Plan B for lighting coals


 
A

A. Vale

TVWBB Fan
I have always used a weber chimney for lighting coals but have just stopped delivery of our newspaper as we generally read enough news online. I am looking at other ways to light my charcoal without a supply of newspaper. I have an electric loop somewhere but dragging out an extension cord has never been appealing. I would like to believe I could just pick up the local free paper but it is a smaller size which doesn't work as consistently and I know I'll forget to pick up a copy from time to time...
 
Like Dustin, I use the starter cubes. There's a bunch of them in the packs and I don't think they cost more than $3-4. 1 cube to start will do it.
 
Methods of starting in the preferred order for me using a chimney....
1)Starter Cubes
2)Oil on paper towel
3)Side burner on grill
4)Torch
5)Crumpled up news paper
 
Started a thread on this subject just a day or two ago. Just a few seconds with a propane torch gets things going. Works great, if you already have a torch!
 
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In my opinion, life is too short to not own a gas assist Performer for grilling and chimney starting.
Add the Gourmet grate, and you only have to lift the center section to fit the chimney.

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I was watching Man Fire Food the other day and a guy used newspaper to start a fire. I thought to myself that many folks don't have newspaper around anymore for things like that.

Pretty soon, bird owners will have to buy commercial cage liner.
 
George L said:
A little cooking oil on a balled up paper towel. It'll burn for several minutes.
Click to expand...

+1, especially if you're already cooking with Cast Iron cookware.

I tried the newspaper thing but I just couldn't rely on the newspaper to burn......more than half the time I'd go out to check on the coals and there would be a half-burned coil of paper.

If you use cast iron cookware, (I do), what I do is let the oiled paper towels cool in the pan, & then I save them in a gallon ziplock bag in my kitchen. When I want to fire up the grill, I'll grab one of the oiled paper towels & stuff it under the chimney----IT ALWAYS WORKS, no ash, no problems, no waste, .....all good.
 
Collect all of your dryer lint. It works like a charm. A fuzz ball about as big as a rubix cube or a bit smaller does great.
 
I now use the gas assist from my reclaimed Performer. However, for several years I have used one Weber starter cube sitting on top of an empty tuna can (to reach further up into the chimney) with my chimney.

When starting just a few coals I use the IKEA silver ware caddy with one Weber cube inside. I lit the cube and dropped the briquettes on top of the flame. I now use the IKEA with my Performer gas assist when doing a tin can minion start. Works beautifully.

Incidentally, the Weber Chimney is heads and shoulder above the generic chimneys you'll find at Home Depot and Lowe's (they both have Weber's too). When I started out I used a generic chimney that had been given to me. I had several failures before I got the Weber. I have NEVER had a failure with the Weber. It's just better engineered to work-and work EVERY time.

Keep on smokin',
Dale53
 
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