Charcoal is primarily elemental carbon. Meaning it won’t “go bad” or “expire.
BUT if your charcoal is coated with additives like petroleum solvents for lighting – these can evaporate.
Charcoal is Porous and WILL Absorb Moisture
Even if it does – it will still work.
To prove this, I took two Kingsford Original briquettes and put them in a bowl of water.
Within 20 minutes, the briquettes sunk and were allowed to soak for the remaining 1 hour and 40 minutes of this test.
I also simulated a more “realistic” humid environment by putting a little bit of water into a Ziploc bag.
I then placed four briquettes in the bag and laid it flat on my deck with the sun beating directly on it.
After two hours, I took the charcoal out of the water and the bag and placed them in my charcoal chimney.
The result: The charcoal still lit; Shocker!
There was definitely a lot of “white smoke” as the water from the surface and inside the charcoal vaporized, but it still lit.
The resulting temperature from these five briquettes was 150F – pictured below on the lid thermometer.
Is there likely an amount of time where there is too much moisture?
I’d wager to say, to a point.
However, even in this case where you’ve submerged the charcoal (a very rare occurrence) you could simply let the charcoal dry out – problem solved.
Charcoal and Lighter Fluid and the Effects of Evaporation
Lighter fluids for charcoal are either petroleum or alcohol based (methanol or ethanol). These substances can be applied to briquettes to create “Match-light” charcoal.
The reason Kingsford tells you to “close tightly after use” is because these substances can and will evaporate; By closing the bag, you prevent this from happening.
A patent by GreenFlame Products LLC investigated alternatives to “match-light” substances. In the patent they discussed putting Kingsford Match-light Briquettes inside a Ziploc bag – similar to my experiemnt
The result was that the charcoal was no longer cable of being “match-lit.”
“The Kingsford® Matchlight® charcoal was very effective if lit immediately after removing from the commercial packaging, but storage in the Ziploc® bags for even one day rendered the Matchlight® charcoal ineffective (see Table 2).”
David E Moe, Reed E Oshel – 7/21/2015
However, that’s not to say that the charcoal no longer “works” or that it went “bad.”
It’ll still light.
What Do Charcoal Brands Say About Expiration?
To completely answer this question, I reached out to four brands of Charcoal that I regularly use:
- Royal Oak
- Kingsford
- FOGO
- Jealous Devil.
To each brand I asked:
“This might sound like a silly question but what is the shelf life (if any) of your charcoal? Could it be kept for long term storage?”
Royal Oak’s Response:
Kingsford’s Response:
FOGO Charcoal’s Response:
Jealous Devil:
All of these brands responded with the same sort of answers; Charcoal has an indefinite shelf-life so long as it’s stored in a cool dry place and you avoid moisture.
As part of Kingsford’s questioning, I also added:
“Do things like the chemicals in the match-light charcoal affect shelf-life?”
Which Kaitlyn noted above that Kingsford’s Match Light charcoal does have a shelf-life of 1-2 years.
