How to Start a Fire on a Charcoal Grill

One of the best ways to start charcoal is with a chimney starter.

The easiest and most reliable way to start a charcoal grill is to use a chimney starter. With this system, no messy chemical starter fluid needs to be added to the coals. A chimney starter is basically an open cylinder with a handle and an open grate about three-quarters of the way from the bottom. The bottom of the chimney starter usually has holes around the bottom below the grate for ventilation and easy access for lighting.

Things You'll Need

• Charcoal grill
• Chimney starter
• Newspaper
• Lighter or matches
• Charcoal briquettes or lump charcoal
• Grill spatula or tongs

Instructions

Using the Chimney Starter

1. Add charcoal to the chimney starter. Unless you are using a small, portable grill or plan to add extra charcoal mid-cooking, you should fill the chimney to the top.

2. Roll two sheets of newspaper into long strips separately. These should be just slightly less wide than the bottom, ventilated area of the chimney.

3. Form the two strips into separate rings by tucking one end of the newspaper into the other end. The rings should be roughly the same circumference as the bottom of the chimney starter.

4. Insert the newspaper rings into the bottom of the chimney starter. Be sure to leave a hole in the middle of the newspaper rings for proper airflow.

5. Place the loaded chimney starter on top of your grill grate, or other fire safe area, and light the newspaper in at least four different locations. It is best to light the newspaper in multiple spots to ensure even burning.

6. Wait for the bottom coals to have a deep fire-orange or amber color, flames are rising from the chimney and the top coals have just begun to ash over. At this point the charcoal is ready. It is not necessary to wait for all of the charcoal in the chimney to ash over. This will normally take anywhere from five to 20 minutes depending on weather, size and type of charcoal, size of the chimney starter and any residual dampness in the charcoal.

7. Dump and spread the charcoal across the bottom grill grate. If you need additional charcoal, add it at this point and wait for the already lit charcoal to light the just-added charcoal.

8. Replace the top grill grate and allow the charcoal to thoroughly ash over before cooking. When “ashed over” the charcoal will have at least a thin layer of gray ash fully covering its surface.

Tips & Warnings

• In wet or cold conditions when extra burn time is needed to start the charcoal, coat the newspaper with vegetable oil before lighting.

• Never place a lit chimney starter on a non-fire-safe surface.

• Do not wait until the charcoal is completely ashed over to dump the starter into the grill; doing so will wastefully cause the charcoal to burn out much faster in the grill.

References

• The Virtual Weber Bullet: How to Use a Chimney Starter
• The Fire Pit and Grilling Guru: The Charcoal Chimney Starter
• The Barbecue Bible Website: Techniques & Recipes: The 10 Commandments
• Do it Yourself: How to Use a Chimney Starter