I recently bought a Kamado Joe Classic II. I have been a weber kettle charcoal grill owner for decades. In that I used regular charcoal in a chimney, dumped it into the grill when 70% of the coals were white and when it all turned white 5 mins later, I started grilling.

The Egg is a different beast and not what I'm used to. I've gotten good at controlling temp with it and keeping the temp where I want it. I used it 4 different times so far and cooked 2 Beer can chickens, a NY strip steak and veggies, bone in BBQ chicken (a breast and thigh/drumstick), burned out the remaining charcoal after the third cook, then put fresh and did corn and a NY strip tonight. The restricting both the bottom vent and top vent is a bit of a mystery to me as with the weber and charcoal smokers they recommend always leaving the lid vent fully open and restricting the bottom so the smoke doesn't get stale and give a fowl taste. But I've been restricting both quite a bit and can keep it at whatever temperature I want. It doesn't take much to keep it at 400F or 450F.

But the starting the charcoal is a little bit of a mystery to me and seems to take longer than I'd expect. I've been using the Kamado Joe fire starters and used 1 the first time, then 2 fire starters the next few times on opposite sides of the grill a bit offset from the center. It seems to take forever to get the charcoal going, like 15 minutes and I have two remote softball size patches/areas of coal going and the rest unlit (bottom vent fully open and lid open). At this point I've closed the lid and leave the top vent fully open and bottom vent fully open until temp gets within 100F of where I want it and I start restricting it to come up more slowly. But this whole process seems to take forever......like 35 minutes or more, from lighting it. I've swept the coals well and made sure the air holes are open (not clogged) in the fire box.


I've seen videos where they use one fire starter in the center and once they get a softball sized section of coal going they close the lid and let it go from there. Is this how it's supposed to be done? Tonight I left the lid open 5-10 minutes longer until the 50-60% of the center coals were white and going really good and closed the lid and let it come up from there. Is there a better way? I'm using the Kamado Joe lump charcoal that is primarily very large pieces of coal. Is there a better method to light the coal, such as the electric iron, a chimney, or something else?

Now that I live in the South, I don't use the fire starters on my egg. When I lived in Alaska and Canada, I used them to light during the winter to minimize chance of cracking the ceramic.

Now, I light with my Looflighter. Much faster than the squares and much safer than a torch or weedburner.

^^^^^This, well worth the money.

I also use LoofLighter. It works great just dont touch the tip on the charcoal while using it. It will melt the metal tip away. You will save a lot of charcoal using one. I dont need to get too much charcoal white to get to temperture. Try BGE charcoal it works really well.

I always adjust both vents too. It doesn't work very good just adjusting one vent, especially if it is windy.

quote:

Originally posted by james_1234:
I also use LoofLighter. It works great just dont touch the tip on the charcoal while using it. It will melt the metal tip away. You will save a lot of charcoal using one. I dont need to get too much charcoal white to get to temperture. Try BGE charcoal it works really well.

I always adjust both vents too. It doesn't work very good just adjusting one vent, especially if it is windy.

How do you use it if you don't put it in the charcoal? How does it use less charcoal? It looks to me like a powerful heat gun

Whether using lighter blocks or chimney I have bottom vent full open, no screen, and top vent off. Once coals get going or I take chimney out and start putting stuff back on.

I use an electric starter in my BGE.

Pull out my kick ash basket, shake it, place back in, place electric element on top, add new lump over it, and plug it in. Top and bottom vent wide open. Lid closed.

Go inside and start prep, or at least set beef out to warm up a bit.

7- 10 minutes ish, come back outside, pull starter, stir coals around so they are even, place setup I am using and close lid. Adjust vents to approx. position I will be cooking at.

I usually allow 30-45 minutes for it to steady out from start depending on what I am doing. If doing a low and slow, I will allow an hour for it to stabilize before I put on the meat. Place meat, and leave it alone. Temp drops due to meat, but rises back to where you want. I used to fight it by opening vents, and would overshoot temp every time...

I think it is best to allow ANY ceramic grill to warm up slowly. I see folks using torches, or dumping in a chimney of lit coals... And the same folks will be on complaining about the base, fire box etc cracking...

Other benefit of taking time, it gets rid of initial smoke, which will overpower your food. When cooking, I have learned, best taste, is when smoke goes clear.

I have over 10 years experience cooking on my egg, with zero cracks, BUT, am still learning, and appreciate hearing others experience.

To me the EGG, is a cooking experience... I enjoy the process. If in a hurry, which happens, then I use my gasser:-)

Good luck!

Okay, I know this will not be for everyone.. but my father had the best and fastest way to light charcoal I have ever encountered.

He would roll out his cutting torch and tanks and light the torch with just acetylene and hit the coals for about a minute with that until they each had just a slight glow on a corner or two.. then he would turn the acetylene off and the oxygen on and hit the coals with pure oxygen for about a minute.

I use a torch with mapp gas.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Be...t-TS4000KC/203368730

I use the grill twice a month. The cylinder lasts about a year.

quote:

Originally posted by Jeff Yarchin:
I use a torch with mapp gas.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Be...t-TS4000KC/203368730

I use the grill twice a month. The cylinder lasts about a year.

This is exactly what I do or use the camping propane bottles when the MAP gas is out. It works the best IMHO and have friends that do it after I showed them. For indirect cooking/smoking just light the center of the coals so the temp comes up slower and it doesn't go over your target temp. for high temp light 3-4 for areas kind of like the points of square pattern or triagle. both ways both vents wide open, hold the flame till the coals get red and then shut the lid with vents open. I've been grilling on extra large BGE since 2008. It;s the easiest and least hassle of lighting it. Also don't forget to stir the coal before lighting

Edit to add. When doing it this way with a fresh load of coal out of the bag you will get some popping of the coals because of moisture. Yeah I know it was in a sealed bag. It;s going to happen. The next time you light it on left over coals and not adding fresh it won't pop on you.
Hray

quote:

Originally posted by Jeff Yarchin:
I use a torch with mapp gas.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Be...t-TS4000KC/203368730

I use the grill twice a month. The cylinder lasts about a year.

Me too, except mine is a TS8000. Also handy for adding extra searing or searing after sous vide.

I use a BBQ Guru torch:

https://bbqguru.com/storenav?C...ryId=9&ProductId=200

Stir old charcoal to knock ash through the grate. Clean out ash from bottom (if needed). Pour new lump charcoal on top (if needed). Open top and bottom vents wide open. Hit charcoal with the torch for 30-60 seconds solid. Shut the lid and wait a few minutes as the temp starts climbing. Set top and bottom vents to desired temp settings. Give it a few more minutes to get to desired temp.

Easy as pie steak.


I tried one of the electric coil starters when I first got an egg ~ 10 years ago, but it took longer than this torch, and they aren't very durable.

I use this electric one from Home Depot .
I do have to gently bend the elements to fit the curve of my BGE.
Not hard to do, works great.

Most of my KJ cooking is low and slow so I need to make sure I don't overshoot the starting temperature. To do that, I knock the ash out through the grate and add more lump charcoal. I'll then use a couple of half sheets of paper towels, pour a little vegetable or avocado oil on each and fold them up. Place them under a couple of lumps of charcoal and light the paper towels. Open the bottom and top vents all the way and close the lid. Usually within 10 minutes the temp is near 200F.

ETA: I used this method the other day and got distracted at at the 20 min mark it was approaching 500F.


I only use the charcoal chimney if I need something hot.

is there any reason a chimney starter wouldn't work?

For direct cooks I use a chimney started by paper towels soaked in bacon grease. My attempt at recycling and it works great by the way. Save them in the fridge until needed.
For indirect I use 3 small (1 inch sq) fire starters. Nestled in, then open bottom and upper vents. As it approaches my desired temperature I adjust them to maintain the temperature. I usually cook at about 225 which translates to about 1/4 inch open top and bottom. Find its easier to ease in from lower than cool it down.

$14 hot air gun from HF, works great.

I use the fire starters, the chimney or a torch, depends on which is closer. I prefer the mapp torch.

I used to use an electric charcoal starter to ignite my coals, but I have had them stop working and needed to be replaced. I now use natural fire starters https://www.amazon.com/gp/prod...02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 which work great. It does take about 15 minutes for the coals to get hot which is the same as the electric starter. I just plan this into my cook time.

I also use a Looflighter with my BGE.