British BBQ Society Forums

Hi All,

Running out of supplies - does anyone know places in South London that stock big bags of Restaurant Grade Charcoal in South London

Similarly any pointers for Cornwall / Devon region?

Rick

I've no idea on local suppliers to you, but I order all my 15KG bags of restaurant grade from BigK, they have a 2 bag minimum order but I usually order more.

http://www.bigkproducts.co.uk/Catalog-B ... al_29.aspx

They're out of stock of the ACH15 for a few weeks so I ordered some RCH15 and RCH12 this time.

yes it was because the usual stuff I order is out of stock on their online store that I posted (i got it previously from a store a fair drive from me)

Problem with online is I am never at home when normal deliveries take place and getting 30kgs of lump delivered to work is a bit impractical!

JamsCowbell wrote:I've no idea on local suppliers to you, but I order all my 15KG bags of restaurant grade from BigK, they have a 2 bag minimum order but I usually order more.

http://www.bigkproducts.co.uk/Catalog-B ... al_29.aspx

They're out of stock of the ACH15 for a few weeks so I ordered some RCH15 and RCH12 this time.

Any discernable difference between ach15 and the other two you mention? Website says RCH15 suitable for a shisha

I emailed them and they said the RCH15 was more 'stick like' and harder to light but didn't spit as much, I decided to just get 2 bags of each so that I could try them out... along with 2 bags of aussie heat beads from wowbbq to see what everyone is on about

Rick wrote:
Similarly any pointers for Cornwall / Devon region?

Could try Macs BBQ down in St Austell:

http://www.macsbbq.com

I can post you Restaurant grade charcoal, which are in 12Kg bags. The trouble is the postage, which will cost you about a tenner a bag, so in total you are looking at £25 a bag, which is a lot.

Sometimes the couriers discount their services, but that only shaved off about £5.

It's cheaper by the pallet at around £50 a pallet for delivery, but that can be a lot of charcoal, depending how many bags you want, but the delivery costs can come down to about £3 a bag. If you know people that want charcoal and will split the cost with you, I can arrange it for you, and give you a discount depending on how many bags you want, I hope this helps, and sorry that I cannot help you more.

The charcoal all arrived and I had a go with it over the weekend.

The RCH15 is exactly as they described, more 'stick like', which I'm not sure about yet. It lit normally and burned about as long for about as hot (not really a scientific measurement). I suppose as it has greater surface area it will burn faster than the ACH15 but you can get more of it in any given space. Some of the ACH15 pieces I had last year were bigger than my 3yo's arm!

RCH15:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/l5mii63p9wuuadd/Photo%2004-05-2014%2011%2044%2009.jpg

I haven't tried the RCH12 yet, it looks more in line with the ACH15 in terms of chunk size. I might do a mixture of the two when I fire up the WSM.

RCH12:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/bbk1nae2ctfwi3g/Photo%2004-05-2014%2011%2044%2019.jpg

Got my box of wood from Goulden's again this year, just cherry and apply as I've got a stack of oak left over from last year along with the random bits Paul always sends that I haven't used yet

https://www.dropbox.com/s/qhpvuung84os78s/Photo%2004-05-2014%2011%2045%2004.jpg

Had to do links rather than embedded images as the forum wasn't happy with dropbox.

I've used the RCH15 before, when a local garden centre had some in stock - Certainly did the job, although only used it on its own for 5-6hr cooks. As you suggest, it mixes well with the RCH12/ACH15 though.

Incidentally, got an email from Big K this morning - ACH15 back in stock.

I bought a 5kg bag of lump Big K in Morrisons for £5. Not sure which grade of Big K lump it is ?

http://groceries.morrisons.com/webshop/ ... _SHELFVIEW