Best Fire Starter for Tailgating


 
B

Bryan B

TVWBB Fan
Hello,

Does anyone have a good fire starting method for tailgating? I'm thinking of bringing my WSM or either a smokey joe to tailgate, and need a way to start the fire. At home, I use a charcoal chimney on my gas side burner, but I will not have access to a gas grill at the tailgate. I've seen some electric firestarters online, but they all plug into outlets. Are there firestarters sold that plug into a car's power outlet? OR....is there another way I could start the fire? Really trying to avoid lighter fluid at all costs...
 
I always bring my chimney. A paper towel with some cooking oil on it will do the trick.

Tried and tested at tailgates for years!
 
Bryan,
These are made for using a couple of sheets of newspaper.
Weber sells starter cubes.
Some use veg oil and paper towel.

This works well too:
IMGP6129.JPG
 
Steve,

Does the vegetable oil thing work for regular briquettes? (not instant light briquettes) Just wanted to clarify as I do not want lighter fluid involved in the process at all.

I tried lighting normal briquettes with newspaper in a chimney once, but it did not work. I did not use veg oil though.
 
I always use paper towels, twisted and formed into a doughnut, sprayed with cooking spray under the chimney (and yes, that's with regular Kingsford, not and no lighter fluid)
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Bryan B:
Steve,

Does the vegetable oil thing work for regular briquettes? (not instant light briquettes) Just wanted to clarify as I do not want lighter fluid involved in the process at all.

I tried lighting normal briquettes with newspaper in a chimney once, but it did not work. I did not use veg oil though. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Yes veg oil works for regular briq's for sure...Wad up one papertowel and pour a little veg oil on it and light it and you are good to go...make sure to bring your chimney!
 
Yes it works well and produces little ash. Pour a little on the paper towel and take to the tailgate in a zip lock bag.
 
Take some cotton balls and mix in some petroleum jelly/vaseline. Make sure you mix them real good and just light it. You can pre mix them and put them in a ziplock bag. This is how I light my jumbo joe when I go to the beach. Look it up on you tube "cotton balls and petroleum jelly or vaseline" there are a couple of videos. They will burn for 7 to 9 minutes enough time to get the charcoal going, its cheap and you probably have the ingredients lying around the house. Good luck let me know how it works out.
 
Bryan,

Yes, regular briquettes. I used to use newspaper, but I had to use two or more sheets, and still had spotty results. The paper towel/oil combo works almost all of the time. The only times I've had to try more than once has been when it's so windy that the paper towel burns up too quickly to get the coals hot. Knowing that, you just need to keep the chimney blocked from high winds and you're good to go!
 
Bryan bring your charcoal chimney and two double sided pieces of newspaper. Turn the chimney starter upside down, role each double sided piece of newspaper from one opposite corner to the other and connect the ends like a circle and placie it inside the bottom of the chimney starter. Repeat with the other sheet of newspapaer and place it the same way. Turn the chimney starter over, fill 3/4 or less full of charcoal, and light the newspapaer from the bottom. Works great everytime for me.
 
I use the Weber fire starter cubes to start my coals in my chimney but I can't see any reason to not use them in the pit. They're easy to light and do a good job.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Gary Hodgin:
I use the Weber fire starter cubes to start my coals in my chimney but I can't see any reason to not use them in the pit. They're easy to light and do a good job. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Gary, I too would think 4 or 5 of them would get a grill going quick.
 
All chimneys are not created equal. The Weber is VERY reliable and holds enough (about 100 briquettes) to do the job.

At home, I simply use two or three sheets of newspaper. However, for tailgating, I would use the Weber fire starter cubes. Try them at home, first, before you go. I believe that you will find a couple of them will do the job just fine.

Dale53
 
I recently lit my WSM by placing two Weber firestarter cubes in the middle of a full ring of briquettes and lit them. I left off the middle & top sections until a few coals were ashed over, then assembled the cooker & began cooking.

It took a little longer because it was cold outside, but it worked well to get the coals going.
 
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