A very common question that we get asked here at Riverside is “Do I need Lumpwood charcoal or briquettes?”. This is dependent on what you are intending to cook and the method of cooking that you wish to use.

Lumpwood is made by stacking wood logs in pits and covering them with sheet metal and dirt. The wood logs are then lit at one end of the log pile and the wood will smolder for a few days. Weber use hornbeam, birch, and oak wood logs for their Lumpwood but quite often, bags of charcoal will hold a mix of hardwoods including hickory and maple.

Whilst the logs are smoldering, the fire burns off water, sap, and other volatile substances. Once this process has been completed, you will be left with pure carbon which is also known as lump charcoal.

Lump charcoal will ignite in around 10-15 minutes and will burn for around 1.5 hours at around 180 degrees Celsius. As Lumpwood charcoal gets very hot, very quickly, it is ideal for searing food and achieving a tasty smokey aroma.

Lumpwood charcoal would not be suitable for long cooks. The reason for this is because Lumpwood loses heat relatively quickly. In many cases, the temperature will drop from a high heat to medium heat in less than 30 minutes.

If you wish to maintain a specific temperature, you may have to replenish your Lumpwood. When popping unlit charcoal Lumpwood onto the lit charcoal, this should create a burst of heat within 5-10 minutes.

On the other hand, briquettes look like little pillows. They are ready to use in around 20 minutes, so slightly longer than Lumpwood, but they will burn for approximately 3 hours. Briquettes will be ideal for roasting and for longer cooks. They will have a more consistent temperature and will have less of a smokey woody aroma.

The size and shape of briquettes will play to your advantage, you are able to create a smooth bed of fuel whereas Lumpwood charcoal is irregular in shape and size and so there may be ‘holes’ in the fire.

There is no right or wrong answer when choosing which fuel, you would like to use, it does boil down to preference.

Please Note: Never use charcoal which is saturated with lighter fluid. Lighter fluid will leave a horrible chemical taste in your food. Using this fuel may also pose a risk in causing injury or a fire.