How to Use a Charcoal Chimney

Are you a fan of using charcoal for your grilling? There are a variety of methods you can use to get the best results from your cooking, including the ways you stack your coals when starting up the grill. A charcoal chimney is a product you can purchase that helps you properly light the grill in an extremely efficient way. You won’t even need to use lighter fluid to get it started!

The chimney is essentially a metal cylinder, which allows for heat to build up in a more concentrated area to start the stacked coals more quickly. Rising hot air coming from the bottom of the chimney creates an updraft, which causes the coals above them to light as well. This allows the coals to start up faster, and for them to burn off any chemicals before you begin cooking. This is especially important for self-lighting briquettes, which often feature a sort of petroleum coating.

Here’s some information you should know about lighting and using a chimney for charcoal grilling in Wausau, WI.

Lighting a charcoal chimney

The first step is to open up the air vents. You should then start by putting a little bit of newspaper or kindling wood at the bottom of the chimney, which will help the charcoal light more easily. Just make sure you don’t pack it in too tightly—you don’t want to restrict the airflow that’s required for flames to start.

Next, add the coals and place the chimney starter on a fireproof surface. You can do this on top of the charcoal grate inside the grill, which is what most people do, though you might need to use a different fireproof surface if you’re starting up coals that you wish to add into the grill. Light it up and watch as the coals start to burn!

The smoke will die down after a couple minutes. Make sure the coals are burning, and then wait for the coals to be ready for grilling. This will typically take around 20 to 25 minutes, but you’ll be able to tell the coals are ready if flames are coming out of the top of the chimney. In addition, the color of the coals is also a telltale sign of whether or not they’re ready for cooking. The coals on top should be starting to turn an ashy gray color.

While wearing protective grilling gloves, empty those hot coals on to the charcoal grate or grill firebox, and make sure you have some metal tongs on hand to evenly spread and distribute those coals across the grate. You can pick up and move coals with those tongs as needed.

If you need to add more coals, you can add them directly on top of the glowing coals and allow them a few minutes to catch on fire. However, there may be some circumstances in which you need to add so many new coals that using the chimney again may be necessary.

These are just a few tips for using a chimney starter for charcoal grilling in Wausau, WI that can help you get the best and most efficient results out of your grilling. For more charcoal grilling tips or information about various supplies you can use with your grilling processes, contact the team at Marcell’s Specialties Inc. today.

Categorised in: Grilling Tips

This post was written by Writer