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Don't know why I need this, but it 2 for 1. so it's a bargain.
Just buy and pay for one item and we'll put in the second one with it.
Electric Charcoal BBQ Starter - Buy One Get One Free $25 (+ $10 Postage) @ Easy Charcoal BBQ
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dw121212 on 27/01/2016 - 15:24 ebay.com.au (1625 clicks)
Last edited 27/01/2016 - 15:33 by 1 other user
Last edited 27/01/2016 - 15:33 by 1 other user
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Would make a great branding iron
How so?
It's a giant soldering iron. However a soldering iron when placed down doesn't rest on the element. This is huge and would rest on the element. Once that thing is hot it will take a long time to cool down. There is no guard for it, if you place it in the wrong place or it falls, you will have a fire. This thing cannot be legal. It may comply with electrical standards (wiring) but I am sure it does not comply with safety standards.
Place or drop hot coals in the wrong place, you'll also start a fire. The point of the device is to start a fire. If you don't have the common sense to safely deal with charcoal grills, maybe this device isn't for you.
what a pointless video…
what a pointless video…
as pointless as the cornballer machine in the vid..
as pointless as your comment….
and as pointless as the device in this deal……i think you just had an unintentional win……
"don't know why you need this" This is OzBargain! You need everything.
It's for when you get left "home alone" and you need something to heat a door knob with.
People interested in this need to consider local laws for fire restrictions. You cannot use one of these in Perth during summer due to fire restrictions.
while im not familiar with WA's laws specifically, it is usually only "total fire ban days" you are not allowed to use solid fuel bbq's on, but even on total fire ban days you are still able to use a gas or electric BBQ (as long as your always with it etc, thre are still laws you have to follow)
are you actually sure your not allowed to use them all summer?
You can use this whenever you want, you can't use cooking device with an open flame (or one that uses solid fuel such as wood or charcoal) during a Total Fire Ban. Total Fire Bans are declared by DEFS on a day to day basis. Last summer there were something like 18 days cumulatively where there was a total fire ban.
So yes you can use this, but not on an open fire when there is a TFB.
You can use this whenever you want
if your not using this as a charcoal starter… what evil plans do you have for it? :)
why you need two when one is able to do the job?
Two piles of charcoal?
Give away the second one as a present.
is this a good method? anyone tried it?
can anyone advise of a better tried method?
took me 2 hours to start my charcoal fire yesterday. complete noobHow did you do it? I read that you should place them together so that they heat up each other.
chimney starter is a good idea
https://www.masters.com.au/product/100952201/master-forge-ch…Ive been using one with my recent Master's charcoal bbq deal, but currently using the gas burner on my regular bbq to start it instead of newspaper or fire-lighters.. should probably give it a try without cheating at some stage :)
that what i used.
i put some charcoal in it and tried to light them up using a portable gas stove ( $30 from coles, uses aerosol cans filled with gas)
it was taking foerever to light up the charcoal. last time i used paper it made a huge mess so this time i tried the gas stove method but its way too slowthose stoves are butane not propane. butane burns a lot cooler (and i think with more moisture, but dont quote me on that) so that may explain your problem with that, tho i thought it would work.. did you leave it on the flame long? did you leave it in the chimney until the charcoal was all hot/burning?
i completely agree with your paper issues, as i said below i dont like using it. never worked well for me.
Try a couple of jiffys
[@nosdan] [@simulacrum] (/comment/3417331/redir): i left the charcoal in a chimney and on the gas stove for more than 1 hour. it was taking far too long. only 1 or 2 charcoal logs had actually lit up.
i ended up buying jiffys in the end and also taking the charcoal out of the chimney and placing them directly on the flame of the stove.
i did some research last night and found a quick and easy method was the use of a heat gun.
i bought one last night from Bunnings for $50 (ozitio brand with 2 year warranty)Ill give it a go and see how effective it is.
Thanks for the advice. :)
@tighta55: hmm the flames probably don't reach high enough into the chimney to actually touch the coals. For this technique to be practical the blue part of the flames should be touching the surface of the coal.
Jiffy flames reach pretty high. I'm certain if you light up a couple of jiffys and place them directly under the chimney full of coal, as long as they aren't getting blown about by the wind too much, the bottom coals should be lit by the time the jiffys have burned out. Do this directly on the bbq - the walls will protect the jiffys from wind and stop them being extinguished prematurely.
Once the bottom coals are going you can use your heat gun to help the rest catch more quickly or you can have a beer and wait 15 minutes for it to happen on its own via the magic of the chimney.
@simulacrum: i think what was happening was the butane in the stove was creating more moisture than the heat could overcome and made it like trying to light damp charcoal (if you have ever tried to light damp charcoal you will know how impossible it is)
https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/1-burning-butane-c4h10…
Burning butane (C4H10) produces gaseous carbon dioxide and water.
Once the bottom coals are going you can use your heat gun
no, you use only the heat gun. preferably point it from the top through the gaps in the chunks and within minutes you have hot glowing/burning coals. from there you pull the gun back more and use the hot air to fan the now extremely hot coals. the only reason i dont use this more is because i dont have power near my BBQ's so i need to run an extension cord, the extra time that takes me its just easier for me to use metho as i have said below.
@nosdan: You may be right.. though in my chimney the coal basket is pretty high from the bottom of the chimney… and the portable butane stoves I've experienced just don't burn that high.
The looftlighter everyone keeps recommending (which I have) is essentially a slightly modified heat gun so it makes sense that the heat gun is effective too. I just can't be bothered standing over the coals when there's good banter going on, so these days I i usually just light a couple of jiffys and leave it to do its thing.
@simulacrum: yep totally agree with you, i think its a combination of everything.
and yea i already had a pretty expensive heat gun i use for other things anyway. they are exactly the same idea, hot, oxygen rich air fired at the coals getting them started. if you paid attention in high school science class im sure they would have done the experiment of putting the smouldering peice of paper into an oxygen rich beaker and watched the paper roar back into life agian. same thing here essentially. :)
Hi,
Grab yourself one of the charcoal chimney's (look like a giant mug!) from Bunnings - when used correctly (make multiple 'donuts' of scrunched up news paper rather than balls) they work really very well. You just have to be patient enough to WAIT once the initial paper burn goes out and for that heat made to carry through into the heatbeads/charcoal (which you can do after a few minutes by putting your hand over the top of the chimney and feeling for the distinct heat from the charcoal having caught & started burning deep within it).Have had one for years…never fails to work (sometimes you'll have to have it on a grate or vent so enough oxygen can get underneath to the paper) - but I always am amused at friends who have to use firestarters/flammables etc - these work really well and are very simple.
Bunnings used to carry a generic branded one - which would have been fine. Otherwise they have a more expensive one thats around $30.
My instructions are prolly a tad sketchy but google charcoal chimney and you'll get all the info you need - they're great and much faster than starting in the bbq/weber. :-)
PS. The user above has linked a cheapie one - FWIW looks a tad dodgy, patchy reviews - I have the more expensive Heat Bead branded one - thats very solid and worth the extra $$$. You'll understand when carrying a few kg of red hot coals you want it to be VERY secure & sturdy. :-)
@nikko fwiw i never liked using paper. it tends to block the airflow to the coals and takes longer to get up to cooking temps. in the few times ive tried it its taken around twice as long as other methods. maybe i just wasnt used to it and doing it wrong.
As stated the REAL trick if you're using paper is to make multiple 'donut' type shapres out of it - so you'll have nothing in the absolute centre - thats how the chimney effect works best.
Costs essentially nothing and works very well - but as you've stated a heat gun etc etc also work so just comes down to the individual.
The only true downside of paper is that after the coals are lit (usually 15-20min max of waiting) you'll lift the chimney up to leave a bunch of pesky paper ashes etc - but I just hose these down quickly so they don't do all over the place.
Anyway lots of good options - we both agree a charcoal chimney is the best vehicle, so how he uses it is flexible. :-)
several ways
first thing you should consider is getting a lighting chimney. not only do they make it easier to light but are ready to cook with in a much shorter time.you can get easy light brickets which already have lighter stuff in each brick. they make a huge fire to begin with then quickly dies down and you can start cooking once they ash over (when most of them turn white'ish)
unfortunately for me i prefer the taste of hard wood lump charcoal which can have no such thing so i use one of the following.my preferred method is soak a heap of chunks in metho for about 10 mins first (meth burns off clean caus its just simple alcohol so no funny flavours). things to note is that obviously you will end up with a rather large fire at the beginning so you need to be careful.
the other method i use if i run out of meth is my heat gun. works really well because its not only heat but loads of oxygen from the fan and again gets them burning nice and hot nice and quick.
from setup to cooking i guess would take me 20-30 mins but it is a bit of an art that you need to learn. once you get the hang of it it is much easier
last tip, always make sure your charcoal is DRY. if its even slightly damp it turns a 20 min job into a much harder and much longer issue.
Metho?!??!? are you kidding?
Don't use anything you don't want to taste.
yea, you know "mentholated spirits"? that stuff that burns off completely by about 80c? which means by the time the coals are up to heat its long gone. :) there is absolutely no way you could get the flavour from that in your cooking. completely impossible.
also, look up what goes into fire lighting gel……. guess what the accelerant in that is? :) thats right, metho..
fwiw… metho is 99% ethanol, which is what vodka is… which is why they say vodka has no taste caus ethanol also has no taste…
but hey, never let facts and science get in the way of your silly old wives tales :)
Don't use anything you don't want to taste.
Like fire starters? newspaper? gas lighter? matches?
There is no way that Metho (or even petrol) would contribute ANY taste whatsoever to the food, since you only start cooking AFTER the charcoal has heated, and that is AFTER the ignition device has done it's job and been consumed.
+1 for the heat gun, works well
echoing the other comments above about the charcoal chimney. just a couple of sheets of newspaper and 10 minutes later, you've got a nice bunch of coals ready to go. no need for firestarters or anything.
personally, i find that it works best when the paper is in strips and not tightly packed so that it gets a good flow of air in and up through the coals.Bang on advice - as I stated too much paper - particularly balled up will choke things - so less and by putting 4-5 pieces of newspaper max but in the right way is more important. :-)
Yep no need for accellerants
+1 on the charcoal chimney. Try with 2 jiffy firestarters under a chimney full of coal first. By the time the jiffys have burned out, the bottom coals will have caught. Then the heat from those will create a draft that pulls air into the bottom of the chimney and out the top, which will help the rest of the coals catch. The more coals catch the stronger the draft and the quicker the others will catch. After about 20 mins all the coals in the chimney should be lit and you'll probably see flames shooting out of the top.
Once you're comfortable with jiffy's you can probably replace them with scrunched up newspaper paper as described by Nikko. It's a little more fiddly as you have to be carefully not to block the airflow, so you may want to start with the jiffys.
I use a looflighter - very quick and efficient, no fuss: http://www.looftlighter.com/
Last year Bunnings sold them for about $30. Now I think some barbeque stores have them. Otherwise try eBay.
Another alternative is a butane fire lighter.
Same here, I use a looflighter at home and a chimney with firelighter when outside. I find the looflighter very quick to heat the charcoals but you need to be there to do it. The chimney is good if you want to leave it while doing something else.
That looks very dangerous