As soon as grilling season begins, discussions often arise about charcoal briquettes. Surely you’re already aware of the advantages of charcoal briquettes—they burn longer than charcoal, which is beneficial for slow, indirect grilling. However, not all charcoal briquette brands have the same properties. What about sparks? These can be quite dangerous! Do all charcoal briquettes burn for the same duration? Certainly not exactly the same duration! What about grill temperature? Since grill briquettes have lower temperatures than traditional charcoal, this plays a crucial role, and a bit more heat is certainly not a disadvantage for you! What factors help you make the purchase decision? We’ve summarized some important information for you regarding quality features. Also helpful is a charcoal briquettes comparison.
Are there differences in the quality of charcoal briquettes?
The raw material of charcoal briquettes is charcoal dust. Since significant differences in quality already exist with normal charcoal, it’s clear that charcoal briquettes also inherit these differences. Many factors play a role in charcoal production, such as whether soft or hardwoods were used for carbonization. Foreign substances should have been removed as much as possible during production and not added later to stretch weight and volume, for example. This can lead to quite different results in charcoal dust. During briquetting, the purity of the raw material should remain unchanged, although some manufacturers like to add lignite dust. It is important to pay attention to the content or composition information. Lignite has lower calorific values and also 16 times more sulfur than normal charcoal. This difference can be noticed in a charcoal briquettes comparison.
How does good quality show up in a charcoal briquettes comparison?
One quality feature is the carbon content. This is determined, for example, by the wood used (for example, beech wood provides a high carbon content), but also by the carbonization process. The briquetting process, on the other hand, is almost always the same and has little effect on quality, provided no unfavorable substances are added later. When choosing charcoal briquettes for your grill, you expect good temperature development (175-275°C), good ignitability, and a long burning time (up to about 4 hours)—all together, of course, for a good to reasonable price-performance ratio. But quality can also be reflected in other factors, which most grillers only notice when they are not present. For example, too many foreign substances in the charcoal briquettes can lead to strong and unwanted smoke development. Equally annoying is excessive sparking when the wind picks up. Another sign of lower carbon content is excessive ash remaining after grilling. It’s not possible to predict how the fuel will behave on the grill by just looking at a bag of charcoal briquettes beforehand. It’s important to pay close attention to everything listed on the packaging. If lignite or admixtures thereof are mentioned, the charcoal briquettes may be cheaper but often fail to meet the requirements placed on them, either partially or not at all. Ignition speed is also important. You probably find it important to know how long it actually takes before you can put the grill on the grate. Charcoal briquettes do not show much difference in time here. In general, you can expect half to three-quarters of an hour. See also a charcoal briquettes comparison.
Are there alternatives?
Good quality is also possible without wood. For example, there are charcoal briquettes made from activated charcoal, which is characterized by a very high carbon content. Volatile components (carbon or hydrocarbon compounds) are driven out through a special process at 1200°C, leaving only the carbon behind. Charcoal briquettes made from such a highly pure carbon concentrate produce no smoke and provide high temperatures and long burning times due to their high energy density—ideal conditions for use on the grill.
Is it worth buying charcoal briquettes made from coconut shells?
If you are looking for charcoal briquettes that have a very high heat development, charcoal briquettes made from coconut shells could be a good choice for you. Compared to other products, they can offer up to a third more in temperatures. For grill food that needs to stay on the grill for a long time at higher temperatures, this is not a bad choice. These charcoal briquettes made from coconut shells also impress with their enormous burning time. The embers last at least twice as long as with other charcoal. It is practical to be able to extinguish and reuse these briquettes. Also, look at the results in a charcoal briquettes comparison.
Many grillers place high demands on the environment when it comes to what they put on the grill. Recycling, in particular, plays a big role, and the use of tropical woods is strictly rejected. From an ecological point of view, for example, egg-shaped charcoal briquettes are a good choice. They are available in different shapes, quantities, and price ranges.
For you as a buyer, it is important to get safety through standards and DIN norms to ensure that these briquettes have not come into contact with insecticides, toxins in fertilizers, or chemical fertilizers. This is the only way to be sure of avoiding toxic fumes when igniting and grilling. It is optimal here to have the option to extinguish. Once you’ve finished grilling and the embers would actually last a long time for grilling, with charcoal briquettes made from coconut shells, you have the option to extinguish them and ignite them again when needed. This applies, by the way, generally to charcoal briquettes. This results in minimal residual ash, which is of course considered environmentally friendly.
Important factors for the purchase decision
Which charcoal briquettes are ideal for you depends on many factors. Certainly, price often plays a big role in deciding what ultimately ends up on the grill grate. However, it must not be forgotten that cheap does not automatically mean better, just as expensive briquettes do not always have to be the absolute best. Products from well-known manufacturers are almost always more expensive than a no-name product. Here, the well-known name and good reputation are often also paid for. A good guide is always a charcoal briquettes comparison. Here, several articles are compared in the same way, tested, and reviewed. You can also see at a glance which charcoal briquettes burn longer, which temperatures they reach, and in which price segment they are located. Customer reviews on the internet are informative for you. Users let you share their experiences with different types. Ideal here are so-called bestseller lists. You can find out how good or bad individual brands are from other grillers. You quickly recognize a pattern in the reviews. If there are almost only negative reviews for a particular type of charcoal briquettes, you should seriously consider whether a purchase is even an option. In grill forums, the choice of which charcoal briquettes are good is often a very thoroughly discussed topic.
Where to buy charcoal briquettes?
Charcoal briquettes can be purchased online, as well as in supermarkets, gas stations, and hardware stores. We have summarized all relevant information for you. This will certainly make it easier for you to decide where to buy.
Ordering charcoal briquettes online
Buying charcoal briquettes online is not associated with any major hassle. Thanks to a charcoal briquette comparison and reviews, the choice is not difficult. Basically, all you have to do now is compare the selected charcoal briquettes in terms of price. However, be careful how the delivery costs affect your decision. Always include these. Charcoal briquettes purchased online will be delivered to your doorstep. This saves you travel costs, time, and sometimes parking fees. Plus, you don’t have to carry as much. Another advantage is that there will be no dirt in the car from the charcoal briquettes. Charcoal briquettes are also easily available in winter. This is certainly interesting if you are a fan of winter grilling. However, the disadvantage is that with online shopping, spontaneous grilling is not possible because you have to wait for the goods to be delivered. You also need to be at home for delivery, or at least have someone available to receive the goods. Pay attention to offers where there are price gradations. Sometimes the price decreases with a higher quantity purchase. A charcoal briquettes comparison also shows how good the quality of online offers is.
Buying directly in-store
A price comparison is not quite as easy when bought directly in-store. Most retailers do not have as extensive a range as the internet. It would be too time-consuming and costly to go from store to store. However, the advantage is that you can take the charcoal briquettes with you immediately. Charcoal briquettes can be found, for example, in supermarkets, hardware stores, garden centers, and gas stations. However, there is hardly any selection at gas stations.
Environmentally friendly
Since charcoal briquettes consist of the raw material wood, it is also clear that trees must be felled for production, unless wood waste or coconut shells are used. It is of course not indifferent to the environment whether this wood comes from sustainable cultivation or whether clearances of endangered tropical woods have been carried out for this purpose. Test seals provide information on this, for example, the FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) seal or the PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification Schemes) seal. They are intended to demonstrate that wood from sustainable cultivation was used.