Is Reusing Old Charcoal Worth it? | TESTED

In this video, I'll answer one of the most common beginner BBQ questions, " Can you reuse old charcoal and still make great BBQ." Using old or reused charcoal has a lot of myths associated with grilling using old coals. Does old reused charcoal leave a weird ash taste? Does it get hot enough or does it even last long enough to cook a decent steak? I'll grill a beautiful New York Strip steak using mostly old coals and test out old charcoal vs new charcoal using my favorite briquettes made by FOGO. Save your money, invest in good quality charcoal, and a waterproof storage bin. The results may surprise you.
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[@willdiaz328]

I started reusing two weeks ago. I use the FOGO Briquets as well. Thank you for another awesome video confirming the myths aren’t true haha

[@tomwadek]

You are so welcome!

[@bks7842]

Last week I took the used coals(mostly lump)from my jumbo joe, 22" kettle, and performer. I got a full chimney out of them combined. Got the performer over 500 degrees with them and made an awesome pizza!

[@tomwadek]

Nice! Bet the pizza was delicious. Cheers!

[@BbqMikeG]

Grab a couple of plastic grocery bags, one to use as a glove, and fill the other bag with the cold used charcoal and give it a twist to make it airtight. If grease gets on the coals, I don't reuse them because they may give off a foul odor. Add a handful of new briquettes into your charcoal chimney first and then top it off with used coals so the littler bits don't fall out. Close both dampers as soon as you take the food off to maximize the amount of used coals. Be mindful of the smoking woods you used the last time because it may impart flavor. Especially if you used cedar wood sticks. There's still some heat in those used coals! Save money and be scrappy! Great video Tom!

[@tomwadek]

All great advice. Thanks for sharing.

[@robertourban6003]

Hi Tom, I’m Roberto I’m from Italy and let me say you have one of my favourite, if not the most favorite, bbq channel, you really do a great job man! About charcoal, I’d like to rather ask you how to preset the bbq to start cooking to a certain temp. Let’s say you’re going to cook a certain protein and you want to keep 275 F as target temp, how much charcoal do you lit? How do set the vents? Someone says 1 briquettes fully lit is like 50 F, is it true? Is it a myth? I’d really like to have some advices (or maybe another of your great videos) about that. Thanks a million and keep goin g!

[@tomwadek]

Hi Roberto, thank you for the kind words. I'm glad you are enjoying the content and finding it helpful. The amount of charcoal will determine both temperature and duration. For example, if you want the most heat, you could add more charcoal and open all your vents. You'll get a lot of heat but less duration. Likewise, if you want a lot of duration, you could add a lot coals and only start a handful of them, then control the burn by closing your vents. For low and slow, its more about duration, brisket for example, requires ~12hrs plus of cook time. the 50F for briquettes is a myth because the true temperature will depend between brands and the cooking environment. Are you using a kettle or a kamado, things like that. I've attached a few old videos for you to reference. Let me know if you have more question. kzbin.info/www/bejne/bYGqh6mnjsyqp7M kzbin.info/www/bejne/pnXOZWqCgZloa7c

[@robertourban6003]

@@tomwadek I have the same Weber kettle you use. Let’s say I want to start low and slow using the diffuser plate setting the temp at 275 F. Let’s say I have the ring full of charcoal, how do I know how much of that charcoal should I lit to start cooking at the target temperature? Thanks a lot for the helpful videos

[@tomwadek]

@@robertourban6003you start off by lighting just a few 5-7 piece on one side. Let it burn for a bit. Then close the lid and open all your vents. Once the grill reaches about 100 degrees above the temp you want, put the diffuser on and adjust the vents to bring it down to the temps you want. Then try to hold it there

[@elmin2323]

Use old stuff when you need to add it to another grill so you don't get smoke

[@JeffPowell-jb4rr]

I'm in FL so yea humid... I shut the vents on my Weber kettle and always re-use....no issues but I do grill a few times a week.

[@dpelpal]

Thank god it isnt another thermometer video😅

[@tomwadek]

So you want more thermometer videos then 😂