I will cross post this to the others KJ, Grilling, BBQ and composting Reddits
I bought 3 bags of Cowboy last spring from Costco hoping for Costco’s good quality and a cheap price.
This stuff is mainly small junks, powder and rocks. It is unreliable for low and slow. It was a waste of money. I’ve put it in a trash/storage can to feed to the fire. I’m ready to throw it out.
Is there a good way to dispose of this stuff without filling up the land fill? Anyone in Cobb County want this stuff?
by OrangeBug74
36 Comments
Flower beds, Hydrangeas love charcoal a lot of my beds are part mulch part charcoal
Cook some pizzas? But it might not get hot enough eh?
Use it for searing, short cooks, and clean burns.
Return it.
Dump it in during your next bonfire ?
Use medium and big chunks to get a fire started, then add these for high heat searing once the coals are hot. Really rips up the temps.
I use stuff like this on my outdoor fire pit. Makes for a great base.
Use it for a burn to clean the grill.
use Costco’s very good return policy?
Fill empty bags to the store and complain, return for new lump. Rinse and repeat.
Low slow cooks dont need much airflow. I use cheap stuff like cowboay for this and you won’t know the difference. Burn it up
yeah, this stuff is garbage. I use it for clean burns.
I mix it in with the better coal for a quick chicken bbq
I’ve started using the small stuff in the firepit. Sometimes I’m just looking for the glow of the coals.
Great for steaks!!
Sieve dust off with a colander and use it to make snakes.
I also use this size in my little kebab cooker as mid fuel adds.
https://preview.redd.it/efmu63tyj0pf1.jpeg?width=1836&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6e7356cb61e81f5a556606db785b5b13553680f9
First I would stop buying cowboy. It’s recycled flooring and furniture. Lord knows what kind of actual wood is in it
Dump it that’s the easiest
Place in ziplock bags and donate it to Goodwill
Could just buy a bunch of charcoal that you prefer and just dilute it with what you have. No sense letting it go to waste
Grilling burgers, steaks, ect.
It’s only purpose in life is used to clean the kamodo grills
Compost it. Great for that
I returned mine back to Costco
Burn it while cooking steaks
Err use it for anything other than low and slow? There’s more to kamados than throwing a brisket on overnight. There’s no problem using shrapnel for cooking a steak, or chicken thighs, or vegetables, or fish, etc. Absolutely no reason to simply get rid of it in any way other than using it for cooking.
Burn it? It burns just the as well as the bigger chunks. Just doesn’t last as long. I save the bottoms of all brands for burgers, brats, hot dogs etc.
I dump what’s in the bag in the KJ and burn it on whatever type of cook I have. I’ve burned around 100 bags of charcoal so far. People spend too much time worrying about the quality of the charcoal and not enough time cooking. Sure I would rather have nice big chunks, but if you’re willing to throw half a bag of fines out, spend the extra on big block.
Use it the garden or for mulch in the flower beds.
Add it on to the already burning coals
Looks like charcoal . Cook your food with it ?
As long as it doesn’t have petroleum-based additives, etc., I use it as “biochar” in my California native plant garden.
https://biochar-us.org/growing-native-plants-biochar
Make a slurry out of corn starch and heat it up until it becomes glue.
Mix well with the small chunks. Once hardened, cut into large chunks.
I had the same experience with cowboy charcoal and I also got it at Costco. I’m going back to B&B.
Place small pile in trash bag and drive car tire over it to pulverize it.
Pizza