Not exactly a home repair question, but I figured SOMEONE around here ought to have an answer...
Bought a new grill, moving to charcoal from propane. What do I do with the collected ashes? Burning Kingsford, if it matters, along with various hardwoods for smoke.
-Wm
use as fertilizer around plants
Sprinkle it on the soil around plants, especially bulbs. I don't know how often is too often, but I've been doing this for years and it doesn't seem to hurt. I just make sure not to put it around the same bunch of plants more than once a month.
If the ashes contain any unburned chunks that still smell like lighter fluid, keep them away from food crops, or toss them in the trash.
Thanks, Doug and m.R. I'd wondered about that, but wasn't sure.
I just read on the internet that charcoal ashes should not be used as fertilizer because of the chemicals used in briquette bonding.
"Ashes from charcoal grills should NOT be added to garden or yard soils due to the chemicals used in the briquette bonding. Ashes should be discarded properly in landfills or driveways."
Really??? You mean, in the process of shaping them?
Yeah, any number of gardening sites mention this. Plain wood ashes OK (generally, depending on the original soil composition and on the amount you use), but charcoal ashes are NG.
Well then , those " Chemicals" are in your steak as they vaporised right below the meat . They sure dont hurt my plants and the dont contain weed killer . Now at 600- 700 f how many chemicals are left, unburned , and intact
- riiiight. Sounds like we better call the EPA and ban BBQing and charcole and water to.
Don't?
Kingsford's big claim to fame is the nice gray ashes. This is produced by adding limestone to the charcoal, so that it is like 5% of the product. Cheap generic charcoal is better in this regard.
I use natural lump wood charcoal. Not only does it smell much sweeter, making better tasting food, it generates like 25% of the volume of ash that Kingsford does. Burns hotter, so you don't need as much as well.
IMHO, lump charcoal in a Weber kettle is the way to go. Or a true bbq pit.
Okay, you have my attention :) Can I buy this stuff anywhere, like at my local Stuff*Mart?
Don't be giving the EPA any ideas. Besides, I seem to remember a while back that the EPA DOES think that the ol' BBQ should be banned. If I remember right, it was because of the lighter fluid, though. But my memory isn't what it . . .What was I talking about?
Wayne
The bag Lump charcoal at Ace didnt last worth a dam , cost more and burned out faster. For cooking anything longer than steaks you would have trouble controling and keeping constant temp and would need to re add charcoal every 15 minutes So what is bad with regular charcoal , besides lime , which wont hurt anything in concentrations added.
Tried the lump charcoal - a local store brand, but it seemed like 1/2 the stuff consisted of chips so small that they fell right through the grill, wasted. Gotta find another brand, I guess.
William-
Moving TO charcoal? Why?
I dunno, it can be hard to find. I get mine at Menard's, or a resturant supply house.
As others have pointed out, it is different, and takes a little getting used to.
Sounds like the Oldhouseweb is full of BS. I have never seen any adverse effect from mixing (note the word mixing, not just dumping) briquet ashes in a garden; some exceptions are ornamentals with very specific acid or alkaline requirements. But of course, feel free to dump the ashes in a bucket and after a couple of weeks put them in the trash to help fill up the local landfil.
They're not saying it'll hurt the plants. The nutrients in the ashes are probably about the same as ashes from a plain chunk of wood. What they're talking about is the possible toxic effects of the chemicals used to make briquettes, if those ashes were spread around food plants. Like pesticides used on tobacco, the burnt result is often worse than the original chemical.
Truthfully, it wasn't about moving to charcoal from propane, as much as it was increasing the size of the available cooking area for a reasonable price. My old propane grill is just large enough to grill a four pound chicken, cut into pieces. Now, if I'm cooking for my other family - brother and his wife, the in-laws, have a couple of friends over - I have to cook in shifts.
So, I go shopping for grills. In every instance I found, a small increase in size came with a huge jump in price. Add little auxillary burners on the side, a little tool rack, and I'm suddenly paying three to four times what my little grill would cost today, and I can't get what I want anyway which is just a larger cook surface. No burners, no shelves, no tool racks, just more room!
I'm walking out of Lowes one day, and see a large kettle-style grill: huge cook surface, little shelves on the side, $88 on clearance. Everything I want in one fifty pound package, for a quarter of the price of smaller grills I was looking at.
What I've found is that charcoal is less convenient and a little messier - you also can't really turn it off when you're done except to shut the dampers and slow it down. On the other hand, it tastes a little better and I have better control over the cooking zones - I control the hotspots. I can throw wood chips directly on coals, and don't have to use a smoker cup.
- Wm
I've got a propane grill, now. I remember the charcoal days. What a total pain in the ash.
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