- Joined
- Mar 8, 2005
- Location
- Clayton, NC
(NOTE: This is a long post with lots of images.)
Let me put my opinion on Prime 6 Charcoal here at the start of this post. Do not buy. Avoid it at all costs. I found that it only lights well if you have a chimney. It also does not impart much charcoal flavor when compared to lump charcoal. I feel that it doesn't burn as hot as my lump. It maxed out at 430 degrees F during my testing. I used my Weber 26" kettle for the test and did indirect grilling since this is how I would cook with lump charcoal.
Prime 6 is purchased in various size boxes by weight. I purchased 2 of the 9lb boxes from Wal-Mart and had them shipped to me in November of 2020. Here's a picture of the 9lb box:
Looking at their web site, most the pieces they show are about 12" long which is the height of the packaging I received. But the reality of shipping and handling is that I didn't have any pieces in the box that weren't broken. Most of the pieces I took out of the box were in the 4" to 6" range. Near the end of the test, I was able to find some longer pieces.
Most of my grilling in late 2020 and early 2021 was done on my Yoder. When I fired up my Weber I used lump charcoal to try to use up that bag before I opened the Prime 6. Then I forgot I had the Prime 6. Last week, stargazer asked if anyone has used Prime 6 and that post triggered my old brain to remember that I had some. So off to the grill I went.
Now, here's what I did for my little test. The Prime 6 website gives 2 methods of starting their charcoal. The first method is to use a chimney. The second method is to build a pile around some sort of fire starting materials. My original plan was to do two tests. One with the chimney and one with the second method from their web site. I felt that the chimney would definitely work, so I start the testing with the second method.
In this method, you put down some fire starting material and then build a structure of the Prime 6 around and over it.
Then you light your fire starting materials.
I left the lid off and then let the coals get going. Here's them at 5 minutes with the firestarter strips still burning:
At 10 minutes the firestarter strips were done burning and the charcoal was the sole source of heat:
After 15 minutes, I was getting concerned that the charcoal wasn't getting going quickly. I could feel the heat coming off them, but it appeared that only the bottom part of the charcoal had gotten lit. I closed the lid and made sure the vents were all opened fully to get a temperature reading. At 22 minutes after ignition, the dome thermostat read 200 degrees F.
I figured that I needed to get the top parts of the charcoal lit so I got a new sheet of firestarter, moved the charcoal out of the way, placed that sheet in the grill, then laid the charcoal on it with the lit portions facing up when I could. They were definitely hot enough that I felt the heat through my gloves. Then I lit the firestarter sheet.
The next picture I took is 35 minutes after the initial ignition and about 10 minutes after the sheet of firestarter was lit.
I put the lid on to get another temp reading. This time it was 300 degrees F at 40 minutes after initial ignition.
I'm starting to get hungry and maybe a little hangry, so I got out my chimney and filled it with pieces of unlit Prime 6, stuffed the bottom with newspaper and then lit that sucker. It has been 48 minutes since the initial ignition.
My thoughts were that I should have some serious charcoal burning going on in a few minutes since that's what I would get with my chimney and lump charcoal. So I enjoyed a nice cool breeze while I waited. And then the newspaper finished it's burn and the Prime 6 charcoal wasn't going much at all. It's now been 53 minutes since the initial ignition. Back to the firestarter sheets. I took one, folded it over on itself and stuffed it under the chimney and lit it. Now we have some flames.
It took about 20 minutes for the charcoal to catch enough that most of it was white and quite a bit was red. It's now 73 minutes since initial ignition.
Charcoal dumped.
Lid on and allowed to get up to temp. I'm hoping for 500+ degrees F. I got 430 degrees F.
To hangry to care that the fire isn't where I want, I start cooking.
When the corn was pulled off 25 minutes after dumping the charcoal, 98 minutes after initial ignition, the final temp reading was around 380 degrees F. (Note that the corn didn't have much charring on it due to the low temps.)
Final image of the charcoal
Here's the results. My 1.5 hour bacon cheeseburger on a toasted brioche bun.
Let me put my opinion on Prime 6 Charcoal here at the start of this post. Do not buy. Avoid it at all costs. I found that it only lights well if you have a chimney. It also does not impart much charcoal flavor when compared to lump charcoal. I feel that it doesn't burn as hot as my lump. It maxed out at 430 degrees F during my testing. I used my Weber 26" kettle for the test and did indirect grilling since this is how I would cook with lump charcoal.
Prime 6 is purchased in various size boxes by weight. I purchased 2 of the 9lb boxes from Wal-Mart and had them shipped to me in November of 2020. Here's a picture of the 9lb box:
Looking at their web site, most the pieces they show are about 12" long which is the height of the packaging I received. But the reality of shipping and handling is that I didn't have any pieces in the box that weren't broken. Most of the pieces I took out of the box were in the 4" to 6" range. Near the end of the test, I was able to find some longer pieces.
Most of my grilling in late 2020 and early 2021 was done on my Yoder. When I fired up my Weber I used lump charcoal to try to use up that bag before I opened the Prime 6. Then I forgot I had the Prime 6. Last week, stargazer asked if anyone has used Prime 6 and that post triggered my old brain to remember that I had some. So off to the grill I went.
Now, here's what I did for my little test. The Prime 6 website gives 2 methods of starting their charcoal. The first method is to use a chimney. The second method is to build a pile around some sort of fire starting materials. My original plan was to do two tests. One with the chimney and one with the second method from their web site. I felt that the chimney would definitely work, so I start the testing with the second method.
In this method, you put down some fire starting material and then build a structure of the Prime 6 around and over it.
Then you light your fire starting materials.
I left the lid off and then let the coals get going. Here's them at 5 minutes with the firestarter strips still burning:
At 10 minutes the firestarter strips were done burning and the charcoal was the sole source of heat:
After 15 minutes, I was getting concerned that the charcoal wasn't getting going quickly. I could feel the heat coming off them, but it appeared that only the bottom part of the charcoal had gotten lit. I closed the lid and made sure the vents were all opened fully to get a temperature reading. At 22 minutes after ignition, the dome thermostat read 200 degrees F.
I figured that I needed to get the top parts of the charcoal lit so I got a new sheet of firestarter, moved the charcoal out of the way, placed that sheet in the grill, then laid the charcoal on it with the lit portions facing up when I could. They were definitely hot enough that I felt the heat through my gloves. Then I lit the firestarter sheet.
The next picture I took is 35 minutes after the initial ignition and about 10 minutes after the sheet of firestarter was lit.
I put the lid on to get another temp reading. This time it was 300 degrees F at 40 minutes after initial ignition.
I'm starting to get hungry and maybe a little hangry, so I got out my chimney and filled it with pieces of unlit Prime 6, stuffed the bottom with newspaper and then lit that sucker. It has been 48 minutes since the initial ignition.
My thoughts were that I should have some serious charcoal burning going on in a few minutes since that's what I would get with my chimney and lump charcoal. So I enjoyed a nice cool breeze while I waited. And then the newspaper finished it's burn and the Prime 6 charcoal wasn't going much at all. It's now been 53 minutes since the initial ignition. Back to the firestarter sheets. I took one, folded it over on itself and stuffed it under the chimney and lit it. Now we have some flames.
It took about 20 minutes for the charcoal to catch enough that most of it was white and quite a bit was red. It's now 73 minutes since initial ignition.
Charcoal dumped.
Lid on and allowed to get up to temp. I'm hoping for 500+ degrees F. I got 430 degrees F.
To hangry to care that the fire isn't where I want, I start cooking.
When the corn was pulled off 25 minutes after dumping the charcoal, 98 minutes after initial ignition, the final temp reading was around 380 degrees F. (Note that the corn didn't have much charring on it due to the low temps.)
Final image of the charcoal
Here's the results. My 1.5 hour bacon cheeseburger on a toasted brioche bun.
