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Buying Charcoal In Bulk


jparrott

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Also, what would be a suitable container for outside storage of this amount of charcoal?

You don't want it to get wet, so for briquets or loose lump charcoal I would suggest several watertight trash cans rather than a single large bin. If you end up with a large number of 20 pound bags, you might consider a small shed that you construct--they come in various sizes. You could probably throw a few other things in there, too, like your leafblower, the jug of windshield washer fluid, the 1/2 full paint cans that you can't bear to throw away...

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Yeah, you guys are answering the easy question :P .
This may seem out of left field but I think not. Buzz and Ned's, in Richmond, the epitome of barbecue, uses only fresh hickory wood, no charcoal.

This was a revelation to me -- green wood gives off smoke, which is a Good Thing.

Never tried it. Just recall that after the last hurricane that blew through here a few years ago (Isabel?), fresh hickory was going for a song.

Just a thought.

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Yeah, I understand the wood-only crowd, but I don't only smoke, and charcoal (lump particularly, but also briquets) produces a hotter flame for high-heat grilling.
Agreed on the charcoal for heat. I've often wondered about the whole lump vs briquet debate. Lump supposedly burns hotter and quicker than briquets but Cook's Illustrated somewhat debunked that notion.

Anyhow - to get back to the original question, I'd be interested but only in natural lump charcoal. It's gotta be cheaper than the insane prices Whole Paycheque charges.

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Has anyone attempted to buy charcoal in bulk? I'm tired of buying 20lbs (or 10lbs of lump) at a time and am willing to buy 250-500lbs at a time.
Perhaps you could import it from South Africa. Click. :P

On a semi-related, but totally unhelpful, note -- Roberto Donna was telling us at the DR.com Bebo dinner that someone has been stealing the wood he bought for his pizza oven (which is still awaiting permit approval). Whoever is taking the wood is very sly... a little bit from one end of the pile, a little bit from the other end, a little bit from the middle, but it is definitely disappearing.

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Maybe they can suffocate him with the plastic wrap off of the bowls of soup.
I googled using the following search terms

hardwood lump charcoal (wholesale OR bulk)

and came up with some interesting sites, such as this one. Humphrey Charcoal in Pennsylvania.

Apparently you can buy an entire pallet from them but would probably want to pick it up yourself.

And here is a link to reviews of different lump charcoals. The Naked Whiz's Lump Charcoal Database

I continue to be amazed by what you can find on the internets!

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Perhaps you could import it from South Africa. Click. :P

On a semi-related, but totally unhelpful, note -- Roberto Donna was telling us at the DR.com Bebo dinner that someone has been stealing the wood he bought for his pizza oven (which is still awaiting permit approval). Whoever is taking the wood is very sly... a little bit from one end of the pile, a little bit from the other end, a little bit from the middle, but it is definitely disappearing.

Similar thing happened in the early days of Rustico...now the wood's kept in a locked shed. Really people, there has to be a better way to make a fire!
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Has anyone attempted to buy charcoal in bulk? I'm tired of buying 20lbs (or 10lbs of lump) at a time and am willing to buy 250-500lbs at a time.

Also, what would be a suitable container for outside storage of this amount of charcoal?

I'm not certain that you would be pleased with the results from a bulk purchase like that unless you have absolute confidence in the supplier. You can try contacting Balducci's and Safeway to see if they carry Lazzari hardwood and/or mesquite lump in 40/lb bags. A few of those should hold you for a while.
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