Okay guys lighter fluid or not

[treegje]

I use a charcoal chimmney

 

[azrocker]

I use a hand held torch

Just don't try to get a lit fire going with one!
http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/sh...ad.php?t=56115

 

[jirodriguez]

I always just use a chimney starter with two pieces of newspaper in the bottom. Works great, and I havn't bouth lighter fluid in over 20 years!

 

[downstatesmoker]

At least the guy had a sense of humor about it. Was a little singed and not too badly hurt. Sounds like it was more pride that was hurt then his body.

 

[downstatesmoker]

I had forgotten this, but my grandfather used to use gasoline to light his grills. He had 2 little hibachi grills which he used to load with Kingsford, douse in gasoline, and then stand back and flip a match at them. They would go up with a great big whoosh and fireball. It's a wonder he didn't set the house on fire.

 

[jcurrier]

The key to the chimney starter is too make a ring of paper- not a ball- that allows the draft to happen

 

[erik]

Chimney starter + gas grill = easy charcoal starting.

No lighter fluid necessary.

 

[jdt]

no, I usually just use the newspaper in the chimney but have used both a torch and the gas grill side burner to speed the process at certain times.

 

[hogfan40]

Weed burner here, but then again i only use the sticks.

 

[pit 4 brains]

I can see using fluid to light coals for grilling or to get a base fire going in a sfb, but if ya plan to use the minion method with either type of charcoal, I wouldn't suggest it.. chimneys are way too efficient to spend money on fluid. Leave the mushroom clouds to hot dog burners next door!

 

[porkaholic]

Set the chimney on the side burner of my gas grill. Works great and no ash.

 

[pignit]

I set the chimney on top of a concrete block so that when the paper burns it drops down in the hole. Pour a little water in it and it's gone.

 

[jd08]

Mapp torch works wonders. Burns hotter than propane and in under a minute the coals are lit and slowly spreading. It only takes 5- 10 minutes from the first click to putting on the meat, depending on the type of fire I need.

I generally do it straight in the BGE and don't use a chimney, but the same method works in a chimney as well.

Oh, that's also using lump charcoal, not briquets.

 

[richoso1]

Now that simply works for me.

 

[meateater]

Now that's funny!

 

[carpetride]

Weed burner when I'm around the house, Olive oil and paper towel in the chimney when I camp, and diesel if I'm at the in-laws.

 

[grampyskids]

Many years ago, my Dad and I built a Summer Cottage on Cape Cod. Now only two things grew wild on our property, blueberries and Poison Ivy. Since I was the only one of our seven that poison ivy didn't bother, my Dad made me pull it all up. He told me to bag it up so that we could take it to the dump. To me that was too much work, SOOO I raked it into a big pile and doused it with lighter fluid, and lit it. Needless to say, everyone in the neigherhood ended up with an almost terminal case of poison ivy. The only 2 things that I can say is that I did (barely) live and I will never ever use lighter fluid again.

 

[john3198]

If I am grilling, I will use my chimney. I like the paper towel idea and the concrete block. Or may try the side burner on the propane grill.

If I am smoking, I usually don't want very much fire, so I put in a small amount of lump and use 1/2 of a "Strike-a-fire" stick with the fire box lowered down over the stick which is in the ash pan.

I have never detected any hint of hydrocarbons using the stick.

 

[chisoxjim]

since my weber kettle is still in the garage(id typically put the lit chimney starter full of lump on a rack of the kettle)....,

I fill the ring of the WSM with unlit lump & wood, then set the lit, full chimney starter on top of the unlit lump in the ring. Then dump the lit lump, when it is ready, over the unlit lump in the ring which has gotten a small headstart directly under where the chimney was.

lighter fluid, chemicals and bbq dont mix imho.

 

[gnubee]

On the episode that featured Johnny Trigg's Rib Cookoff. All the judges detected lighter fluid in Lee Ann's ribs, She thought they were nuts because she never uses it. But turns out they were right. The Owner that loaned her the Big Freen Eggs used lighter fluid all the time and the judges could easily taste it. She placed last in the competition. It would seem to me that if you use it, you should make sure that your rig is cleaned often to get rid of any residual fluid. I think that although the fluid is all burned off in a hot fire the outer parts of the smoker would still have some lingering chemicals from the fluid.

I could be wrong I suppose....... I mean it's never happened before .....but I suppose its possible.