Lighter Fluid

K

kwantz

Guest
Lately Its been really windy here where i live, so its a bitch to get the coals started just useing plain newpaper in a chimney starer, is there anything bad with using lightfluid on some of the sheets of paper to get the paper going easier so the wind doesnt blow out the flame? I have been doing it all week i dont notice and taste difference, i find the coals light even faster this way, makes the air stink a bit, but only for a few seconds.
 
A little vegetable oil on the paper works, and does not smell of petroleum distillate.
 
Kevin said:
A little vegetable oil on the paper works, and does not smell of petroleum distillate.
Click to expand...


I was going to suggest the same thing. Been doing that for years. But be forewarned don't use to much oil as it can generate an absolutely ungodly amount of smoke. One time when we did this. My son did not realize that I had already put oil on the paper so he added some more oil and then proceeded to add the charcoal and lit the paper. The smoke was so thick that The fire department actually showed up. It was a calm day and the smoke unfortunately did not dissipate very quickly. It was actually kind of funny watching everyone scrambling to shut the windows to the house.

The other thing you can do is use Alcohol in an empty tuna can under the coals in the chimney. I use the Stove type of Alcohol they sell for boat stoves and it works great. Its the only thing I have found that really works well if you are only lighting 5 or 10 coals to say start a Kamado. The alcohol burns very hot and really gets the coals going.
 
Gulf Wax is your friend! LOL We made fire starters out of parafin dipped, rolled newspaper when I was in Boy Scouts. They worked great.

Craig
 
First a little cooking oil is the way to go.

Second, it doesn't take much to create a windbreak for a charcoal chimney. The bag of charcoal will do in a pinch.
 
I have lopped some lard one time started right away but man I had billowing white smoke for 15 min......
 
+2 for the weed burner! Even if you have a small propane stove, side burner, or torch. These can all be simple chimney starters. Lighter fluid is for drunken bonfires. Not for cooking food on!
 
+3 for the weed burner...

....it's kind of like the "Fire for effect" call in the Army when you for ALL the artillery in one spot.....

Everyone in the neighborhood knows what you're up to, and I don't mind them coming over to watch, the admission is one cold beer for me too.

RMR
 
I have one of the little benzomatic hand held tourch that uses the small propane tanks. Fill your chimney, hold the torch at the bottom it wont take long for the chimney to catch. Sometimes the wind can be a real beatch.
 
Veg. oil is gonna be your best bet... you don't cook with lighterfluid so why would you use it? Ball up some papertowels, put it on a bed of coals, start to build your pyramid, and when almost to the top pour a little veggie oil on the paertowels, finish your pyramid, and what I do just to start the fire, I put a touch of lighterfluid. I promise it will get your coals nice and hot and you don't have to worry about drowning it with fluid.
 
I see a lot of replies recommending the weed burner. I have used this method and to be honest I had to stop using it. The comments from my guests and neighbors were kind of embarrassing. It's really something you would expect to see Tim the Tool Man using. Just a bit of over kill. Nothing like starting your charcoal with a flame thrower that sounds like a rocket taking off accompanied by a shower of sparks worthy of a fireworks display.. :lol:

Back when I used the flame thrower to light my charcoal I had a T-shirt made up that said " The only good use for Propane is lighting my Charcoal" It had a caricature of me lighting my weber Kettle grill with a flame thrower. I had that shirt made up to mess with one of my neighbors who was so pro propane that he made Hank hill look mild. He would not eat anything cooked on an old rubber tire as he put it. (charcoal) what do you expect from someone who makes pulled pork in a crock pot with liquid smoke.

While I did stop using the Flame thrower I did find something called a jiffy torch. It's about twice the size of a standard propane torch tip and it connects right up to a 5 gallon propane tank. I have used this extensively before they changed the damn adapters on the propane tanks. It only took about 10 seconds of flame to get them going and a 5 gallon tank of propane lasted a very long time. I BBQ 2 to 4 times a week year round and a tank lasted me well over a 2 years. My weed burner would have eaten that tank up in no time but it sure was fun
​
 
bbq-slut said:
I see a lot of replies recommending the weed burner. I have used this method and to be honest I had to stop using it. The comments from my guests and neighbors were kind of embarrassing. It's really something you would expect to see Tim the Tool Man using. Just a bit of over kill. Nothing like starting your charcoal with a flame thrower that sounds like a rocket taking off accompanied by a shower of sparks worthy of a fireworks display.. :lol:

Back when I used the flame thrower to light my charcoal I had a T-shirt made up that said " The only good use for Propane is lighting my Charcoal" It had a caricature of me lighting my weber Kettle grill with a flame thrower. I had that shirt made up to mess with one of my neighbors who was so pro propane that he made Hank hill look mild. He would not eat anything cooked on an old rubber tire as he put it. (charcoal) what do you expect from someone who makes pulled pork in a crock pot with liquid smoke.

While I did stop using the Flame thrower I did find something called a jiffy torch. It's about twice the size of a standard propane torch tip and it connects right up to a 5 gallon propane tank. I have used this extensively before they changed the damn adapters on the propane tanks. It only took about 10 seconds of flame to get them going and a 5 gallon tank of propane lasted a very long time. I BBQ 2 to 4 times a week year round and a tank lasted me well over a 2 years. My weed burner would have eaten that tank up in no time but it sure was fun​
Click to expand...

If you can't handle the big guns.
http://www.amazon.com/Propane-Torch..._5?ie=UTF8&s=automotive&qid=1251811482&sr=8-5


http://www.amazon.com/Rafael-4-Pcs-...f=sr_1_31?ie=UTF8&s=hi&qid=1251811572&sr=8-31
 
I used Weber starter cubes and veg oil on newspaper in the past. Then I grew up got a weed burner plus 5.
 
IMG_0220-1.jpg
 
can you use lighter fluid to start the fire when you burn out a drum to build a UDS?
+6 or whatever for the weeed burner. My wife thought i was crazy for using it until I found this forum... thanks guys!

P.S. A weed burner is a wise investment you can use it for so many things from lighting charcoal to ciggaretts to plowing the drivway in the winter to weeding the garden to scaring the neigbors off the property.... :-0
 
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