Jealous Devil Maxxx Briquettes

[pmillen]

This isn't a complete product review...yet.  I haven't burned any of these but I will soon and will add to this thread.  Hopefully other users will also add their thoughts.

 

I'm sometimes annoyed at lump charcoal because of either the–

• small shards that pack too tight or fall unburned into my Masterbuilt 1050's ash bin
• huge chunks that sometimes reduce the heat produced

Briquettes don't usually work out for me because they–

• make more ash than I want
• usually can't be relit after snuffing

Jealous Devil introduced a line of extra large briquettes.  Their web site describes them as, "The same incredibly dense hardwood we use to make our lump charcoal – plus a pinch of plant-derived starch (that is it – Yes, really)."  They go in to say that the briquettes have, "Extremely low ash production."

 

They're certainly larger than Kingsford Originals, and much thicker.  I didn't weigh them.

 

My first use will be in my Masterbuilt 1050.  I'll report back on that.

[John Setzler]

I am curious to see the results.  

 

[prowe]

Me too. Dont keep us waiting.

[John Setzler]

I have used some other brands of all natural briquette charcoals in the past but can't tell much difference in ash production.  The reality of that matter, to me, is that if I'm using briquettes I'm not particularly worried about ash.  The masterbuilt gravity series has an ash pan big enough to deal with the ash from a full chute of Kingsford with room to spare.  This Jealous Devil briquette costs about 3x the price of Kingsford per pound and 4x the cost when Kingsford is on sale.  It would have to be doing something extremely well to get me to spend that much on it.  

 

I DO like using briquettes for certain applications on certain grills though so I keep some of it on hand here all the time.

 

[pmillen]

3 hours ago, John Setzler said:

The masterbuilt gravity series has an ash pan big enough to deal with the ash from a full chute of Kingsford with room to spare.

 

Yes, it'll collect a lot of ash, but I put smoke wood chunks in it.  Deep ash tends to impede the smoke wood chunk burning.

[Chasdev]

I use KIngsford pro comp briquettes and they most certainly do relight.

[K_sqrd]

I  use regular Kingsford and have no problem relighting used briquettes.

[pmillen]

2 hours ago, Chasdev said:

I use KIngsford pro comp briquettes and they most certainly do relight.

 

1 hour ago, K_sqrd said:

I  use regular Kingsford and have no problem relighting used briquettes.

 

My problem has been that after they've burned for a while there isn't much charcoal left to ignite, only the nonflammable filler/binder.  That's why briquettes make more ash.  I'm not doing something right.

[John Setzler]

3 minutes ago, pmillen said:

 

 

My problem has been that after they've burned for a while there isn't much charcoal left to ignite, only the nonflammable filler/binder.  That's why briquettes make more ash.  I'm not doing something right.

 

I think you are doing fine.  briquettes will re light but in my humble opinion, it's not worth it.  they are all partially burned and they just won't last very long compared to new briquettes.  At the sale price of about 25 cents a pound 3 times a year with kingsford, it's just simple to use new briquettes all the time.

 

[pmillen]

How about this for part of this analysis?–

• I count out 20 briquettes of each and weigh them to ascertain the size difference
• I weigh out the same amount of Kingsford Original and Jealous Devil Maxxx briquettes, maybe a half pound of each
• I burn them in a chimney,  capture and weigh the ash

Thoughts? Suggestions?

[Chasdev]

I suggest you abandon KIngford original as they are pretty low grade.

Everyone knows this so try one of their better offerings like hardwood or pro comp and see who wins.

The hardwood and comp are compressed more, burn longer, burn hotter and produce way less ash.

And they produce great heat the second or third time you use them.

I have a 5 gal metal trash can to store used briquettes, I cull the ones that are down to 1/3 original size and add a few new ones to them when starting another cook and find they work just fine.

Another plus is much less smoke produced using recycled charcoal.

[John Setzler]

13 hours ago, pmillen said:

How about this for part of this analysis?–

• I count out 20 briquettes of each and weigh them to ascertain the size difference
• I weigh out the same amount of Kingsford Original and Jealous Devil Maxxx briquettes, maybe a half pound of each
• I burn them in a chimney,  capture and weigh the ash

Thoughts? Suggestions?

 

Perfect.

 

[pmillen]

4 hours ago, Chasdev said:

I suggest you abandon KIngford original as they are pretty low grade.

Everyone knows this so try one of their better offerings like hardwood or pro comp and see who wins.

 

Good idea.  The only Kingsford I have on hand is Original (bought for this comparison).  I'll probably end up doing the Original burn this weekend and adding the Hardwood or Pro Comp later.

 

I chose Kingsford Original for testing because the original Masterbuilt introductory video showed them loading the 560 hopper with it and my focus is performance in my 1050.  But there are better briquette choices, per your suggestion.

Edited August 8, 2020 by pmillen
Spelling

[pmillen]

25 Jealous Devil Maxxx briquettes weigh 2 lbs. 12.30 oz. (44.30 oz.).  That’s 1.77 oz. per briquette.

 

50 Kingsford Original briquettes weigh 2 lbs. 8.20 oz. (40.20 oz).  That’s 0.80 oz. per briquette.

 

The Jealous Devil Maxxx briquettes are 119% heavier than the Kingsford Original briquettes.  

 

40.2 oz. of Kingsford Original briquettes burned and left 8.1 oz. of ash (20%).

44.3 oz. of Jealous Devil Maxxx briquettes burned and left 6.0 oz. of ash (14%).

 

There’s not much difference by weight.  I should have measured the ash volume, but that didn’t occur to me until I wrote this post.  I think that the ash is very light, and that a 2 oz. difference may be a significant volume.