have you mastered the charcoal chimney?

[grasswire]

I have this gadget to use when lighting charcoal briquets so that no lighter fluid is necessary. You load up some briquets in this metal "chimney" and light newspaper under it. After a certain point, you dump the briquets into your BBQ. I have had difficulty maintaining heat with this method. It's VERY hot, then peters out quickly. I must not be doing something right. Many people rave over these things.

Any hints?

[Phentex]

1. What is the "certain point" when you are dumping them out?

I usually get the flames pretty high over the top before I'm ready to turn it over. The coals should look gray and ashy at that point.

I love the chimney!

[Warpy]

2. One thing that occurred to me is that the chimney has inadequate

capacity for the size of your grill. Maybe adding more charcoal and waiting another 10 minutes would do the trick.

Either that, or dump that puppy out sooner.

[Arkansas Granny]

3. I've just used mine a few times with my dutch oven and I've been

really pleased with it. It could be that it just doesn't have enough capacity for your needs or you need to start a second batch to use when the first one peters out.

[politicat]

4. Yep. I mastered it. I bought a gas grill.

Sorry, but charcoal has some nasty environmental consequences, and gas ain't great, but in the long run, it produces less waste and far fewer atmospheric hydrocarbons.

With some dampened fruit wood on the burner bed for smoke, and the ceramic briquettes for heat retention, I don't notice a difference in taste.

Also, the chimneys are a pain in the behind, for the exact reasons you state. You have to have a preternatural sense of when to dump, and the celerity to not get burned.

[Dora]

6. "Word of the Day" ribbon for "celerity"

You had me at preternatural.

:rofl:

[politicat]

7. This is why gaming is good for kids.

I learned so many big words as a kid because I played RPGs and did other geek stuff... Scary vocabulary.

Gaming destroys electrons, not people.

[Dora]

9. Scary vocabulary? Scary acronyms...

RPGs? The first match that came to me was "rocket propelled grenade."

I always felt a subtle envy of gamers - at the time it was for their camaraderie with each other, and their involvement with something that seemed bigger than anything I knew.

My geekdom was limited to speech, debate, and drama, and cigarettes across the street. At least 3 out of those 4 have served me well as an adult.

[fortyfeetunder]

5. Use a propane torch.

I have used a propane torch to light my charcoal bricks -- without lighter fluid of course (the most impoortant part). No nasty petrochemical aftertaste. Drawback -- it does take longer but it does the trick.

[wryter2000]

8. Sometimes I've had them not start

Sometimes when I've been starting an entire chimney of coals, the newspaper fire has gone out without lighting the coal sufficiently. Now, I use the chimney to measure the charcoal and use parafin chunks to light the coals. I find the chimeny-ful is about the right amount of coal for a Weber barbecue. Either you're using a small chimney or a large barbecue or you're letting the coals burn too long before you put them into the barbecue. I let them go until there's ash on all the coals but I can still see some black.

The chimney works perfectly for a smaller amount of coal, such as for the smokey joe sized Weber.

[grasswire]

12. parafin chunks?

You mean the blocks that people melt to use on top of homemade jam?

[wryter2000]

13. Nope

It's a mixture of sawdust and parafin that they sell in chunks as firestarter in the supermarket right next to the charcoal, fireplace matches, lighter fluid, etc. I think they were meant for fireplaces. They're pretty big, and I have to cut them into smaller chunks to use under charcoal. They light with a wooden match. Once they get started, they always light the coals.

Steve Reichlen (sp?) mentioned parafin on one of his shows. I don't know if he meant the same thing I use, but it's probably something similar.

[wildeyed]

10. From the "Quick Tips" section of my new copy of

Cook's Illustrated Summer Grilling:

Foolproof Grill Lighting

Place 4 or 5 briquettes of self-starting charcoal at the bottom of the chimney, then fill the balance with hardwood charcoal. Says you won't have the funny taste that comes for using self-starting charcoal exclusively.

[Arkansas Granny]

11. This might work, but my chimney specifically states not to use the

self-lighting briquettes. It doesn't explain why, though.