Just wrapped up another Butt session and used the extruded for the first time. What a difference it makes! I literally set the the temp and forgot about it until the next day. The K held rock steady at 230 for the entire 20 hours. Previously, I usually had to shake the coals up a bit mid cook to ensure a steady temp. Now with the extruded, no need to worry. Don't buy anything else

I think the warning about pinewood applies to lump, or whole wood, not to fire starters (unless you're in a real
hurry). By the time the fire is going enough to cook, the fire starter should've turned to ash. There shouldn't be
any more smoke from it left.

The same applies to an oil-based firestarter. This is another reason why I wait a while before cooking. I don't
want any other fumes on the food. I can tell when the firestarter is gone, because the smoke looks different.
I think this also applies to mesquite, where the oily soot usually happens during the first hour (I think. It's
been ages since I last used mesquite). Or, heaven forbid, charcoal briquettes. If someone is going to use them,
out of complete BBQ ignorance, I ask them to make certain the coals have burned for quite a while (nearly turned
to ash). I don't like eating food that has ammonia and other toxic chemicals on it.

Sorry for the rant, but I really think oil-sludge briquettes ought to be made illegal.

Bill, Just so you know how efficient the K is, last weekend I used 33 lbs of extruded coconut for a 20 hr, 215 degree cook on my 42 inch steel offset smoker. Twice as much lump as your cook on a #7. Can't wait for my #5 to arrive, it will pay for itself in saved charcoal. To put things in perspective the same 20 hr cook on my smoker with regular lump would have taken close to fifty pounds. Love the extruded coconut.

Jerry

Wow. What a difference the type of lump makes! I did a low and slow yesterday to this morning. I decided to use local lump to save our few boxes of extruded. I bought Whole Foods lump - something I used to use a lot before I found better stuff. The bag was 8.8 lbs and volume-wise it was more than twice the size of the 16.5 lb Kamado box (making it roughly four times less dense than the Kamado extruded). I loaded up the nine yesterday at lunch time, set the guru to 210º and came back to work. (By loaded I mean half of a bag - filled the LS+ and all around the outside of the LS - just to the top of the LS.)

By 9:00 pm the temp had begun to drop so I checked it and sure enough it was almost all burned. I had to load it again at around 2am! Sheesh. A bag and a half (still only 12 lbs) of Whole Foods lump barely lasted 20 hours! One load (not a whole box either) of Kamado extruded will go for 30 hours.

Richard you have completely spoiled me!

I used the extruded lump for the first time to broil steaks at 600 degrees. The next day did a 12 lbs brisket in 18 hrs, used about 30 pcs of extruded charcoal and kept temp. at 200 degrees.
Two days later, did a 20 hrs cook on 18 lbs of pork-but.
All the fires were successfully started with an electric fire-starter, taking approx. 15 minutes.This charcoal is the best by far. Because of the reduction in burned ashes, clogging the holes in the grate is no longer a problem and I am able to have longer cooks with great temp. control. Dutch.

I used the new coconut lump for the first time yesterday. Great stuff. It does burn very hot and I had to adjust for that. Seems to last very well too. I can see supply and demand problems in the future. This stuff will be popular...Richard, did I understand that this is being made in Mindinao. Perhaps we could get another operation set in Cebu, my inlaws are always looking for new business adventures.

Daverow, I will be leaving for PI VERY soon. Our boxes are made in Cebu and I also have friends their. It would be nice to meet your inlaws. Please email me for further interest and/or directions.

After several cooks now with the extruded lump I like how it does. I've experienced no problems lighting it with a chimney, with or without a few pieces of regular lump in the bottom. It is long lasting with virtually no ash, and temperatures seem to be more stable. In other words GOOD STUFF.
Thanks to David & Kim for organizing our shipment and distribution. I enjoyed meeting you all.

I think that the idea is that you cook successive meats on a single load. A bunch of butts for 12 hours, followed by briskets for 12 hours, fllowed by turkeys for 8 hours, followed by ribs for 5 hours, followed by chicken for 4 hours, etc. until the fuel is gone.

I could see that the #9 in Vegas, after 24 hours, was capable of doing it again, if needed, on that same load of extruded coconut charcoal. Amazing stuff!

Fired up the EXT lump for the first time tonight. Combined one layer of EXT in the lump saver and added a layer of burning regular lump to it. Grilled 350 to 450 for about an hour and a half (lamb and potatos).

Results: 1) Wonderful food 2) All lump was lit once combined. However, the reg lump was all but burned up while the EXT lump was going strong and looked as if it had hardly degraded.

My goal when grilling is to combine the two types of lump for easy lighting and longer/stronger burns. This was easily achieved tonight. I am very happy with the results.

Paul

PS Thanks for all those who split the EXT lump order in NC and a huge thank you to David and Kim for meeting all of us for delivery.

Paul, Your very welcome. It's great to get to meet you. Kim and I are looking forward to you helping us at a few cook-offs next year.

I have mixed regular lump and coconut extruded lump when I want to get the fire going hot and fast. I use a chimney and fill the bottom half with regular and the top half with extruded. This seems to work very well and faster then using Mapp Gas in the Kamado. The gas option is the fastest way to light our new extruded coconut and get the Kamado hot in a hurry.

Our new Coconut Extruded lump is very good and easy to cook with. It's the best charcoal that I have every used. One of the best features is that it is not messy - no dust - no broken pieces - no waste - very little ash - and like I said - no mess.

Kim and I have used just about every brand that there is as we have traveled around the country cooking on our Kamado's.

This stuff is amazing. It reminds me of fuel grains for high power rocket motors both in looks and difficulty to light. It's some mighty high total impulse, low average thrust food fuel! (For those who understand, I'd describe it as an M6000...in a 38mm case. Heck, probably a hybrid since there's little or no smoke.)


I've done three or four cooks with it and love it for low and slow. It'd probably be great for fast and quick if I had the gas option, but it just takes too long to get going when you have a hungry family waiting impatiently. I've been meaning to try it out, but circumstances haven't allowed it so I'm still using mexican mesquite for us or Kamado Lump for the important cooks.

First cook: #5 with 26 pieces loaded. Fired it with MAPP gas mainly on the center piece and slightly around the edges of it. Total burn time was about a minute. Ten or fifteen individual sparks emitted. Try this with a piece of Mexican mesquite and the wife will think you're taking the angle grinder to the Kamado! Loaded another layer of 26 on top. Checked temperature dip at 10 hours into the cook. One wall hadn't lit, so I touched the torch to it. Cooked food. Awesome pork and best brisket I've done yet. Let coals burn out.

Total burn time: @225° - 20 hours @310° ~ 6 hours.

Remaining fuel: three pieces at about 60% burned

Ashes: Amazingly clean. You could probably flour a few pieces of chicken in it, but you couldn't do a whole bird.


Showed a box of it to my local wood and charcoal source. He's thinking of carrying it (possibly the cookers, too)! (Pssst. Richard, did you get the email I sent?)


Combine the most efficient and gorgeous cookers in the world with the most efficient charcoal and you have one hell of a combination.

(Speaking of which, I really need to clean the Glass Chalk slogans off my XTerra.)

WOW! The STL order arrived and I did my first cook. Put five lump pieces in my #1 and lit the webber starter cubes. After things got rolling, I put a bit of regular k lump fines and small stuff in there to help with lighting the extruded lump. Worked wonderfully. Cooked chicken breasts - yummy. The lump held a 350-400 temp for over six hours. I let it burn out just to see. It was rainy and cold, so I'm sorry to say I wasn't exact about my measurements. Worked the #3 cooking a salmon filet with similar results. It's amazing stuff.

I used the new coconut lump for the first time yesterday. Great stuff. It does burn very hot and I had to adjust for that. Seems to last very well too. I can see supply and demand problems in the future. This stuff will be popular...Richard, did I understand that this is being made in Mindinao. Perhaps we could get another operation set in Cebu, my inlaws are always looking for new business adventures.

I received my pallet of the new Kamado Coconut lump and have done a few cooks with it, low & slow - high temp cooks.
This charcoal burns differently than any other that I have used.
On low & slow it maintained a more steady temperature and lasted much longer than other charcoals. On a 350* cook it held extremely steady. On a high temp cook I did not get a run-away temperature like I have on other charcoals.
If anyone is considering trying some, don't hesitate. It truly is better than what I've read posted about it.
Thanks Richard & Co. for a great product. I can't wait to try the Natural Coconut.

Welllllll.....I did my first brisket this weekend and ended up running the Kamado hotter than normal (around 225 to 250) and the 12Lbs brisket that I put on at 10pm was done at 4am.

I ended up pulling the brisket off the smoker around 2PM and placed it in foil, wrapped in towels in a cooler for the next 4 hours.

When I trimmed the brisket, there was a tough (think Jerkey) layer on the bottom that sliced off pretty easily.

Long story short, this was the best brisket and most tender one I have ever done (and I used to have a log burning pit).

A couple of things, I didn't open the lid (except at 4am to check) and the temperature remained very steady through out the entire cook.

I think that things do come off the Kamado quicker than on my old log burner, a lot of this, I think, is due to the constant temps as compared to the log burner, but I'm still in the learning curve, your mileage may vary.

As to how much charcoal, I used the Kamado extruded and used about 2/3rds of the 17LB box so around 11 ~ 12 lbs and yes there was some left over.

Regards.
Bruce.

Greg,

The K's live outside all year long here in IL. I have dusted the snow and ice off to grill. If you have Sam's stores in your area, I've found great deals on butts and other meats. I'm only cooking for 3 most of the time, so I don't buy bulk. I do have a food saver and love it. Be prepared, you'll find yourself buying all sorts of cool grill stuff.

I'm doing Adkins and losing weight. Love meat and K'd meat is the very best. Yum. It's more than worth the wait. If you haven't already, have the Kamado folks load that #7 up with lump, it doesn't change the shipping costs hardly at all. You'll absolutely love Kamado lump.

Greg,
I keep my #7 right outside the patio slider. I have, and recommend the Ceramic Cart so you can move the K easily around. I just purchased the LS+ and it seems to conserve lump use (any input K'ers), lower bracket a must. I buy my meat at Costco, unless Raley's has a good sale going on. The old grill = long forgotten, adios, goodby. Smoke, if the wind is blowing into the patio door, I do get smoke and roll the K away from the house a bit. What I notice the most about smoke is me, I smell like smoke all the time now - go figure. And, thanks to Atkins, my belt is getting bigger as I am getting smaller. Once you start cooking on the K you will wonder how you ever lived without it, steaks are moist-er, chicken has a taste that is amazing. Stock up on lump. Well enough rambling - October is another day closer!
Greg "gottamado"

Mike,
The three bags I returned "felt" the same as the two I had opened. Like a bag of small and fines. When I was finished with my return, I went back to the BBQ section and picked up a couple of other bags, they too felt like they were full of very small pieces. Maybe the pallet was the end of a charcoal batch? I dunno. The other problem I had with Real Flavor was temp control. It liked to burn considerably hotter than Klump. Where Klump would burn at 200 dome, RF would burn 275+. Sometimes I would get the temp set at 250 only to find it creeping up on me a couple of hours later. Turn the damper down, temp goes down for a while then starts climbing again. If I closed the damper even more to get 200, the fire was unstable. IE, it would burn for several hours, then just go out. Klump has never done this to me. I had this happen on two occasions and neither time were the firebox holes clogged. In fact, I was so worried about the fire going out, I burned Klump for my last brisket when we had family coming over. I couldn't take the chance the charcoal was going to let me down.

But, I'm glad it works for you. For whatever reason, it either doesn't like me, my K, or my backyard

John

Bonnie,
I stack the extruded on end, in a circle inside the LS+/flue, then fill in the center. It holds 12 lumps. I had two layers.

One thing that had to have helped was the outside temperature was in the 80's during the day. My Terra Cotta Red #5 was reading up to 118 at one time without a fire going.

Most of the time I wasn't cooking anything, and the temperature went down as low as 185 at one point, and I didn't care. This had to have an effect on the total time. I don't expect times like this when I'm cooking.

Today, when the first 24 lumps were almost gone, I added 12 more and opened the lid a few times and watched how the lump burnt. It is amazing how the bottom burns off, and the lump just shrinks down, kind of like a candle, but burning from the bottom with gravity keeping the burning surface on the LS+.
(More info than you asked for, but this extruded lump is new and fascinating to watch.)

BOB

Thanks for all the information. I agree that the extruded is great for low and slow as well as high temp cooks. We did pizzas again with extruded lump and held steady at high temps. Quite impressive. And, I like all the other qualities of the extruded, especially the value. As Bob stated, I, too, like the idea of storing one type of charcoal. However, I am curious about the coconut shell lump and will try it once it's available. Sometimes my curiosity gets the better of me. ;)

Got my new Cobalt #9 delivered on Wednesday. That evening I dumped a box of K lump in and fired it up. Got the temp balanced below 250 and went to bed. Checked Thursday morning and moved a little more of the lump to the middle. Was out of town on Thursday and checked it last night about midnight. It was down to about 150 with lots of charcoal left. I moved more to the middle and cracked the bottom ever so slightly. This morning the guy was humming along at 250 and happy. Still quite a bit of charcoal in bottom. I kind of moved it more to the middle and left. This guy probably will go 48 hours on 10 lbs of k lump, amazing!

Nuclear Fuel Rods...
THAT'S what the name for the extruded coc-lump should be!



When they are glowing I will place them around the lump saver in the holes & figure out if it is tri-tip, or BBR's for this afternoon...




Aiming for a 275-300 degree fire.. set 1/4 inch at bottom & 1-full turn on top.

Now I'm off to The Pork Shop to see what looks good today!

Maybe Tri-Tip AND BBR's !!

Pork Shop had some goodies! Nice Loin-On Baby Back Ribs (BBR's). Fresh, never frozen & NOT injected/brined/marinated. I also picked up some of my favorite breakfast meat: Apple-Pecan-Maple Syrup Sausage.

A little rub, some hickory chunks, and we're 290 degrees on the #7:
We'll pull the Apple-Pecan-Maple Syrup Sausage in an hour or so & have some over-easy eggs & biscuits with honey-butter. (Brunch) Tri-Tip & BBR's is Dinner.

Now that I have actually had a chance to try some of this elusive substance, I have to agree.

I loaded 24 pieces into the basket of my brother's #3 (12 fits nicely in one layer, I made 2 layers) and lit it with the gas burner. Yes, it does take longer to start than any regular lump charcoal. After 45 minutes, I turned off the gas, and replaced the burner with the regular draft door.

I adjusted the settings similar to what I'd set on my K3, and stuck in the Redi-Chek, high setting on 245 and low setting on 185 just for kicks. It took a long time, maybe 2+ hours to get up to 245, then I closed the vent "2 tiles " and came in and basically forgot about it, except for the Redi-Chek. Next time I checked, it was burning @ about 210 and holding steady. Went on about my life (well, I did cook ribs for several hours last night) and this thing has been burning for 226 hours without touching anything, except for putting in the ribs, flipping them once at the 2.5 hour mark, and checking them at the 4 hour mark. I rarely looked at the temperature except I did watch it hover around the 215 degree point while the ribs were on. I never heard either alarm except when I opened the lid to attend to the ribs, then the low temp alarm sounded, but quit soon after I closed the lid.

I'm impressed, and that's hard to do. I just checked, and there's still maybe the equivalent of 6 chunks of this lump left. All the time, between 185 and 245. I guess I need to use up the left over "Real Flavor" in the #5 and #1 and test the Kamado Extruded Coconut at high temperatures.

Only 1 complaint...by itself, the Kamado lump doesn't add any flavoring. I just might try baking a cake at the 2nd ANNUAL FLORIDA FEST next weekend and see if it's really tasteless.

BOB

Did the sausages for 45 mins along side the BBR's, then grilled them for a few minutes to get them some color. They came out a deep mahogany color (with the smoke & the sugar in the maple syrup). In the photo they look BLACK, but they aren't! (er.. weren't) mmmmmmmm

I can tell it will be a good day.... I even got a "double yolk" egg. I only buy Jumbo's & get a double a couple times a month.

Plans have changed! Guests aren't coming, so dinner is now just the BBR's for Caryn & me. Tri-tip goes in the freezer! Just now time to pull the BBR's, and wrap for a couple hrs. Here's where they stand now:

I had a problem with a 2 minute start on mine. Started, got it to about 240 for a few hours. Added butts, checked a few times over the next few hours. Went to bed (remote temp probe in the meat). Up around 2:00, meat at 158. Back to bed. Up at 5:00, meat at 150 -> uh-oh. The short start only lit one section of the Klump and it burned out. I hit it with the gas and got it started again. Since then, I start for 4 minutes with the gas. I haven't had a problem with overshoot yet, I just keep the draft door opening SMALL.

As for the Klump, after the butts finished I did spares and shut down. About 22 hours at 225-250. I've since cooked a pork tenderloin, BBQ chickens (with white sauce), and jerked chicken breasts. All with 1 box of the Klump and 3 hickory sticks about 2 1/2" square and 10" long. I can feel another butt cook coming on this weekend, so I'll need to open box number 2. My hickory pile's gonna last for years with the K.

Used the coconut extruded for the butts (26 hrs). Had enough left over for ribs (added some small pieces of Real Flavor lump to help get the coconut started. I had filled the wok with coconut and put some around the outside of the wok for the butt. The leftovers and the small pieces of lump went 6 hrs & there are still some pieces left in the wok. Pretty impressive. I think I'll use it for the low & slows. It's a little hard to get started, but using some other lump with a MAPP torch it was pretty easy this time. Haven't tried it with the chimney yet. All in all, the coconut extruded is pretty amazing stuff. The density of the material is like nothing of it's type I've seen before. I'm beginning to think that it's certainly worth the money (plus I really like the environmental angle of production). I do want to try some L&S with regular lump for a comparison.
Rod

Richard,

I just wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed using the extruded lump coconut charcoal that I received last week. I am currently using my Weber Smokey Mountain grill (smoker) and I was able to keep high temperatures in the smoker despite the outside air temperature of just 24 degrees F. Your extruded lump coconut charcoal allowed me to use less fuel than normal and I did not have any problems with pieces falling through the charcoal grate like I have had before when using Cowboy brand lump from the Lowe's store.

You can bet that I will return for more of the extruded coconut lump charcoal when I am down to my last few boxes of the pallet- load shipped to me via Con-Way. The discount from Con-Way is fantastic if you can just wait a few days for it to arrive, so thank you also for working out that deal for us, your customers.

I must also tell you that your daughters who worked with me on my very first order from your company are a delight; you have a wonderful family.

Here's wishing you and yours the very best for a happy and prosperous New Year! Keep up the great work. I just might have to break down and look into ordering one of the larger Kamado grills that you sell - they should work wonders in wintertime not to mention the rest of the year, too.

Tom

To start the extruded coconut lump charcoal I use the Weber charcoal chimney. I place a couple or three sheets of crumpled newspaper under the wire grate of the Weber chimney and then put some of the Cowboy lump pieces first followed by the Kamado Extruded Coconut Lump charcoal. I have found that the Cowboy lump lights very easily which in turn ignites the Kamado extruded coconut lump in a very short time. When I can feel the heat from the top of the chimney (you can also 'see' heat waves) it is time to put the now burning charcoal into the Weber Smokey Mountain grill's fire ring. From there it's just a matter of adding some smoking wood on top of the charcoal to begin our next fantastic meal.

I think I'm really going to love this new form of charcoal. Thank you, Richard!

Tom

Man, I do have to say that the Kamado Extruded Coco Lump ROCKS!!!! I put the meats on last night. When I went to bed, at about 10:30, it was sittin on 235. I went out at 6:00 am to check. She's at 210. Now somebody tell me where and with what you can get that to happen!? NOT with BGE Lump, I promise you!!!! (Nor the Maple Leaf stuff) and I do NOT have a BBQ guru, (obviously don't need it...)

In my opinion, the very first test must be the source of the charcoal to make absolutely sure that the charcoal we use or sell does not originate from or result in deforestation. While we are not a fanatic "green" family, my father did teach and in many cases show the results of utter disregard for conservation. We have flown our Bonanza over clear cut once beautiful mountains. We have sailed to fishing ports where drag gill nets were a mile long scooping up everything. Dad has shown us pictures of Central and South American jungle that are now are bare desert. Isn’t that a shame?

Richelle and I are now very much involved in our Kamado Charcoal and Grill business. We wish to inform all our dear customers that we will continue dad’s policy of never putting our Kamado name on a box of charcoal that we don’t know the source and are assured by our own investigation, our people’s inspection, or legitimate government approved factory.

It is nice to know that Kamado Extruded Coconut is, as BrianW says, is "charcoal that grows on trees" and not from trees. However, our Kamado Lump does come from trees. Kamado Lump comes from trees and factories that are licensed and strictly controlled by the government to harvest and carbonize. Recently it has been made a serious crime in Indonesia cut trees and/or sell unlicensed charcoal. You can easily understand why from Dad’s description of past clear cutting in his flights over Java Indonesia.

We appreciate Naked wiz’s report and the time to do so. I would encourage the he take a little more time in determining the source or a statement that the source of the charcoal is not known.

Laura Johnson

lead by example...

Kamado Co. does this with the K - a durable product that eliminates the need to dispose of a cheap grill every few years - saving landfill space, and is efficient - reducing the consumption of combustible fuel.
They have followed with Extruded Lump, which is 'green' - reducing deforestation, dense - reducing the need for shipping space and subsequently reducing consumption of shipping fuels, and burns clean - reducing ambient air pollution (sound funny? EPA tests have actually found meat particles a contributory factor to pollution in Houston!).

GO KAMADO!

I have not seen any ash from a couple of dozen overnight cooks with Kamado Extruded Coconut. Then again, I keep it low around 215-225 throughout.

I do have to say, I could not live without this stuff. Set up our #7 with about 2/3 to a full box and go to sleep. Wake up the next morning and just wait wait wait for that Q!

I spoke to Richelle on Wed. 1/14 to add a few boxes to my order. She said it should ship on Mon. 1/19.
I'll sure be glad to get some more...the 2 boxes I got with my # 7 last month got me spoiled. The BGE lump I've been using just ain't the same !

Steve

1/16" steel for the WSM, IIRC.

DavidM, How many sacks of Kingsford did that all WSM team near us at the Bay bring with them? :-)

Jason, They brought a lot of Kingsford with them – I thought that they brought it to sell until I talked with them. I do know that we use less Charcoal in each contest then another team that we cook against. Some teams will use over 200 lbs of Kingsford or some other cheap lump.

Some of the big steel guys have to also use almost a cord of wood logs that they reduce to hot coals and they will also use Kingsford to keep the heat up.

In fact I would say that some of them use more charcoal at one cook-off then we use over the entire season.

We use less then 1 1/2 boxes of coconut extruded lump to keep three Kamado's going for two days.

Also our Kamado's have a value. You can sell a used Kamado on eBay and get a good (almost full) price for it. How much do you think you can get for a used WSM or Smokey Joe or for that matter a used BGE? Not much if you can even get bids.

I tell potential single male buyers that they should create a pre-nup agreement stating that he will get the Kamado's – before they get married. Because you know that she will try to get the Kamado's also.

Oh boy. Rock Rock Rock. I cannot wait to try the CEL! I am with Camprs, I get more ash outta the BGE Lump than Lump. I didn't think it was possible to increase mass through combustion..what the heck do I know.

I only ordered three boxes based on how much I cooked on my previous cooker/smoker/grill. Well, after the BUtts I have done, the ribs, the turkey and the ham. And the other night, after about 50 hours, I took 'er up to 700 and seared a steak...my gawd that was good! And yeah, I tend to use it a lot more....learned about the steam too...

"If you have another combustion chamber of the exact size and burn conditions, try any other charcoal on the market……you will be amazed."

Richard,
I'm already amazed! The only "problem" I have with the Coco-extruded is that I didn't order enough when my #7 was shipped last month. I used Kingsford for one cook and that stuff was a mess. I think I had more ash than the amount of charcoal I started with (not to mention constantly having to clear the firebox holes)! Since then, I've been using BGE lump, obtained locally.It's ok but no comparison to the Coco-extruded.

Anyhow, I'm eagerly awaiting a call or e-mail from David M. To let me know his order has arrived so I can get back to using the "good stuff".

P.S. Did you get my e-mail of 1/9 ?

Sorry to take so long reporting back on this. The Goose was fantastic thanks to the K! It smoked for 14hrs @ ~200. Everyone who ate it thought it was the best they'd ever had and they had all eaten and prepared goose several times. I smoked it over the coconut extruded lump with some apple and cherry wood for flavor. We served it with an apple/prune dressing --you can find it here.

I can't speak highly enough about the coconut extruded lump. One load lasted the entire cook! If you follow this method, just be prepared for a lot of rendered fat. I ended up with about a quart from the 12lb bird.

Wow. What a difference the type of lump makes! I did a low and slow yesterday to this morning. I decided to use local lump to save our few boxes of extruded. I bought Whole Foods lump - something I used to use a lot before I found better stuff. The bag was 8.8 lbs and volume-wise it was more than twice the size of the 16.5 lb Kamado box (making it roughly four times less dense than the Kamado extruded). I loaded up the nine yesterday at lunch time, set the guru to 210º and came back to work. (By loaded I mean half of a bag - filled the LS+ and all around the outside of the LS - just to the top of the LS.)

By 9:00 pm the temp had begun to drop so I checked it and sure enough it was almost all burned. I had to load it again at around 2am! Sheesh. A bag and a half (still only 12 lbs) of Whole Foods lump barely lasted 20 hours! One load (not a whole box either) of Kamado extruded will go for 30 hours.

Richard you have completely spoiled me!

I used the extruded lump for the first time to broil steaks at 600 degrees. The next day did a 12 lbs brisket in 18 hrs, used about 30 pcs of extruded charcoal and kept temp. at 200 degrees.
Two days later, did a 20 hrs cook on 18 lbs of pork-but.
All the fires were successfully started with an electric fire-starter, taking approx. 15 minutes.This charcoal is the best by far. Because of the reduction in burned ashes, clogging the holes in the grate is no longer a problem and I am able to have longer cooks with great temp. control. Dutch.

I used the new coconut lump for the first time yesterday. Great stuff. It does burn very hot and I had to adjust for that. Seems to last very well too. I can see supply and demand problems in the future. This stuff will be popular...Richard, did I understand that this is being made in Mindinao. Perhaps we could get another operation set in Cebu, my inlaws are always looking for new business adventures.

Daverow, I will be leaving for PI VERY soon. Our boxes are made in Cebu and I also have friends their. It would be nice to meet your inlaws. Please email me for further interest and/or directions.

After several cooks now with the extruded lump I like how it does. I've experienced no problems lighting it with a chimney, with or without a few pieces of regular lump in the bottom. It is long lasting with virtually no ash, and temperatures seem to be more stable. In other words GOOD STUFF.
Thanks to David & Kim for organizing our shipment and distribution. I enjoyed meeting you all.

I think that the idea is that you cook successive meats on a single load. A bunch of butts for 12 hours, followed by briskets for 12 hours, fllowed by turkeys for 8 hours, followed by ribs for 5 hours, followed by chicken for 4 hours, etc. until the fuel is gone.

I could see that the #9 in Vegas, after 24 hours, was capable of doing it again, if needed, on that same load of extruded coconut charcoal. Amazing stuff!

Fired up the EXT lump for the first time tonight. Combined one layer of EXT in the lump saver and added a layer of burning regular lump to it. Grilled 350 to 450 for about an hour and a half (lamb and potatos).

Results: 1) Wonderful food 2) All lump was lit once combined. However, the reg lump was all but burned up while the EXT lump was going strong and looked as if it had hardly degraded.

My goal when grilling is to combine the two types of lump for easy lighting and longer/stronger burns. This was easily achieved tonight. I am very happy with the results.

Paul

PS Thanks for all those who split the EXT lump order in NC and a huge thank you to David and Kim for meeting all of us for delivery.

Paul, Your very welcome. It's great to get to meet you. Kim and I are looking forward to you helping us at a few cook-offs next year.

I have mixed regular lump and coconut extruded lump when I want to get the fire going hot and fast. I use a chimney and fill the bottom half with regular and the top half with extruded. This seems to work very well and faster then using Mapp Gas in the Kamado. The gas option is the fastest way to light our new extruded coconut and get the Kamado hot in a hurry.

Our new Coconut Extruded lump is very good and easy to cook with. It's the best charcoal that I have every used. One of the best features is that it is not messy - no dust - no broken pieces - no waste - very little ash - and like I said - no mess.

Kim and I have used just about every brand that there is as we have traveled around the country cooking on our Kamado's.

This stuff is amazing. It reminds me of fuel grains for high power rocket motors both in looks and difficulty to light. It's some mighty high total impulse, low average thrust food fuel! (For those who understand, I'd describe it as an M6000...in a 38mm case. Heck, probably a hybrid since there's little or no smoke.)


I've done three or four cooks with it and love it for low and slow. It'd probably be great for fast and quick if I had the gas option, but it just takes too long to get going when you have a hungry family waiting impatiently. I've been meaning to try it out, but circumstances haven't allowed it so I'm still using mexican mesquite for us or Kamado Lump for the important cooks.

First cook: #5 with 26 pieces loaded. Fired it with MAPP gas mainly on the center piece and slightly around the edges of it. Total burn time was about a minute. Ten or fifteen individual sparks emitted. Try this with a piece of Mexican mesquite and the wife will think you're taking the angle grinder to the Kamado! Loaded another layer of 26 on top. Checked temperature dip at 10 hours into the cook. One wall hadn't lit, so I touched the torch to it. Cooked food. Awesome pork and best brisket I've done yet. Let coals burn out.

Total burn time: @225° - 20 hours @310° ~ 6 hours.

Remaining fuel: three pieces at about 60% burned

Ashes: Amazingly clean. You could probably flour a few pieces of chicken in it, but you couldn't do a whole bird.


Showed a box of it to my local wood and charcoal source. He's thinking of carrying it (possibly the cookers, too)! (Pssst. Richard, did you get the email I sent?)


Combine the most efficient and gorgeous cookers in the world with the most efficient charcoal and you have one hell of a combination.

(Speaking of which, I really need to clean the Glass Chalk slogans off my XTerra.)

WOW! The STL order arrived and I did my first cook. Put five lump pieces in my #1 and lit the webber starter cubes. After things got rolling, I put a bit of regular k lump fines and small stuff in there to help with lighting the extruded lump. Worked wonderfully. Cooked chicken breasts - yummy. The lump held a 350-400 temp for over six hours. I let it burn out just to see. It was rainy and cold, so I'm sorry to say I wasn't exact about my measurements. Worked the #3 cooking a salmon filet with similar results. It's amazing stuff.

I used the new coconut lump for the first time yesterday. Great stuff. It does burn very hot and I had to adjust for that. Seems to last very well too. I can see supply and demand problems in the future. This stuff will be popular...Richard, did I understand that this is being made in Mindinao. Perhaps we could get another operation set in Cebu, my inlaws are always looking for new business adventures.

I received my pallet of the new Kamado Coconut lump and have done a few cooks with it, low & slow - high temp cooks.
This charcoal burns differently than any other that I have used.
On low & slow it maintained a more steady temperature and lasted much longer than other charcoals. On a 350* cook it held extremely steady. On a high temp cook I did not get a run-away temperature like I have on other charcoals.
If anyone is considering trying some, don't hesitate. It truly is better than what I've read posted about it.
Thanks Richard & Co. for a great product. I can't wait to try the Natural Coconut.

Welllllll.....I did my first brisket this weekend and ended up running the Kamado hotter than normal (around 225 to 250) and the 12Lbs brisket that I put on at 10pm was done at 4am.

I ended up pulling the brisket off the smoker around 2PM and placed it in foil, wrapped in towels in a cooler for the next 4 hours.

When I trimmed the brisket, there was a tough (think Jerkey) layer on the bottom that sliced off pretty easily.

Long story short, this was the best brisket and most tender one I have ever done (and I used to have a log burning pit).

A couple of things, I didn't open the lid (except at 4am to check) and the temperature remained very steady through out the entire cook.

I think that things do come off the Kamado quicker than on my old log burner, a lot of this, I think, is due to the constant temps as compared to the log burner, but I'm still in the learning curve, your mileage may vary.

As to how much charcoal, I used the Kamado extruded and used about 2/3rds of the 17LB box so around 11 ~ 12 lbs and yes there was some left over.

Regards.
Bruce.

Greg,

The K's live outside all year long here in IL. I have dusted the snow and ice off to grill. If you have Sam's stores in your area, I've found great deals on butts and other meats. I'm only cooking for 3 most of the time, so I don't buy bulk. I do have a food saver and love it. Be prepared, you'll find yourself buying all sorts of cool grill stuff.

I'm doing Adkins and losing weight. Love meat and K'd meat is the very best. Yum. It's more than worth the wait. If you haven't already, have the Kamado folks load that #7 up with lump, it doesn't change the shipping costs hardly at all. You'll absolutely love Kamado lump.

Greg,
I keep my #7 right outside the patio slider. I have, and recommend the Ceramic Cart so you can move the K easily around. I just purchased the LS+ and it seems to conserve lump use (any input K'ers), lower bracket a must. I buy my meat at Costco, unless Raley's has a good sale going on. The old grill = long forgotten, adios, goodby. Smoke, if the wind is blowing into the patio door, I do get smoke and roll the K away from the house a bit. What I notice the most about smoke is me, I smell like smoke all the time now - go figure. And, thanks to Atkins, my belt is getting bigger as I am getting smaller. Once you start cooking on the K you will wonder how you ever lived without it, steaks are moist-er, chicken has a taste that is amazing. Stock up on lump. Well enough rambling - October is another day closer!
Greg "gottamado"