Fire lighting

Eggzactly · July 2006

I have seen a lot of posts about the best way to light your fire and I was wondering if anybody has tried my method ?[p]I use a Milwaukee Hot Air Paint stripper. It's useless at removing paint but for lighting the egg I think it's great and it NEVER leaves any residual taste plus the flow of hot air it produces, speed up the lighting process if you are in a hurry.[p]My only tips would be, if you are cooking fast and furious (steaks etc) then light the charcoal in several places, if its for a butt then only light it in the middle.

wingfoot · July 2006

Eggzactly,[p]I've never used a paint stripper, but I have used a hair dryer a few times in the winter to get things going a little faster. However, in the hot winds of summer here in Kansas things get going in a hurry. I walked away for about five minutes last weekend when I was preparing to T-Rex some T-bones and my temp went from 400 to pegging the needle. One thing I've learned is that every fire seems to behave a little differently in the beginning, but once you get the temp stabilized in the egg there's nothing like it[p]I'm putting on a brisket in about an hour. Temp is steady at 235 now so all I need to do is add a big lump of hickory and a couple of lumps of cherry before I put the meat on and go to bed. [p]Mike

Eggzactly · July 2006

Wingfoot,[p]With a hot air stripper you dont even need a match, just somewhere to plug it in. I have a 'small' piece of brisket to go on as well, just enough for me and the wife so I will start it early in the morning. Good luck with yours. I have had good luck so far with overnight cooking when doing bigger pieces of meat.[p]Kurt

Woody54 · July 2006

Eggzactly,[p]Nice idea. Just melted my elec starter, so I will try your method. About how long do you hold it on the lump ?[p]Woody

Eggzactly · July 2006

Woody,[p]My Heat gun gets the fire going in about 15 seconds, then I leave all the vents wide open close the egg and about 15 minutes later it's ready to cook, depending on what temperature you want to start at.[p]How much and how big of a fire you want will dictate how long you need to keep the heat gun on the coals. With the gun on the high setting you will see sparks and a patch of orange coals very quickly, you will have to be the judge of how long you need to hold it there. Once it is going try holding it at different angles to make the fire bigger if needed.[p]If you are going for a fast sear for steaks then I light the fire in about 4 seperate places and by the time I am lighting the last area the temperature is already too hot to hold the heat gun in the egg for too long. I tried using it for longer and nearly melted it ![p]If I really need an extra breeze, I put the heat gun on low and hang/wedge the nozzle in the lower vent and before you know it you have a volcano :-)

Fire lighting

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