Charcoal Starter

If you own a charcoal grill, you will need a way to light the charcoals.


Buy Now	Buy Now

Charcoal briquettes are made by compressing charcoal, typically made from sawdust and other wood by-products, with a binder and other additives. The briquettes are difficult to light unless you use a charcoal starter.

There are several methods of lighting charcoal briquettes and the first method is the liquid, petroleum based charcoal starter. You can purchase briquettes that are already saturated with the charcoal starter or you can buy the charcoal starter and add it to the charcoal yourself. After soaking the coals with the starter fluid, light with a match. In about ten or fifteen minutes the fire is ready to cook on.

The next method is an electric charcoal starter. This is basically a big electric heating element. You place it in the bottom of the grill, mound the charcoal briquettes on top of it and plug it in. When the charcoal has started, just unplug the charcoal starter and remove it from the grill. Set it aside in a safe place to cool off. Be sure it is placed where no one can accidentally touch it and get burned.

The next method is a chimney charcoal starter. The chimney style charcoal starter is a large cylinder that is open at the top and bottom and has a handle on the side. Place the chimney in the bottom of your grill, place a few sheets of crumpled paper in the bottom, add the charcoal on top of the paper and light it. When the coals are good and hot, remove the chimney and spread the coals out to cook.