5 best fuel sources in Minecraft 1.19 update

Minecraft is a game that encourages players to collect plenty of resources. To defeat the dangerous hostile mobs in the game, players should create both weapons and armor to defend themselves. Building armors and weapons require ample amounts of smelt resources: iron ore for the former and sand for the latter.

However, smelting is not possible without plentiful access to fuel sources. This article explores the best fuel sources available in Minecraft 1.19.

The 5 best fuel sources available in Minecraft 1.19

Lava bucket

Burn time: 1000 seconds

Lava is one of the best fuel sources in the game. With a burn time of 1000 seconds, the lava bucket is able to smelt 100 items, meaning that players can burn a stack and a half with a single bucket. After the fuel is used, an empty bucket, which can be reused, is left in the fuel slot.

In previous Minecraft updates, lava was a relatively finite resource. Players had to find new pools of lava to harvest additional lava. However, the addition of dripstone has made this ordeal far easier. Lava can be placed above a dripstone, and the dripstone can be placed above a cauldron. This will result in the lava dripping into the cauldron, which will eventually fill the cauldron. Subsequently, the cauldron can be bucketed.

Block of coal

Blocks of coal and coal ore (Image via Minecraft)

Burn time: 800 seconds

Blocks of coal, which are an improved version of regular coal, can be used as a reliable fuel source. Blocks of coal can be crafted by players by combining nine regular pieces of coal into a single block.

Nine pieces of coal have a total burn time of 720 seconds. In contrast, a block of coal has a burn time of 800 seconds, which is equivalent to using 10 pieces of coal. This means that using a block of coal effectively gets players a free coal worth of additional burn time.

This fuel item does require a lot of coal, meaning that it is not suitable for frequent use. However, players can use the fortune enchantment to multiply the amount of coal they have.

Dried Kelp Block

Burn Time: 200 seconds

Kelp is the best renewable fuel source. Kelp can be grown and then placed into a furnace to dry. Subsequently, the dried kelp can then be transformed into a dried kelp block. However, because players have to smelt the initial kelp, the net fuel value of a block of kelp is only 11.

One of the most efficient ways to use fuel in Minecraft is using a lava bucket to smelt 100 kelp, which can be transformed into 11 kelp blocks. These 11 kelp blocks can be smelt through 220 items, meaning that the efficiency of the lava bucket can be doubled.

Blaze rod

Burn Time: 120 seconds

Blaze rods are quite an intriguing fuel source. Although they are better in terms of burn speed than almost any other fuel source in Minecraft, players mostly do not use them as fuel. However, this is mainly because fuel rods have many other uses, such as crafting brewing stands. Furthermore, they can be transformed into blaze powder for brewing or crafting Eye of Ender.

Note that they are not easy to replenish. Although there are designs for blaze farms, they can be quite complex, meaning that most players will need to apply brute force and kill blaze to obtain new rods.

Coal/charcoal

A forest, made up of logs that can be turned into charcoal (Image via Minecraft)

Burn Time: 80 seconds

There are two variants of coal in the game. Although effectively the same, they differ in terms of how they are acquired. Normal coal can be found underground and in stone. Owing to the new ore generation rules that were introduced in Caves and Cliffs, coal has become nearly impossible to find in the depths of the world. However, they can be easily found in hills and mountains.

The other option is charcoal. Players can make charcoal by smelting logs in a furnace. This item is identical to coal. In addition, it is completely renewable, as players can simply plant saplings to grow new trees and get logs to smelt.