WEBER BRIQUETTES

Weber has launched a new charcoal briquette. According to Weber; “In stores now, the new 20-lb. bags of Weber Briquettes are made from 100 percent, all natural hardwood that does not include any unwanted chemical binders or fillers, produce less ash, and provide a long, consistent heat requiring less need to refuel during grilling—and more time to watch the game.” As some of you may know I am a fan of all things Weber. It is time to take a bag of Weber Charcoal Briquettes on a test ride.

Resealable Bag

It was easy to find this new charcoal at our local box chain hardware store. They come in shiny, re-sealable, and “weather protected” plastic bag. The price without tax was 19.99/20 pounds. Once we got home we weighed out 12 briquettes and did our un-controlled burn experiment. The first thing we noticed was these briquettes are larger and not notched like their competitors. Twelve charcoals weighed out to one pound. (Blue bag Original Kingsford weight was eight ounces.) Our Weber charcoals would be lit and compared to 1 pound of Kingsford Originals briquettes.

Weber (left)        Kingsford (right)

It was a damp and windy day to perform our burn experiment. Both brands of charcoals ignited at the same rate. We let the briquettes burn for one and one half hour and took a look. The Weber briquettes still had a little heft and were cranking out some noticeable heat. The Kingsfords were still smoldering but pretty spent. The Weber briquettes with their larger heft and girth and hardwood materials seemed superior in this particular test. It was time for a real test of cooking. We cooked a couple of meals of a brisket point and a cowboy steak.

The brisket point was cooked Super Bowl Sunday. I cooked it on a 14.5 inch Smokey Mountain Cooker.  I had to replenish the fuel half-way through our cook but that was normal for this cooker. We were happy with the performance and consistent heat from the charcoal. The cowboy steak was cooked over a smoking hot cast iron grate. The heat was great and lasted more than enough time to thoroughly cook our steak. The Weber Briquettes passed with flying colors in the cooking tests.

We are very pleased with the performance and longevity of Weber charcoal briquettes. It passed our un-controlled experiment with flying colors. They performed stellar in both of our cooks. We can vouch and would recommend this product. I do have to return to the price of this product. At 20 dollars for 20 pounds the per ounce price would be .062 /oz. (Original Kingsford .051/oz). This makes this product a higher priced option in the briquette market. We go through a very lot of charcoal in a season. This may and most likely will affect our purchasing decisions.