Starting Charcoal


 
L

Lee Reiser

TVWBB Member
I found what I think is a better way to get your charcoal going using the weber starter. I was watching a Paula Deen episode where she was cooking using cast iron pots and hot coals. Toward the end of the show a helper showed her how he got a good fire going. He took a sheet of newspaper folded 1/3 of it over, rolled it in to a tube, then tied it in to a loose knot. I thought to myself I bet that would work good to start charcoal. I used 2 sheets of newspaper, made the tubes, placed them into the starter, added charcoal and started the paper on fire. The charcoal started faster and there was less ashes. Give it a try, You may like it!
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The newspaper doughnut is considered the standard way of igniting a chimney starter. A lot of folks, however, object to the excessive smoke and flying ash it can produce. In the absence of Weber starter cubes, or the like, a ball of two sheets of paper towel soaked in a couple tablespoons of cooking oil or sprayed liberally with PAM works great.
 
Thanks for the tip. Usually, I take a couple of sheets, wad them up and light. If that doesn't work, then I just repeat the process until it does. It will be nice to try something that should work quicker and less wastefull than my current method.
 
I used to just wad up some paper and shove it in the bottom of the chimney. Sometimes I would ahve to re-light or use a couple more sheets. Lately, I have switched to making a doughnut and it works much better. I can generally get by with just one sheet of paper.

I think there's better airflow which improves the ignition of both the paper and the charcoal.
 
I got this idea from a similar thread here. I use the side burner on my gas grill. No excess smoke or ash flying around. I love this method.
 
Has anybody ever tried a chafing dish fire thingy? You know, like a sterno can, only with a wick. I heard somewhere that it would work, but I've never tried it.

The idea is that after you get the coals lit, you replace the cap on the canister and it snuffs out the fire. Open it up and use it over and over again.

Would the flame get high and hot enough? What about little bits of junk falling into the canister? Where do they sell those things?
 
I've tried the paper towels and Pam, wadded up paper, rolled up paper, but have done nothing that works as good as the side burner on the gasser. Only takes a few minutes on high.
 
The fish fryer/turkey burner really works well. It will light as few coals as you want to start MM with. The biggest problem w/ a turkey burner is that when lighting lump, it sometimes gets lit so fast that, the next time I check on it, the lump is all lit and half gone!
 
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