Old me:
Tell me if this sounds familiar, I stack a mountain of charcoal over a napkin in a shape of a pyramid. I then douse lighter fluid from the top. I let it rest for a few minutes and then light the napkin. After the initial smoke is gone, I get a large piece of cardboard to fan the pyramid until the top briquette catches fire. Process takes 20 minutes. When I flatten out the briquettes so I can put my grate on, not all the briquettes are burned uniformly so I wait another few minutes for the top large pieces to burn to gray, because I don't want cancer.
New me:
No lighter fluid.
No fanning for 20 minutes. The chimney forces air up. I go drink a soda (hate beer) and come back in 20 minutes.
No problems with uniformity. When I dump the coals, they are all equally gray. Every "spot" in my weber is burning equally hot.
Verdict: Weber is known to be the best mainstream brand there is to bbqing. They did not disappoint on their Chimney quality. This will actually save you money because you burn away way fewer briquettes to get a good fire. And you don't ever need fluid again.
This is my second large Weber starter. It works as it should. My first one lasted 10 years. I particularly like the extra handle that allows two-handed pouring. I have looked at many other chimney starters and this is the best value IMHO. Tips:
Use kraft paper like grocery bag pieces or parts of your charcoal bag and a starter cubes like Katon Cubes and you will have a quick fire.
Pay attention when you empty hot coals to get all of them out of the chimney!!!! This goes for any chimney starter.
I'm ashamed of myself for using lighter fluid after having bought this. I've been grilling for years and never knew about this simple invention and I regret not having found it sooner.
It's so simple to use! Insert charcoal in cylinder, stuff some newspaper in the bottom from underneath, light newspaper and wait 10 minutes or so then dump it into your grill. I light mine inside my grill on top of the charcoal grate so as not to damage my concrete driveway, then dump it right into the grill. To me, this is easier than using lighter fluid or having to stack my charcoal like my father taught me.
This is hands down my favorite grilling accessory.
We were pleasantly surprised with this chimney starter not knowing what to expect when we used it the first time. It was ready to go in about 10 minutes. We only filled it halfway the first time and used a brown paper sack as starter. It only took one match to get it all started. I've attached user photos for this. It smokes quite a bit to begin with, then some ash floats around. It truly is a chimney as it superheats the charcoals and sends up smoke and intense flame. Be sure to treat with caution and have a heavy duty oven mitt handy. It poured easily onto the grill grate and we were immediately ready to grill. Note the discoloration on the side in one of the photos from the intense heat. It doesn't affect the performance of the chimney but does remind you how hot it can get. We love it! Can't wait to use it again.
I bought a cheapo grill from Walmart and I couldn't get it to work the way I wanted with lighter fluid and charcoal. The other day this baby arrived and I was finally able to use my grill properly for the first time.
Gets coals piping hot all at the same time. I made shish kebabs on it and could hear that searing sound when they hit the grill. Even with the lid on and the vent closed I could feel the intense heat coming out. When I used lighter fluid on a charcoal pyramid previously to light the charcoals the heating was so weak and un even and seemed to die out after 20 min. I was pleasantly surprised to feel the same fiery heat coming from the coals half an hour later. There's.
NOTES
this chimney is plenty big enough to be filled with a full size grills worth of charcoal
Loosely stuff some newspaper in the bottom, fill the top with your charcoal and then light the paper. Within 10 minutes your coals will be ready to go
Feature Product
- Designed to quickly produce hot coals for cooking
- 7.5 in. in diameter, 12 in. high
- Specialized cone-shaped grate
- Durable construction for longevity
- Ergonomic handle for comfortable use
Description
Get your charcoal glowing and ready to go in just minutes with the Weber Rapid fire Chimney Charcoal Starter. Tackle high-volume cooking with the extra-large capacity bin. It's made from aluminized steel.
We have a yellow circa-2000 "The Simpsons" Edition Weber kettle (with blue handles and Homer's picture on it) that we use with this chimney starter.
It took a few tries to figure out how much charcoal I needed to use--1/2 full, 3/4 full, or full to top?
I tried starting it with paper only, paper plus the white starter cubes, and the cubes only. Paper only wasn't enough, as it needed a second stuffing of paper to get it fully started. Cubes alone was not enough either. Cubes and paper worked pretty much every time, though when I filled it completely with charcoal, it still hadn't started all the way, so I tipped it a bit and added more newspaper. So keep some extra newspaper on hand.
As far as handling it when it's full of red-hot charcoals? Easy. Haven't gotten burned yet, not did I spill them--sometimes I use the Weber indirect cooking method, so I have to place the chimney between the two indirect metal wings, as it's starting, then when ready, lift it up using both handles and pour half on one side, and half on the other. Easy. no spills there either.
When that part is done, I pick it up using the long handle and set it somewhere out of the way to cool. After a few uses, the heat shield became a bit discolored, but it's metal, and it works, so it doesn't bother me.
I don't know what the thing in the back is for but this is built tough. I often cook with mesquite, oak and pecan that is either baseball softball sized. I can also put in long (10"-12") and get maybe three of four in and they light. I am old and still read a newspaper so I have a ready supply. It takes about four or five double width whole sheets individually wadded up to light a full container to half container. When the rivets pop from being heated over and over after two or three years you can put a screw and nut to keep it going until you get a new one. This unit takes the longest to disintegrate (they will all fall apart sooner or later). Some lesser units don't have enough room for the right amount of tinder, or the handle falls off BUT NOT THIS ONE.
I bought this as an add on to the Weber Premium Charcoal Grill and boy are we glad we did. I got this grill as a gift for my boyfriend who is the gourmet cook in this family and I don't cook at all. I figured he'd want a charcoal grill so that food is authentically grilled and much to my surprise he has little experience using charcoal grill. So we've been cooking on it nonstop since last weekend and learning from awesome dishes and failures how to become better at it and I don't know where we'd be without this starter. It's LARGE and holds a lot of charcoal. I ordered the starter cubes, but they haven't arrived, so we used standard charcoal and just filled it up and lit through the holes as directed. Large flames shoot off the top when it catches, so be sure that you have the starter placed on the bottom grill and not the cooking surface so you can easily pour the coals and spread them out as desired. This makes life a LOT easier and I imagine we'd have spent a lot more time trying to start the coals evenly and get cooking without this. The handle stays cool no matter what and you can easily fit enough coals in this to cook for hours without refilling it. I really recommend this over the smaller one because if you're going to do it....do it right. Why have to cook up two batches of coals just to cook your chicken and burgers? This gets your grill up to 500 degrees and ready to cook pretty fast compared to doing it the old fashioned way. Just paper and coals works fine if you don't use any starter cubes or other items. I am thrilled I chose to add this onto my gift, otherwise I think he'd have been too stressed to cook off a first meal!
This is an interesting invention! I now realize that using and storing dangerously flammable lighter fluid is a thing of the past. Works great with just some left over packing paper that I store in an outside case along with my charcoal. Place the paper at the bottom, fill to the top (don't over-fill) with your choice of charcoal and light the paper with a long lighter, and just wait about 10 minutes for all the coals to glow. Pour it out on the coal section and put the grilling surface on and you're ready! It does smoke a good bit at first, but once the coals get going, the smoke will subside.
I have always thought that using charcoal starter added an unpleasant taste to your barbecue food products and let's face it, starting charcoal and getting it to burn evenly can be a pain, especially if it is windy outside. I am here to tell you that after using this product twice on two windy days, I wonder how I ever got along without it! I also purchased the Weber 7417 FireStarters Lighter Cubes and filled it with some Kingsford Charcoal and only used one kitchen match!. In about 10 minutes this Chimney Starter was full of red hot coals which I then dumped into my barbecue smoker along with some Hickory Wood Chips that I had soaked over night in a pail of water and smoked me some fantastic spare ribs that me and my Grandson's friends scarfed up.
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