Go | New | Find | Notify | Tools | Reply | |
Age Quod Agis |
I've got a Big Green Egg, and have used 5 primary methods to get it going. I used the little wood chip and wax fire starters. They are slow, irritating, difficult to light, and expensive for what you get. I used the chimney method. Lit with oil soaked paper towel, or lit with a propane torch. Faster than the fire starters, but I had to hold the torch the entire time, and the oil soaked paper got it going, but so hot, it is difficult to do a smoke rather than a grill. I used an electric fire starter that you bury in the coals. They don't last long at the angle you have to use them at to start a BGE. Fastest method for sure, but expensive to replace every couple of months when the Florida grilling season is year round. Straight propane torch. It would work pretty well IF a torch would stay lit inverted. It wont. Meh. Balled up paper towel soaked in veggie oil under the charcoal. Not bad, but messy, inconsistent, and has a hard time lighting the loose shitty charcoal that you get from the bottom of the bag. I often have to boost that stuff with a leaf blower. (Impressive, let me tell you!) What is the magic method that is reasonably fast, reliable, and will light the charcoal scraps? Does anyone have a suggestion? I have seen a number of large bore propane torches, and also torches that are angled to get to the bottom of the charcoal without inverting the bottle. Thanks for your help. A "I vowed to myself to fight against evil more completely and more wholeheartedly than I ever did before. . . . That’s the only way to pay back part of that vast debt, to live up to and try to fulfill that tremendous obligation." Alfred Hornik, Sunday, December 2, 1945 to his family, on his continuing duty to others for surviving WW II. | ||
|
Step by step walk the thousand mile road |
Napalm? Nice is overrated "It's every freedom-loving individual's duty to lie to the government." Airsoftguy, June 29, 2018 | |||
|
Drill Here, Drill Now |
Well, you're not a Purdue alumni so you probably can't get in on liquid oxygen grill lighting: In 1995, they used 3 gallons of liquid oxygen over a grill with 60 pounds of coal and a lighted cigarette. Ego is the anesthesia that deadens the pain of stupidity DISCLAIMER: These are the author's own personal views and do not represent the views of the author's employer. | |||
|
Optimistic Cynic |
One of the first viral videos on the 'net was a scientist who poured liquid oxygen on a smoldering grill. That got the fire started for sure, the whole grill ended up burning to the ground. Prob. no practical for the average homeowner given the steep price of LOX. Yes, tatortodd found it. The audio was also funny, ending with a shot of a pile of smoking ashes and the deadpan comment "the grill is lit." I know you list propane torch, but have you tried a butane torch? These are available in different sizes and BTU output. They seem a little less tricky to use than the propane variety. I have run charcoal in a long time, but when I did I used the soak it down in lighter fluid first method. Except for the nasty taste imparted to foods placed on the grill before the lighter fluid burned off, it seemed to work pretty well. | |||
|
Member |
My neighbor buys the huge bag of wood shavings for around 7 bucks at Tractor Supply and puts them in a cardboard half egg crate and lights it off. He swears by it. | |||
|
The One True IcePick |
I use an external chimney with about a 1/4 of a wax fire starter brick. I have it sitting on a concrete paver on the ground. takes maybe 15 minutes, I let it go while I get everything ready for the smoke, then dump the coals into the egg, on top of the coal load. | |||
|
| Member |
I have used a looftlighter for several years now. It is basically a hot air blower, and it works great in my X-Large big green egg. I got one for my son to use last year and he called it a game changer for him. I could swear I bought it on a recommendation from this forum too. | |||
|
| Get my pies outta the oven!  |
What about a butane torch? | |||
|
| Member |
I have a Kamado Joe. I use a chimney. I put a little charcoal in the bottom and add a fire starter. I then pour a little 93% rubbing alcohol in and fill the chimney with charcoal. I set a timer for 6 minutes. If it looks a little slow I will use a leaf blower to stoke the flames a few times. 12 minutes total and I pour it into the ceramic bottom and open the lower and top vents if I am grilling steak or hamburger. If I am smoking for a long period I put on a diffuser plate add the meat and then barely open both vents. When the grill gets to around 200 degrees I close the vents to just a tiny sliver and the meat cooks for many hours. _________________________ | |||
|
Member |
Soldering Cane torch https://www.lowes.com/pd/Bernz...ane-Torch/5014236231 I’ve used this for years. Used to use the different chimney things with wood chips or paraffin starters but they took forever. This takes only a couple of minutes. | |||
|
Shaman |
I use lighter fluid and a heat gun. Turning it into a blast furnace for a few minutes.  He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. | |||
|
Member |
 A propane weed burner. . | |||
|
Legalize the Constitution |
I guess a BGE is deeper than my Weber kettle grill, but I’ve been using a propane torch for quite a long time, and it’s always worked well for me. _______________________________________________________ despite them | |||
|
| Member |
Have had good success using the wax fire starters Menards sells. Takes one to three to get the Kamado Joe going after a wooden match lights the wax squares. Depending on how many you buy, there’re around 10 cents each so the budget isn’t taking too big a hit. | |||
|
| Member |
What about using some pieces of Fatwood ? | |||
|
Raptorman |
I use a cheap Harbor Tools heat gun. Works perfect. ____________________________ Eeewwww, don't touch it! Here, poke at it with this stick. | |||
|
| Staring back from the abyss  |
Chicken dinner (except mine's not China Freight). ________________________________________________________ "Great danger lies in the notion that we can reason with evil." Doug Patton. | |||
|
| Drill Here, Drill Now |
This is what I've been using the last few years. $8.99, 2nd fastest method, and no holes in my T-shirts. I previously had a looftlighter, but it died. Slightly better design than the harbor freight heat gun, but not worth eight times the price. Chimney. I never understood the hype with this method. Too much handling and futzing around, and not as fast as the heat gun. Additionally, I don't get the newspaper. Mini weed burner. This is the fastest method, but I have so many T-shirts with holes in them because of the sparks. I also did not use it in the winter time when I lived in Anchorage and Calgary because I was afraid that it would heat the charcoal too fast and crack the ceramics. Additionally, it became the only reason I had a propane tank so last time I moved I never bought a propane tank. Starter blocks. I still keep these around for a Lighting the BGE during a power outage, but this is the slowest method. It was my preferred method for starting the BGE in the winter time when I lived in Anchorage and Calgary. Ego is the anesthesia that deadens the pain of stupidity DISCLAIMER: These are the author's own personal views and do not represent the views of the author's employer. | |||
|
Member |
My Grandpa always kept an old coffee can filled with sawdust mixed with coal oil. Veggie oil would do as well, I'd think. I use the waxy cubes that Weber sells, they've always worked well for me with either lump or briquettes. Before I discovered them I used a chimney with crumpled newspaper stuffed in the bottom. That didn't work as well. | |||
|
semi-reformed sailor |
I just build the charcoal pyramid, spray lighter fluid on it and light it(for my Webber grill). The fluid burns off. I don’t monkey with the coals until they are grey. Then I shove them over to one side and put the meat on the other side and throw on the lid. I’ve heard people say that using lighter fluid leaves a taste or odor on the food but they must be starting to cook before the stuff burns off. When I’m doing a charcoal snake for my smoker, I light a few lumps on the grill till it’s grey and then use tongs to put it on the charcoal snake and put the smoker body on top and throw in the meat and then the lid. "Violence, naked force, has settled more issues in history than has any other factor.” Robert A. Heinlein “You may beat me, but you will never win.” sigmonkey-2020 “A single round of buckshot to the torso almost always results in an immediate change of behavior.” Chris Baker | |||
|
| Powered by Social Strata | Page 1 2 3 |
 | Please Wait. Your request is being processed... |
|
© SIGforum 2025