How to run your kamado on briquettes

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Oh it’s possible!

Lots of people will tell you briquettes in a kamado are a no-no. I’m here to tell you that they’re perfectly fine in many situations. My favorite part of briquettes is the cost. Especially when you catch them on sale. Nothing satisfies me like cooking on the cheap. There are only 2 things that you need to be aware of- ash management and peak temperature.

Briquettes make a ton of ash. I mean that. So so so much ash. They make so much ash that airflow becomes a concern. As you may be able to see in the picture above, I use a charcoal basket. If I had the stock fire grate, the ash would clog the holes quickly and briquettes would be more headache that help. Thankfully, my basket allows all the little bits of ash and half-burnt briquettes to drop out of the way. Even with the basket keeping things clear at the charcoal level, the area below quickly fills up. On lump charcoal, I don’t need to clear ashes very often. It’s infrequently enough that I can’t actually say how often I do it. Briquettes keep my honest. I have to clear every time- no exceptions.

Briquettes get hot, but not as hot as lump charcoal. Because of this, your kamado may not get quite as hot with briquettes as it would with lump. Normal smoking and grilling temps from 225F to 450F-ish are very doable. High heat sears and pizza cooks are where briquettes may hold you back. I personally have not gotten my Kamado Joe much above 500F on briquettes. They will get screaming hot with the lid open. But once that lid closes, the smoke starts rolling hard and the coals slow themselves down. If you are hoping for 600F+ temps for steaks and pizza, this may be one of the few times that I will say that lump is the best/only option.

The actual process

The fastest and most reliable way to light briquettes is with a charcoal chimney. Hopefully you have one of these already. If not, it’s a good investment even for lump users.

• Top off your chimney like usual.
• Light with a lighter cube/tumbleweed/newspaper/cotton balls/whatever else people use.
• Wait for the smoke to almost stop and flames to be coming out of the top of the chimney. This indicates a good hot fire that is burning off most of the combustion byproducts.
• Empty into your kamado.
• Set your vents roughly where you want your temp to be.
• Close the lid and wait for the temp to come up.
• Adjust as needed.

Once you are up to temp, time to grill like usual. Enjoy that fuel savings!

About Post Author

Ross

Ross@havekidswillparent.com

http://havekidswillparent.com

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