oak. :)


----------



## bbqkrazy

Royal oak chef select is all natural. Royal oak chef best is the same as regular royal oak briquettes just bigger..Royal oak chef select is like stubbs.


----------



## uncle eddie

My experience is RO I'd hard to light but lasts well, but K is good for short burns...like pork steaks.

Great post BTW...


----------



## daveomak

AWESOME test...  Thank you and pts.....   Dave


----------



## noboundaries

DaveOmak said:


> AWESOME test...  Thank you and pts.....   Dave


Thanks Dave!  For the compliment and the points!

For those who missed the July 4th sale, get ready to stock up at Labor Day.  Labor Day is usually the last dependable sale of the year.  I have seen sales at Thanksgiving, but it isn't as dependable as the summer holidays.


----------



## yankee2bbq

Ok thanks for the info


----------



## wolfpack smoker

Noboundaries  Thanks for all your hard work on this.

I just bought a Meadow Creek PR36 for all my cooking needs...

I was using Royal Oak lump charcoal in my old Brink-mans grill, since I could adjust the grill tray it worked great.  On the PR36 I noticed that I was not getting high temps for grilling.  I bought a bag of Weber Briquettes that are all natural, but I think it does give a flavor and not a fan.

The Roayal Oak Briquettes, do they give an after taste on the meat?


----------



## Rings Я Us

Just used Kroger briquettes for 6 hour beef ribs. Was pleased with temps and ash content. Kroger ridge was on sale $6.99 












IMG_20170805_163247.jpg



__ Rings Я Us
__ Aug 7, 2017


----------



## noboundaries

Wolfpack Smoker said:


> Noboundaries  Thanks for all your hard work on this.
> 
> I just bought a Meadow Creek PR36 for all my cooking needs...
> 
> I was using Royal Oak lump charcoal in my old Brink-mans grill, since I could adjust the grill tray it worked great.  On the PR36 I noticed that I was not getting high temps for grilling.  I bought a bag of Weber Briquettes that are all natural, but I think it does give a flavor and not a fan.
> 
> *The Roayal Oak Briquettes, do they give an after taste on the meat?*


I'm probably not the best person to ask about the taste.  I've been using KBB, and now RO Ridge briquettes, for so long I've become taste blind to the flavor of the briquettes.  Long ago I learned not to load the meat too early, whether on the grill or the smoker, or you do get a flavor I don't care for.   

When I do use lump to smoke poultry, I don't notice any taste difference between the lump and the briquettes.


----------



## noboundaries

Rings R Us said:


> Just used Kroger briquettes for 6 hour beef ribs. Was pleased with temps and ash content. Kroger was on sale $6.99 RO was $12.99. The RO bag may have been a few ounces bigger.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> IMG_20170805_163247.jpg
> 
> 
> 
> __ Rings Я Us
> __ Aug 7, 2017


If those briquettes in the picture above are the Kroger briquettes, they are the exact same as RO Ridge briquette.  Royal Oak supplies many, if not most, store brands.  My store brand (Winco) and RO Ridge are exactly the same briquette.  I can buy a 16.6 lb bag of Winco briquettes for $5.38, regular price, or 33 cents / lb.  RO Ridge at Lowes for a 15.4 lb bag is $5.97 regular price, 39 cents a pound.  At $4 a 15.4 lb bag that's just under 26 cent a pound.  When you burn through 500 lbs a year, paying attention to the per pound price makes sense.   50 cents a pound is $250.  26 cents a pound when RO Ridge is on sale is $130. 

$12.99 for RO Ridge briquettes is WAY too high.  Sounds like a RO lump price, but stores can be sneaky sneaky on their pricing to move product. 

Many stores consider August a time to start decreasing their summer supplies.  Watch for sales on charcoal and chunks.


----------



## noboundaries

RO Ridge and hot 'n fast whole chicken smoke. 

Since switching to RO Ridge from KBB around Memorial Day, I've done 21 smokes using that charcoal.  Unfortunately, the longest smoke has only been about 7.5 hours, and most were low 'n slow (jerky, cured pork sirloin, roast beef, tri tip,  etc).  Today was the first time I loaded a couple of 6.1 lb chickens in the WSM for a hot n' fast smoke.  Man oh man, that RO Ridge is making my BBQ Guru obsolete!  It holds temps beautifully no matter what my target chamber temp.  As I type is cruising along at 340-345F.  The Guru is set for 320F for a minimum stoke.  The Guru hasn't come on once on this smoke. 

With KBB on a hot 'n fast smoke, the Guru would have to work to keep the temps up.  I'd have to burp the smoker (remove the lid) occasionally to stoke the fire with air to get it back up to my target.  Oh, and it would take a full chimney of KBB on top of cold charcoal to get the temp up in the 325F range.  This morning, I only put 2/3rds chimney of the hot RO Ridge on the cold/used charcoal for this smoke.  Why didn't I switch sooner?!

Have a GREAT Labor Day weekend!

Ray













001.JPG



__ noboundaries
__ Sep 3, 2017


----------



## Rings Я Us

Noboundaries said:


> If those briquettes in the picture above are the Kroger briquettes, they are the exact same as RO Ridge briquette.  Royal Oak supplies many, if not most, store brands.  My store brand (Winco) and RO Ridge are exactly the same briquette.  I can buy a 16.6 lb bag of Winco briquettes for $5.38, regular price, or 33 cents / lb.  RO Ridge at Lowes for a 15.4 lb bag is $5.97 regular price, 39 cents a pound.  At $4 a 15.4 lb bag that's just under 26 cent a pound.  When you burn through 500 lbs a year, paying attention to the per pound price makes sense.   50 cents a pound is $250.  26 cents a pound when RO Ridge is on sale is $130.
> 
> $12.99 for RO Ridge briquettes is WAY too high.  Sounds like a RO lump price, but stores can be sneaky sneaky on their pricing to move product.
> 
> Many stores consider August a time to start decreasing their summer supplies.  Watch for sales on charcoal and chunks.


 yes.. it was RO Lump $12.99 I forgot at HD that they don't sell it in Orange bags.. [emoji]129299[/emoji]


----------



## matty21386

24 oz is 25% more charcoal than 19.2 oz, that's a big difference. I didn't notice this at first, posted on another smoking site as I found this post intriguing. Another member caught that.


----------



## noboundaries

matty21386 said:


> 24 oz is 25% more charcoal than 19.2 oz, that's a big difference. I didn't notice this at first, posted on another smoking site as I found this post intriguing. Another member caught that.


Correct.  I addressed the issue earlier in the thread.  I used volume instead of weight.  The Kingsford and RO Ridge briquettes are essentially identical in size.  Kingsford marketing claims right on the bag "Keeps the BBQ going longer."  They don't say longer than what, but this test clearly shows that the RO lasts significantly longer than the 25% difference in weight. 

My one regret from the test is that I didn't weigh the ash.  Although practically identical in volume, 21 smoke experiences with RO Ridge and 38 Kettle grills with KBB since the test has clearly shown me the ash from the RO Ridge is heavier than the ash from Kingsford.  You can look at that fact as a two edged sword.  On one hand that weight is most likely due to the addition of <15% limestone to the RO Ridge briquette.  On the other hand, that limestone helps maintain the heat of the burned charcoal longer in the smoker, which was clearly evident from the test.


----------



## motocrash

I've been using RO since the mid 90s,some Texans turned me on to it.I did a similar comparo to K back then and I got the same results with the K having a ton of sand/grit in the ash. It has been frustratingly hard in the past to find but now common.BTW they make a "Chefs Best" that are 1/3 bigger than regular.I have not tried them yet....

Royal Oak aint no joke...

Bill


----------



## noboundaries

Since Memorial Day, I've used 6x15.4 bags of RO Ridge, or 92.4 lbs. I've had 28 smokes, the shortest being 2.7 hours, the longest 9.5 hours.  Average smoke is 5.13 hrs.  Total hours of smoking was 128.25, which means I'm averaging just a smidge under 1.4 hours of smoke time per pound of RO Ridge used.  With KBB I was running .8 to .9 hrs per pound.

One lesson learned: I have to use less than half the amount of RO Ridge to start my fire compared to KBB, or I quickly overshoot my target temp, especially if I'm targeting 225F.  With KBB I always used the large chimney to start my fire. With RO Ridge, I only use the small chimney.  Poultry is the only exception. I still use the large chimney, but only use about half to 2/3rds a chimney to hit a 340-350 target temp for smoking poultry.  KBB took a full chimney and the Guru had to work to keep it there.

Interesting point I've observed is how RO Ridge burns in my WSM on these shorter smokes.  I dump a small amount of hot RO Ridge in the center of my pile of cold charcoal and wood chunks, no dimple or pit in the middle.  When the smoke finishes, the top layer will look almost unburned and fresh, any wood will be charred, but the layers below will be partially used almost all the way to the sides. I suspect that has to do with the fact that RO Ridge takes longer to cool down, but that's just supposition at this point.     

Going to do an overnight smoke tonight using the RO Ridge.  Running to the store today to pick up a bone-in pork butt. Will get the biggest one they have, which is usually around 10 lbs.  They are enhanced butts, so I just rub and throw on the smoker.   Will smoke it at 225F overnight, then crank the temp up in the morning to 275-300F, unwrapped.  Expecting an 18-22 hour smoke.  I'm curious if the usage will stay at 1.4 hrs/lb, or be greater or less.  Interested in whether I have to load more charcoal, plus the burn pattern, and whether the Guru has to work or not to maintain the target temp.

Stay tuned.  Pics to follow.


----------



## motocrash

Ray,of course they're enhanced butts - you're in California! o_O
Seriously,what is an "enhanced butt" ?
Looking forward to hearing/seeing the outcome of the overnight smoke!

Bill


----------



## noboundaries

Dang I miss the old emoticons.

When you inject a butt or brisket, you are "enhancing" it.  Sometimes the producer does that for you.  The Hormel butts I buy are enhanced with up to a 12% solution.  The attached picture is from a label earlier in the year.  













001.JPG



__ noboundaries
__ Apr 26, 2017


----------



## motocrash

Gotcha.
I am lucky.Around here we have many heritage breeds:
Hampshire,Berkshire,Tamworth etc.But they'll cost ya $$ Better to get together with my buddies and buy on the hoof when we can.I usually get Smithfield  as it is what's in every store her in Va.....can't complain. :)
I miss the old emoticons too.

Bill


----------



## noboundaries

It is now 7:50 AM, Saturday morning. At 4:54 PM last night I put 2/3rds of a small chimney of hot RO briquettes on my pile of used/new RO briquettes. The ring was loaded to what I call 3/4 full.  Note to self: Next time I do this, start with all new briquettes and load the ring completely to what I consider "full" (about an inch over the top of the ring).

An hour later, at 5:55 PM, I loaded the meat. Chamber temp was 235F with only one bottom vent cracked about 1/4". The temp dropped to 217F, then slowly climbed back up to 237F. I closed that cracked vent, and set my Guru to 225F. After a couple hours the chamber temp dropped to 225F and basically stayed there all night. I woke up 3 times and the chamber temp was 225F, 221F, and 226F.

At 7:20 AM this morning, when I woke up for the final time, almost 13.5 hours after loading the meat, the chamber temp had dropped to 217F. Looked and saw a lot of ash. Stirred the ash and noticed a BIG difference right away from the KBB. With KBB the ash flies everywhere and follows the heat up into the chamber. With the Ridge, the ash just fell through the grate with very little flying up into the chamber.

The chamber temp started climbing immediately, but I could tell I'd need to add more charcoal to finish the smoke. I added one small chimney of cold RO Ridge. I want to see how long a small chimney will last before the temp starts dropping.  In less than 20 minutes my temp had climbed to 275, where I had set the Guru.  It maxed out at 288F, and 50 minutes after loading has started slowly dropping back to 275F where the Guru will catch it.


----------



## motocrash

I always de-ash from previous smoke and take the half dead soldiers out and put them on top of a fresh lit pile of coals. I also normally add cold briquettes when needed though I usually only do butts 5-6 Hrs (the aroma makes me impatient) and don't need to add any.One of my buds has an 18 WSM,he loads it with ~ 1/3 bag and lets'er rip.Gotta love the RO !

I will be boarding my private jet shortly,should I bring a side? ;)
Bill


----------



## noboundaries

Yep, slaw.

I always "de-ash" too. I really wanted to get a feel for how the RO Ridge performed.  Even though the used charcoal was Ridge, I should have started with all fresh just for this smoke.  Next time.

I turned off the Guru and opened the bottom vents at about 8:20 AM. That small chimney of cold RO Ridge, which equals 1/4th of a large chimney, held the temp until 10:20, then the chamber temp started falling. Butt IT was 195F, and still a little resistant to the probe.  For comparison, half a large chimney of cold KBB would last about 90 minutes to 2 hours, so I got the same performance with half as much RO.

I "de-ashed" the briquettes on the ring, kind of pushed then into the center of the ring with my tongs, then fired up about 2/3rds of a small chimney of RO Ridge, adding the hot briquettes to the pile.  Just wanted to close out this smoke. I shut the vents and the temp shot up to 300F. When it started falling I opened one of the vents about 1/4".

The meat will probably be done about 11 AM, or 17 hours.


----------



## motocrash

Why do you cook'em so long?
Or is this more a test of the RO ?


----------



## noboundaries

motocrash said:


> Why do you cook'em so long?
> Or is this more a test of the RO ?



Both actually.

Obviously I wanted to see how the RO would perform on a long smoke.  I liked it, but still want to do a test of a full new load of RO Ridge to see how long it will go without refueling or knocking off ash.  I didn't think about that until after I loaded the smoker for this smoke with used and new RO Ridge.

Why so long?  Convenience. The WSM is such a great "set and forget" smoker, I found that when I start a long smoke the evening before, I can sleep easy. When I get up in the morning, that's when the fun begins.  I woke up at 7:20 AM.  The butt was still in the stall. IT was 165F.  I futzed with the smoker, doing what needed to be done to crank up the temp, and just took the butt off at 11:20 AM. In reality, it only feels like a 4 hour smoke, not 17.5 hours.  Great bark, great flavor, and I'm not thinking about the smoke for 17.5 hours.  There's such a secure feeling just putting it in the smoker and doing all kinds of other things, without thinking about the smoke all day. 

I've done 225F from beginning to end, 300+ from beginning to end, and prefer this low/slow start, hot/fast finish.  There's no real difference in taste. The way I do it now just works for me. 

Below is the finished butt just before I took it off the smoker, and the remaining fuel.  I could have easily gone two more hours. 

Overall, this used/new RO Ridge smoke wasn't a whole lot different than a KBB used/new briquette smoke. I loaded fuel at about the same time on the clock, but used less, both at the beginning and on each refuel.  That works for me too.


----------



## motocrash

Makes sense....with my luck i'd be sawing logs and a bear would knock it over and feast.
I should have got one going this morning,been working outside :(  Beautiful day- 65* here in the Blue Ridge.
It looks wonderful ! Point!

Bill


----------



## Phil Chart

Thank for the very informative test. I use strictly kingsford but have noticed the quality is not there anymore as it was in the past. I thought about doing a test on kingsford vs royal oak but after reading this excellent article on the testing you've done has saved me some time. Thanks again for the awesome post


----------



## noboundaries

You're very welcome, Phil.  I've been 100% happy with the RO Ridge.  Just finished a 17.84 lb, semi-spatchcocked turkey, like 5 minutes ago, and it held 325F for the three hours and fifteen minutes of smoke roasting with nary a bump.


----------



## Phil Chart

Yum my mouth is watering and I just ate supper
Have a good thanks giving


----------



## yankee2bbq

Dang, that looks good!  Share your recipe!


----------



## noboundaries

Thanks YK2BBQ.  That was a frozen Butterball turkey I picked up for something like 39 cents a pound in the last year.  It's been in our chest freezer since purchase.

I thaw in water.  The process I use takes a few days so it wouldn't work now since TG is tomorrow, but you can find directions for thawing in water anywhere online.

Spatchcock bird, saving all the parts cut off.

Inject and Brine:  12-72 hours.  Anytime I brine longer than 12 hours it is usually due to schedule or weather.  I've brined these birds up to 72 hours with no problems.  I always buy close to 18 lb turkeys, so that's what the brine is set for below:

In a blender, put the following ingredients:
1 tsp Prague #1 Pink Salt
1/3 cup kosher salt
1 Tbs onion powder
1  Tbs garlic powder
1 tsp black pepper
1 cup dark brown sugar or inexpensive maple syrup
1 can frozen orange juice
1 quart water

Blend until well mixed.

Inject the breast with the brine.

I use a brining bag and fill it with the turkey, turkey parts, brine, another quart of water, and about a quart of ice.  I then put it in a cooler and add more ice to the cooler.

Remove from brine after 12-72 hours, 

Fire up smoker to 325-350F.

Pat the turkey dry, then put a fan on the bird to fast dry the skin.  You can put it in the refrigerator uncovered for 24 hours, but my wife would never eat turkey again if I did that.  She HATES handing or seeing raw meat.

I like to use a drip pan. Usually I put the pan filled with veggies on the lower rack, but my wife wanted mashed potatoes this year.  I put carrots in a foil lined 15" paella pan, then put a cooling rack in the pan, then put the dried turkey on the rack.  Put the turkey parts in the spatchcocked cavity.

Spray the turkey with oil then coat with Litehouse Poultry Herb Blend.  Spray with oil again.

Place turkey in smoker with breast on the opposite side of the fire, or if a WSM, opposite the vent.

Smoke until breast is 160-162F, thigh is north of 170F.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Gotta go do some more shopping.


----------



## yankee2bbq

Thanks bud!


----------



## seaninva

noboundaries, thanks for this post. I have been having a heck of a time with my Dyna-Glo smoker, and I've been using the KBB exclusively. Given the temp drops you've showed in your tests - and my inability to get my smoker's temp up reliably and for any real length of time, I think it's time for me to try out a few bags of the RO and see if that doesn't improve my experience!


----------



## noboundaries

Happy to help Sean.  The test was a real eye-opener for me.


----------



## chopsaw

seaninva said:


> noboundaries, thanks for this post. I have been having a heck of a time with my Dyna-Glo smoker, and I've been using the KBB exclusively. Given the temp drops you've showed in your tests - and my inability to get my smoker's temp up reliably and for any real length of time, I think it's time for me to try out a few bags of the RO and see if that doesn't improve my experience!


No doubt it will . KBB snuck in the back door on alot of us .


----------



## rastafas

So I smoked a pork butt on my kettle this weekend, using the snake method and the much reviled Kingsford Pro charcoal.  Outside temperature was 75 degrees with little wind. My snake kept the kettle right around 250 at the food grate for about 10 hours, with minimal fussing around with the top vent.  How much longer would the same size snake go with Royal Oak? I wrapped the butt and it finished in the oven  because I was too lazy to extend the snake. Would Royal Oak get me significantly more cook time?


----------



## noboundaries

I've never used the Kingsford Pro.  I have used the Kingsford Competition and found it burned up in half the time as the regular KBB, but that was several KBB formulations ago.  KBB has not gotten better over the last two formulations. 

Since I switched at the end of May to Royal Oak Ridge, I have had 32 smokes totaling 174 hours of smoke time.  I have used 133 lbs of Royal Oak Ridge.  That works out to 1.31 hours per pound of charcoal, which is probably the answer you're looking for if you do the math. Shortest smoke was 1 hr 45 mins; longest 18.5 hours.   Average smoke was 5.44 hours long.  Smoking temps ranged from 165F to 335F.    

I generally just add new charcoal/wood to used charcoal/wood in my ring.  I have 4 butts and one picnic in the freezer.  Once the holidays settle down, or maybe for New Years, I'll clean out the WSM, add nothing but new Royal Oak Ridge, and smoke the pork butt or picnic at 250 until ready to pull.  I suspect it will still be in the 1.3-1.4 hour per pound of charcoal used range.  

Out of the 120 lbs of old formula KBB I had at the end of May, I have 34 lbs left.  86 lbs was used in the Kettle.  The current formula is 7% lighter than the previous formula I still have left.


----------



## noboundaries

I decided to smoke the 11.5 lb picnic I had in the freezer using my favorite profile; 225F overnight until chamber temp starts to fall, then stir and bump chamber temp up to 275F until done, no wrapping.  Total smoke time 19 hours (14 hours at approx 225F, 5 hours at 275F).

I actually forgot about starting with all new RO Ridge when I fired up the WSM yesterday.  I knocked the ash off of what was in the smoker (maybe 3 lbs), cleaned out the ash from the bowl, then loaded new Ridge (about 10 lbs) on top of the old along with the hickory chunks.  Fired up 8 RO Ridge briquettes and put them in the center of the pile. Took 90 minutes for the smoke to settle down and the chamber to come up to temp.  At 5:20 PM I loaded the meat.  Temp spiked on the load due to all the air inflow, but soon settled down, stabilizing at 232F. It was 47F outside when I started the smoke.

Outside temp dropped to 32F overnight.  No welder's blanket because it was a windless night.  When I woke at 3:30 AM for a quick break, the Mav was showing 217F, the Guru 225F, cycling on and off.  I bumped the Guru up to 235F and it quickly reached that temp.  Mav was steady at 225F, matching the lid therm.  All the coals were ashed over and lit.  Back to bed.

At 7:20 AM, 14 hours into the smoke, I knocked the ash off the briqs and reset the Guru to 275F.  Outside temp was 34F.  At 9 AM (15.7 hours) the chamber temp started dropping from 275F.  and I loaded a small chimney of hot Ridge in the smoker, about 2 lbs.  I just heat it long enough for the blue smoke to disappear, then I load it.  I did the same thing at 11 AM. Total Ridge used on 19 hour smoke was 3 lbs used / 14 lbs new, total of 17 lbs.     

So, as far as lasting longer than the previous formula KBB, I'm getting a bit of a time bump, but not huge on the long smokes.  The one thing I am getting is rock stable temps, but there was a bit of a learning curve how to use the Ridge compared to the KBB.

Bottom line, both KBB and Ridge are great values.  Ridge has better prices off season (Embers at Home Depot).

Still have to fry the skin up to make Chicharonnes.  I cut it free from the meat before it went on the smoker, then used it as a buffer on the grate for the bottom of the roast.  It's easier to cut up and fry that way, but I still was able to taste the crunchy parts just now.

Happy New Year!


----------



## yankee2bbq

Great information.  And Happy New Year!


----------



## Phil Chart

Well I have officially switched to royal oak for my uds and Weber kettle grill. I was sold after the info I found here (thanks again noboundaries) I have cooked several times now with RO and love the taste no fuels tasting,however I have found a good use for my extra kingsford I have. I use it to build a hot fire to burn off my cooking grates for both uds and Weber 
Thanks again to all on this forum


----------



## noboundaries

It's almost that time of year when charcoal goes on sale.  Lowes and HD usually have one short period sale (like a week or less) prior to Memorial Day. It is usually called their Spring Sale, but MD is when the first big "time to stock up" sale happens.

I've been averaging just a couple tenths under 40 lbs a month of RO Ridge, Lump, and leftover KBB, using my smoker or grill every third day on average.  High monthly use was 63 lbs of charcoal, low 23.4 lbs.  I've got 204 lbs left of the same mix: RO Ridge (169.4 lbs) / misc lump (15 lbs) /KBB (20 lbs), enough to get me to the Memorial Day sale when I fill the garage again.


----------



## yankee2bbq

I like your numbers.  You’re like a charcoal nerd.  Very cool.


----------



## chopsaw

yankee2bbq said:


> I like your numbers.  You’re like a charcoal nerd.  Very cool.


LOL ,,, yeah I'm buying stock in whatever he's buying ,,,


----------



## yankee2bbq

chopsaw said:


> LOL ,,, yeah I'm buying stock in whatever he's buying ,,,


Big time Bud.


----------



## noboundaries

You all made my wife and I LOL.  This thread won't be the last time I hear or see "charcoal nerd!"  I LIKE IT!


----------



## yankee2bbq

charcoal nerd.......Dilly Dilly!


----------



## noboundaries

I was just watching one of the Andrew Zimmern Bizarre Foods Destination shows on Memphis. He was at The Rendezvous, showing how they make their BBQ ribs. He said "they slow smoke their ribs over hardwood lump charcoal," then the camera zoomed in for several shots of the fire in their smoker.  There was nothing in their smoker but Royal Oak Ridge or Royal Oak Chef's Select briquette charcoal.  You had to freeze the shots to see the shape of the briquettes, but there's no mistaking the Ridge/Chef's Select shape for lump or anything else.  Nary a chunk of lump in sight.


----------



## yankee2bbq

Good work, charcoal nerd.  This reinforces your nick name.


----------



## noboundaries

:):):)


----------



## kettlesmoker

Thread keeps on delivering! ROR @ $4/bag at Lowes this last weekend.


----------



## noboundaries

I picked up 8 bags yesterday, wanted 18. Went to two different Lowes. A LOT of the bags were torn and taped. I suspect this $4 sale is an old stock sale to make room for this coming season's shipment. I've got to go to my grocer this morning, which is right next to a Lowes.  If the same torn up bags are there, I'll ask if they'll cut the $4 price in half for me to take the ripped bags off their hands.

BTW, I'm 16 hours into a 9.56 lb pork butt smoke using RO Ridge. It should finish up in the next 30 minutes to an hour. I loaded my WSM charcoal basket about 2-3 inches over the top of the basket, dimple in the middle, then added 8 hot ROR briquettes. Hickory and cherry chunks. There was about an inch of used charcoal in the bottom of the basket before I loaded the new on top.

Set the vents to a chamber temp of 250F overnight, top vent full open, two bottom vents cracked only 1/16". Rock solid 248-252F until 8.5 hours, then chamber temp slowly dropped over a couple hours to my Guru catch temp of 230F. At 12 hours the IT of the meat was 178F. Chamber temp stayed at 230F until 14.5 hours total. Then I knocked the ash off the charcoal and fully opened the bottom vents. Charcoal basket was still at least 1/2 full with hot briquettes. I did not add any more briquettes.

Chamber temp climbed over about an hour to 309F, dropped when I checked the IT of the meat, then climbed back to 300F. Now dropping very slowly, but I'll easily be able to finish this smoke without adding an more briquettes like I did above on earlier posts.  The trick was overloading the charcoal basket.

I've figured out that the deep RO Ridges allow more airflow through the charcoal load. The ridges in ROR are MUCH more pronounced than the shallow ridges on KBB. So in a sense, ROR kind of works like lump, but is more controllable.

Still learning and having fun! Pic of the butt to follow if I remember.

Here we go, Q-view time. Hmmm, I need to adjust the time stamp on my camera. That should read 10:36 AM.


----------



## stokensmoke

It's probably in here somewhere but I haven't seen it yet so I'll just throw it out there.  I'm a huge RO fan -use it in my UDS, WSM and Weber kettle.  So I stopped at walmart this weekend and they have the new Royal Oak all natural briquettes.  Hoping to try them out this weekend if the weather cooperates.  Anyone try them yet?


----------



## noboundaries

stokensmoke said:


> It's probably in here somewhere but I haven't seen it yet so I'll just throw it out there.  I'm a huge RO fan -use it in my UDS, WSM and Weber kettle.  So I stopped at walmart this weekend and they have the new Royal Oak all natural briquettes.  Hoping to try them out this weekend if the weather cooperates.  Anyone try them yet?



Interesting. They look like "Ridge," so obviously they are using the same stamp. I'll have to pick up a bag and do another side by side test. The ash will tell the difference. ROR contains 10-15% limestone, and you can feel the weight of the ash, but it also helps it retain heat. Like a little heat sink in each briquette. The ash of the above stuff should be lighter. Will be interesting to see how long it lasts once lit.


----------



## stokensmoke

Price wasn't bad either -$7.48.  Regular RO is $6.48.


----------



## noboundaries

I went by my local Walmart yesterday to pick up a bag of the RO All Natural briquettes. Not a bag in sight. In fact, there was not a single bag of Royal Oak anything anywhere. They are definitely stocking up KBB for the Memorial Day sale, though. Unwrapped pallets of 2x15.4 lb bags of KBB were EVERYWHERE!

My local Lowes started the RO Ridge sale with 40 bags according to the website. They had 14 left as of this morning, the day after the sale. They sold 26. My first day there, I made a new smoking buddy who uses a UDS. I believe he bought 10 bags. I bought 16 total, 8 the first day, 8 the next, and I had to do a lot of product moving to find the second 8. That's all 26 bags sold. He and I bought everything they sold.

Of the 14 bags left, 8-10 were in really bad shape. I was going to talk to the manager to see if they'd offload them to me for a $1 a bag for the worst ones, $2 a bag for the moderately torn up bags. If I see a hole in a bag, I always ask for a discount at the cashier. 25% seems to be the standard adjustment. Might still go back and take the torn up bags off their hands, just have to be in the mood, and find a place to put them.


----------



## cmayna

My local Lowes has apparently 133 bags (15.6#) of RO Ridge in stock at $5.99.
Isle 133, Bay 14............  Road Trip!!


----------



## noboundaries

cmayna said:


> My local Lowes has apparently 133 bags (15.6#) of RO Ridge in stock at $5.99.
> Isle 133, Bay 14............  Road Trip!!



$5.99 is their regular price. If you have the stock on hand to wait until Memorial Day, they'll probably go on sale for $4 a bag again. Home Depot has "Embers" at $4.97 / 15.4 lb bag all the time. It's the exact same stuff as RO Ridge, just bagged and labeled for Home Depot.


----------



## cmayna

That info regarding HD's Embers is great news.  I'm  always at home depot.  Thanks for the info.


----------



## yankee2bbq

cmayna said:


> That info regarding HD's Embers is great news.  I'm  always at home depot.  Thanks for the info.



I second that.   noboundaries knows his stuff when it comes to charcoal, that is why I call him “charcoal nerd”.


----------



## noboundaries

yankee2bbq said:


> I second that.   noboundaries knows his stuff when it comes to charcoal, that is why I call him “charcoal nerd”.



Y2BBQ, Charcoal Nerd is now in my signature!


----------



## noboundaries

It has been a while since I used KBB in my Kettle. I still have one unopened 20 lb bag of the previous formula. I've been using Ridge in my Kettle because I like the heat I get from one small chimney. I'm using a LOT less charcoal in the Kettle with the Ridge.

I needed to get an adobo marinated tri tip on the grill today before we get a couple days of rain, starting this afternoon. I put half a small chimney of KBB, then filled the chimney with RO Lump. Just wanted a short 4 min/side hot sear then an indirect heat finish for 40-50 minutes until IT was 135F. Used 4 small chunks of cherry wood.  

That KBB/RO Lump combo in the small chimney was NOT the way to go. Should have used all KBB. Barely got a sear at 8 minutes a side. Fired up another 3/4 small chimney of KBB until it stopped smoking. Once I moved the meat off the sear for indirect cooking/smoking, I added the new KBB to the one basket under the flip-grate's access.

Still, with the adjust on the fly, the meat turned out FANTASTIC! I'll post the recipe and pics in a new thread.


----------



## yankee2bbq

Funny you posted the above.  I did the same in the past, awhile ago, with the same results.  Keep it either, KBB or royal oak.


----------



## browneyesvictim

I went by my local Walmart yesterday to pick up a bag of the RO All Natural briquettes. Not a bag in sight. In fact, there was not a single bag of Royal Oak anything anywhere. They are definitely stocking up KBB for the Memorial Day sale, though. Unwrapped pallets of 2x15.4 lb bags of KBB were EVERYWHERE!

Same here. But... I did find a new Walmart Ridge Label I hadn't seen before. Its not listed in their online store either. I bought a bag yesterday. It looks like RO Ridge but is packaged for Walmart. It is sale priced like the others. (Edit: Pics added)


----------



## noboundaries

I went by Walmart last week and saw a bag called "Expert Grill" with the RO Ridge symbol on it. 16 lb bag for $4.92, or just under 31 cents a pound. Obviously it is their store brand for RO Ridge. Might just be a California thing. Their store brand could be called something else in other locations.


----------



## browneyesvictim

noboundaries said:


> I went by Walmart last week and saw a bag called "Expert Grill" with the RO Ridge symbol on it. 16 lb bag for $4.92, or just under 31 cents a pound. Obviously it is their store brand for RO Ridge. Might just be a California thing. Their store brand could be called something else in other locations.


Yes. Those are the ones.


----------



## noboundaries

browneyesvictim said:


> Yes. Those are the ones.



Those "Expert Grill" briquettes were actually why I went by Walmart last week. When I pull up my local store online, the picture they have indicates the briquettes are "60% larger." They obviously had started with a couple pallets of the stuff and were down to about 20 bags when I got there. There was nothing on the store bags indicating 60% larger. I felt the briquettes through the bag and could tell they were regular sized.

Now I have another source for Ridge when it is not on sale at Lowes.

Ooops. I guess I didn't need to post the picture below. Erik has us covered with his post above.


----------



## krj

I went and picked up 10 bags of ROR during the $4.00 Lowe’s sale. I’ve been using KBB for all my past smokes in my WSM 22”, and have been pretty pleased using the Soo’d donut method with like a half a chimney started. I got about 10 goods hours out heat my last cook before I had to add more to funding so my butts. All this weekend the WSM will be rolling, I have a 24lb whole brisket, 2 pork butts, and a dozen chicken thighs I’m gonna do over the next three days. I think I’m going to try the dimple method with this ROR, only lighting 8-10 coals and going from there. Hoping to see some steady temps and long cool time.


----------



## chopsaw

krj said:


> picked up 10 bags of ROR


I think you're gonna be happy with it . I think it burns hotter than KBB , so just FYI .


----------



## mojavejoe

Based in part on this thread, I recently switched from Kingsford Pro Comp briquettes to Royal Oak Ridge. I am a convert. 

I’ve found the ROR burns cleaner and provides a more consistent, more controllable temperature in my WSM 22. The ROR lasts significantly longer and requires less time to settle in. 

One thing I did notice is that the ROR didn’t like the minion method - at least not for me. For long smokes, I dump 3/4 lit chimney of RO lump on top of a full ring of ROR briquettes. I’m getting a more consistent, long burn.

I’m currently 8 hours into a pork butt smoke and the ROR/wsm combo is running 250* solid. 

Very happy with the change.


----------



## krj

I'm exhausted, but soooooo pleased with ROR. I was spiky on temps on Saturday during my 17.5 hour brisket cook. I'll chalk this up to the inexpeirience with ROR which definitely burns hotter. Sunday's pork butts when miles better. Temperatures were steady during my 9.5 hr cook, I was still tired from the day before, so I foil wrapped the butts instead of cooking unfoiled. Both the brisket and pork was delicious, and I'm glad I bought 10 bags of ROR. Plan on grabbing some more if I can find another sale.


----------



## noboundaries

krj said:


> I'm exhausted, but soooooo pleased with ROR. *I was spiky on temps on Saturday during my 17.5 hour brisket cook. I'll chalk this up to the inexpeirience with ROR which definitely burns hotter.* Sunday's pork butts when miles better. Temperatures were steady during my 9.5 hr cook, I was still tired from the day before, so I foil wrapped the butts instead of cooking unfoiled. Both the brisket and pork was delicious, and *I'm glad I bought 10 bags of ROR. Plan on grabbing some more if I can find another sale*.



As I explained earlier in this thread, I was a dedicated KBB user for decades, and four years or so in my WSM. I had to relearn how to set my vents and cold/hot load the RO Ridge. For 225F, I'd use 45-60 hot KBB, about 1/4 chimney, in my WSM. Now I use 8 or so RO Ridge. Huge difference.

Now I can dial in anything from 150F to 350+. When I want 150F, 4 hot RO Ridge briquettes.

I still use a full load of cold charcoal regardless of what I'm smoking and just reuse the unburned. Another trick I learned when loading the cold charcoal, is to give the legs on my WSM a few kicks, or just shake the bottom bowl pretty hard. The Ridges kind of settle into each other, cutting down on the airflow through the briquettes, which keeps the temps down for those low temp smokes.

I keep an eye out for sales. You can always pick up Embers at Home Depot. It is RO Ridge.


----------



## FL-Outlander

Found bags of Embers at Home Depot for $2.98. Not on sale, just normal price from the looks of it. I loaded up!


----------



## noboundaries

FL-Outlander said:


> Found bags of Embers at Home Depot for $2.98. Not on sale, just normal price from the looks of it. I loaded up!



Normal price on Embers, the 15.4 lb bag, is $4.99. Loading up at $2.98, good move!


----------



## wimpy69

Thanks, ill check it out on the way home, im in se pa. Hope so, stash is ok but this will restock me till mid/end summer at that price.


----------



## tag0401

I'm a kingsford guy but this has perked enough interest to give Royal oak a shot! Thanks for taking the time to test this out!!


----------



## noboundaries

Glad to see this old thread still has some legs!


----------



## Hawging It

I have been a Kingsford guy for many years. Both starting my stick burner before adding my wood and on my Weber kettles. I was skeptical when I read the original post so I decided to give the RO a try.* Boy, have I been missing out*. Done several cooks with Royal Oak *All Natural Briquettes* and there is no comparison. The RO lights faster in my chimney. Burns hotter and last longer. The RO all natural briquettes appears to be an upgrade over the Kingsford Blue Bag but I am convinced the Standard orange bag RO will outshine the Kingsford Blue bag as well.  Give it a try. Do your own test like I did. You will change brands like I have.


----------



## yankee2bbq

So, there is two types of royal oak? Royal oak ‘all natural’ and royal oak regular red bag? What is the difference? The briquette shape/size? 
Curious if Ray has any thoughts or opinions on this.


----------



## noboundaries

It's been a few months, but it appears the All Natural isn't available in my neck of the woods. It comes up on Walmart websites back east, but not here on the West Coast.


----------



## gmc2003

noboundaries said:


> It's been a few months, but it appears the All Natural isn't available in my neck of the woods. It comes up on Walmart websites back east, but not here on the West Coast.



All natural in California. Isn't that an oxymoron?  Sorry Ray it's an east coast joke and I couldn't resist. 

Chris


----------



## noboundaries

Out here we have Au Naturale,  but it has nothing to do charcoal. 

I suspect there is probably some legal labling "All Natural" must meet or exceed before it can be put on a briquette package.


----------



## browneyesvictim

^^^ That's funny right there! ...and so true.

At first glance I assumed that meant LUMP charcoal, but that is in fact a briquette. What was the price of that compared to lump?


----------



## hawtsauc3

I realize this is a VERY old thread that won't die but I have to say this helped me a ton with finding Embers last fall which i used in my first smoke. I was shocked i still had so much fuel left at the end of the smoke. When I used kingsford in the past it never lasted. I'm never going back.


----------



## noboundaries

hawtsauc3 said:


> I'm never going back.



Yep, a lot of us feel the same way. Glad the thread helped!

BTW, for those who need to stock up for the year, watch for sales the week before Memorial Day Weekend. There are a few sales going on now, then the price drops even more the week before Memorial Day thru that weekend. Calculate the price per pound (total price/total poundage). You want something in the 25-26 cents a pound range or cheaper. For example, Home Depot will have there Embers on sale. $9.88/40 lbs is $.247/lb, or just under 25 cents a pound.


----------



## Jonok

I don’t produce a huge amount, but the current smoke generator in my MES leaves behind big chunks of absolutely perfect lump charcoal (generally apple or pear).   5 or 6 cooks will leave me with a half a 5 gallon bucket full, which is immediately co-opted by my 12 y/o son (the master of the Weber)...


----------



## archer75

Review on some charcoals.  Royal oak ridges win!
https://thewirecutter.com/reviews/b...rce=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=RSS Feed


----------



## worldbfreebase

great thread.

not sure how the whole point thing works so i am just going to use the who's line is it anyway method.

1000 points for noboundaries and 50 for the rest.

so, i bought a couple bags of Kroger charcoal. Did a brisket in my MB 1050, and i noticed a difference between it and kingsford. 

i have a source that tells me it used to be made by hickory specialties which i believe is part of cowboy, that is now duraflame.

anybody know if this is accurate?


----------



## yankee2bbq

Did the Kroger bag of charcoal briquettes look like this:





If so, I want to say it is made by Royal Oak. The “Ridge” feature is only Royal Oak. And made in the USA is also a Royal Oak feature.


----------



## noboundaries

We don't have Kroger in my area, but that "Ridge" logo is Royal Oak's. Check the bottom on the back side of the bag and see if it says, "Royal Oak Enterprises. Made in USA." Whether one or both exist, it's Royal Oak. They supply A LOT of store brands. The only thing that changes is the bag. If the briquettes are not evenly stamped to weight one ounce each, it is the "seconds" fill of imperfect briqs. Not a problem. They perform just as well.


----------



## worldbfreebase




----------



## worldbfreebase




----------



## 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

worldbfreebase said:


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


 I don’t know the answer.


world free base said:


> 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

noboundaries said:


> 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:
> 
> 
> Test Kingsford first, complete test, then repeat test with Royal Oak Ridge.
> 
> Remove cooking grate from Weber Kettle, put clean pizza pan on charcoal grate, then replace cooking grate.
> 
> 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.
> 
> Wait 15 minutes, then take picture of inside of chimney.Use infrared thermometer to find hottest spot in chimney.Record results.
> 
> 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.
> 
> Measure volume of ash.
> 
> Start of test: 7 AM PDT. 60F.Light wind.Shade.
> 
> 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

Fueling Around said:


> 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

noboundaries said:


> 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

Fueling Around said:


> 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.









						Let us know you're not a robot - Sam's Club
					






					www.samsclub.com


----------



## Fueling Around

Mr. Zorg said:


> 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

Fueling Around said:


> 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.









						Let us know you're not a robot - Sam's Club
					






					www.samsclub.com


----------

