Not a good start...literally


 
P

Peter D.

New member
I'm trying to use a charcoal chimney for the first time and absolutely NO luck. I've followed the directions EXACTLY as stated and shown elsewhere on this site but all that happens is the top donut of newspaper burns (barely) then....nothing.

It's a cool, cloudy day, 5 MPH wind and I've been trying for about an hour.

Looks like we're eating out tonight unless I get this going.
 
Peter,
I use my chimney all the time but have never bothered to read the instructions but it sounds like too much trouble to me. Personally, I use the Weber starter cubes and they work GREAT. If you do not have those available I would soak a few paper towels in vegetable oil and roll up into a ball. This works well also. If using newspaper, I simply roll up into a ball, place on the grill, light and place the chimney over it. Again, the donut thing seems unnecessary to me and way too much trouble.
Good Luck!
 
I am assuming that your using a Weber chimney, so just ball up about three pieces of newspaper and stuff in the bottom of the chimney. Now all you have to do is light the paper and you should be good to go. Caution-don't place the lit chimney on concrete, but just place it on the grill.

Are you using Kingsford?
 
Make a ball with two standard-sized sheets of paper towel. Spray one side liberally with PAM, or dip in vegetable oil. Place on charcoal grate. Light, and place charcoal chimney on top. No heavy smoke, no flying ash, just lit charcoal.
 
I am jealous of my dad's gas grill side burner. Its the most useful thing for getting the chimney started. Fires right up, and in 3 minutes you have grey coals ready to go.

I still don't know why I didn't get a side burner for my gasser. But I whack my head into a wall each time I think about it.
 
I am indeed using the Weber chimney, Kingsford Briquets, the whole 9 yards. I think the problem was that it was too windy (even a 5-10 MPH breeze).

I moved the chimney to a more sheltered area, put in a lot more newspaper and it took off.

Now, to get the temp down under 300 degrees so I can start COOKING! All 3 bottom vents are fullly closed, top vent fully open. Let's see how it goes in a few minutes!

Edit: 90 minutes or so after first taking match-to-paper I finally got the meat down. I'm doing two racks of baby backs using 1 chimney full of hot charcoal, then about 1/3 to 1/2 a chimney of unlit on top, and one gallon of hot tap water in the bowl (which I forgot to line - got some "fun" cleanup ahead of me, I guess). Also using 3 chunks of hickory for this first-ever effort. My polder is showing a lid temp of 260 or so now with all 3 bottom vents closed.
 
Hi, Peter. I'm a new member too, and I just started using a WSM. But I've been grilling and making BBQ in an old grill for many, many years. I've also used a chimney for many years as well. Just crumple up 2 sheets of newspaper in a ball VERY LOOSELY and stuff in the bottom of the chimney. A little breeze outside actually helps. The trick is to crumple very loosely, just like if you were starting a fire under kindling in a woodstove.

I've been using the Minion Method to get the WSM fired up. I fill up the ring about 1/2 or 3/4 with unlit charcoal and then place 20 lit charcoal pieces on top after firing them up in the chimney. I put the WSM together right away and fill the pan with cold water and slap the meat on right away too. The temperature goes up steadily and fairly quickly, and I begin shutting down vents when it hits 200 degrees in the top.

This seems to work well for me. I tried using 40 lit charcoal pieces once but it started the unlit charcoal too quickly and the WSM got REALLY hot REALLY fast. So now I just use 20 lit pieces and get the WSM together as quickly as possible with the cold water to help with temperature control.

I hope this helps. I'm sure people who have a lot more experience with the WSM than I do will have even better advice for you. Post pics of your food!
 
Hi Peter,

The Chimney is great and IMHO the best way to light your briquettes or lump. Works all the time

Not to sound to simplistic, but:

1) the point of the grate inside the chimney shoud be facing up

2) Use three pieces of newspaper to make the donut and place in the bottom chamber

3) you can fill the top chamber up with briquettes or lump with no worry

4) make sure you have good airflow

5) light the paper in multiple areas

This should work without a hitch.

Let us know how it goes and don't give up on the chimney.
 
2) I used to get away with two full size sheets
4) yes, the donut needs an open hole to work best
5) definitely, even lift it up and light it from the bottom, not just thru the vent holes
 
I did all of this. Two sheets of newspaper in a donut, the chimney the right-way up and full of regular Kingsfords. It just took forever to light (I had it perched on top of the charcoal grill and the middle section and dome off. The top ring of newspapers would burn slowly and smokily but the ring underneath didn't catch at first. It finally did when I put it out of the breeze.

For my next cook I'll use the Weber starter things that I saw in Ace Hardware, or else use paper towels soaked in canola oil. Maybe I'll try that first, actually.

Ribs have been on now for 4 hours and 20 minutes. I opened the dome once at 3 hours exactly to turn the slabs over, I opened up all the vents fully added a couple more lumps of hickory and topped up the water pan. Best temp I can get out of it is 249 or so going all-out. I suspect I needed more charcoal at the start, but so it goes. I'm hoping they'll be ready in the next half-hour or so, before it gets too late!
 
Forget the donut. Just make 3 baseball sized
balls from 3 sheets of newspaper. It is
almost foolproof.
 
As Shakespeare said, All's Well That Ends Well. I checked the meat temperature at about 4h30' and a mid-size rib was 179. Chow-time.

Results: Pretty good for a first time. Took some effort to get meat off the bones from the big half of the slab, but the small end - heavenly. Nice smoke ring. I definitely need to work on the rub a little more, though - kinda bland.

One problem I found was that for the first 3 hours of the cook the ribs were bone-side down and finished off meat-side down. This resulted in moisture condensing in the "bowl" formed on the bone side of the ribs. Next time they go the other way. Also I found them to be a little bit greasier than I'd have wanted. Is this just natural or something that a better technique can cure?
 
Peter,

When starting the WSM, fill the charcoal ring 1/2 to 34 full of unlit charcoal while making a small indentation in the middle of the charcoal. Take 15-20 lit coals and dump in the middle of the unlit charcoal. Set all your vents to 1/2-3/4 open. Fill your water pan with hot tap water and assemble smoker. Let pit come up to temprature of 260-270 degrees and damper down to 1/3-1/2 vents.



If you are cooking baby backs

Rub them, put them bone side down on the top rack and cook 3 hours at 250 degrees. Put in foil with a bit of apple juice meat side down and cook in the foil for 1 hour at 250. Dont peak or spray or anything, only open the lid to foil and take the ribs off the pit.

Sauce em and eat em....
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by SethM:

If you are cooking baby backs

Rub them, put them bone side down on the top rack and cook 3 hours at 250 degrees. Put in foil with a bit of apple juice meat side down and cook in the foil for 1 hour at 250. Dont peak or spray or anything, only open the lid to foil and take the ribs off the pit.

Sauce em and eat em.... </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Here's to...easy peasy ribs
icon_biggrin.gif
icon_wink.gif
!!!

Listen to this guy...he knows his stuff!!!
 
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