ottawa foodies

So I accidentally bought a bag of briquettes, but good ones (Maple Leaf). They seem to perform about the same as lump although I've noticed I just dont' seem to have the same airlfow through the egg when dealing with coals that have already been used. So the dust or something from it seems to be clogging up the works and requiring a much more vigorous stir of it all.

Anyone else noticed that?

Yup, my theory is that the hardwood burns hotter and therefore puts out less ash. The briquettes burn a bit cooler (but longer) and leave more ash because of this and the added binders.

Least that is what I suspect...

One way to get rid of them is to mix a few briquettes on the bottom of a chimney starter then put the lump on top. By the time the lump is good and ready the stuff on the bottom layer is usually pretty much gone anyway. Give it a few really good bangs to shake all the ash off (like you probably already do) then dump away. Saves a bit of lump that is wasted in lighting and doesn't waste the briquettes.

guess how I figured this out? ... same thing bought the wrong bag :)