Welcome to the EGGhead Forum - a great place to visit and packed with tips and EGGspert advice! You can also join the conversation and get more information and amazing kamado recipes by following Big Green Egg to Experience our World of Flavor™ at:
Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Instagram  |  Pinterest  |  Youtube  |  Vimeo
Share your photos by tagging us and using the hashtag #BigGreenEgg.

Want to see how the EGG is made? Click to Watch

using rubbing alcohol

BigA
BigA Posts: 1,157
edited November -1 in EggHead Forum
since there is so much talk about lighting the egg today, i am wondering if many of you use the rubbing alcohol to light the egg? I have never tried it. :unsure:
· Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Comments

  • fishlessman
    fishlessman Posts: 32,739
    i would have to buy it to try it, then buy more to stock it. thats the beauty of the napkin and oil, theres always some around. now if its your wifes rubbing alcohol, its going to get black handling it with ash covered hands :whistle:
    fukahwee maine

    you can lead a fish to water but you can not make him drink it
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • BigA
    BigA Posts: 1,157
    i know how to do it, that wasnt my question. i am wondering if anyone has done it, Have you?? if so i would like to know how well it worked.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • BigA
    BigA Posts: 1,157
    great point you make! i suppose she would get angry when grabbing it and getting full of ash!
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • bobSTL
    bobSTL Posts: 105
    I use it all the time, buy it from Costco, I think it's the 70% kind, and I like it. I use stick matches, and toss one down the top, and in 15 minutes I am ready to go.

    I will try the napkin and oil trick soon.
    Thanks, Bob
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker
    Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker Posts: 3,743
    seek and ye shall find...

    wileyCoyote was the guy who developed it here on the forum. I'm sure it's been documented elsewhere, but i'm pretty sure if that vid has an egg in it, it is his video.

    http://www.eggheadforum.com/index.php?option=com_simpleboard&func=view&id=497069&catid=1

    and the forum search feature, though needlessly confusing, works enough to find those who have had success

    Hier einclicken >>>Das Searchinator
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Grandpas Grub
    Grandpas Grub Posts: 14,226
     
    It works fine about the same starting time and characteristics as the paper towel and oil. Alcohol is cleaner to use than PT/Oil.

    70° didn't work at all for me I had to use 91%. For me on my large at this altitude, I put 2 oz in 2 6" circles left and right of center. I light with the dome open and once the alcohol is burning I close the dome DFMT off bottom vent & screen wide open.

    As with PT/Oil the dome temperature will spike from the flame then die down with a slow increase. I adjust the vents when the second temp. rise is close to my cook temperature.

    GG
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • BigA
    BigA Posts: 1,157
    thanks GG
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Capt Frank
    Capt Frank Posts: 2,578
    I have used it too, and it works just fine. I get the 91% from Wally World for less than $1.00 a bottle [pint?]. It gives a cleaner start than the cubes and probably a little faster. I have never tried the oil/napkin thing.

    Capt Frank
    Homosassa, FL
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Grandpas Grub
    Grandpas Grub Posts: 14,226
     
    O/PT is going to be a little messier to deal with, but it is a good way to light.

    I don't use parifin starter any more, mapp very seldom, weed burner only when it is really cold. I will go back and forth between O/PT and alcohol.

    GG
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker
    Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker Posts: 3,743
    just to muddle things a bit hahaha... the dome temp doesn't really spike so much as the thermometer does. the flame reaches pretty high. but the dome itself is cold. the thermometer is getting a blast from the flames, but the dome and the overall temp of the BGE is still cold

    kinda how opening the dome doesn't really cool the egg, but cools the thermometer, only in reverse
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Carolina Q
    Carolina Q Posts: 14,831
    I have used alcohol a few times. Seems to work ok on the mini, not as well on the large for some reason. I used 91%. When I ran out, I didn't bother to buy more as I wasn't impressed.

    MAPP for me. Starter cubes if I run out of MAPP. Have tried oil/paper towels and it certainly works in a pinch, but it's messy. Haven't had a propane tank in 20+ years so no weedburner.

    I hate it when I go to the kitchen for food and all I find are ingredients!                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

    Michael 
    Central Connecticut 

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • BigA
    BigA Posts: 1,157
    well tweeve, i think your wrong there. when it is lit like you say, i have seen flames hitting the thermometer. the dome is not actaully at 500, but you say it is, well i am sure it isn't, try this next time. light your fire and when the flames are high and the thermo is reading 500, out your hand inside but not in the flame and see if you can hold it in there, i bet you can and your hand wont get burned. i have done this when i lit it with the starting cubes, the flame was hitting the thermo and actaully the lump wasnt even begun to be at 500, i could hold my hand in there for minutes. so stike is right!
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • BBQMaven
    BBQMaven Posts: 1,041
    BigA
    Wiley sent me a kit to try... after using it one time, I've used nothing else....

    I use 50cc of 91% in three to four areas all applied 1" below the surface lump. Wait 10-15 seconds and drop a match in. 5 minutes later close the lid. Starts quickly and has no smell.
    Kent Madison MS
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • hornhonk
    hornhonk Posts: 3,841
    I use the 91% alcohol and love it! WileCoyote sent out kits to make using it easier. I miss that guy! :)
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • BigA
    BigA Posts: 1,157
    is he not on here anymore??
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • BigA
    BigA Posts: 1,157
    where do i get my hands on this kit, or what does it have in it, a stopper and a plastic syringe?
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Cecil
    Cecil Posts: 771
    Come to think of it, I have not seen him post in quite a while. He has organized a big Wicked Good buy here the past couple of years.

    Walt
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker
    Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker Posts: 3,743
    oy.
    if i light that piece of paper and shut the lid, the thing immediately says 500 or so sometimes. the dome is not at 500.

    but i know, i'm an idiot. i have only cooked on the damn thing. unfortunately my experience is in the field, not all thought experiments based on reading a forum post and forming a ten-second answer. bad form, as they say.

    hold a match to the thermometer and the "dome" temp does not go up. the thermometer temp does.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker
    Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker Posts: 3,743
    keep in mind that when the dome says "500" the lump is around 1000-1200 degrees. when the dome thermo says the dome is "225", the lump is also at 1000-1200 degrees (very roughly).

    the charcoal burns at a relatively fixed temp. the dome thermometer indicates the air temp, which is higher or lower depending on how much 1200 degree lump is lit.

    think of it like your electric oven. the heating element is at a pretty fixed temp. it just turns on and off to maintain a certain oven temp. if you want a 300 degree oven, the electric element (whose temp i don't know, but it is much hotter than 300) will cycle on and off in a way that maintains 300.

    but i think we agree that just because a lit piece of paper and oil is throwing flames that either heat the thermo directly, or create a flume of hot gasses, the "500" you see ain't the same "500" as when we are cooking something at 500.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Grandpas Grub
    Grandpas Grub Posts: 14,226
     
    :woohoo: :):) Exactly right.


    Pretty funny.

    GG
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Grandpas Grub
    Grandpas Grub Posts: 14,226
     
    The "kit" contained a 80cc syringe and a rubber chemistry stopper to fit in the bottle of alcohol.

    You can go to most any drug store and request a 'new' 80cc catheter syringe.

    It was interesting to read the different amounts and ways folks apply the alcohol.

    The stopper is handy but not absolutely necessary. I remove the plunger with my finger over the bottom of the syringe and fill the syringe up to 80cc's. I restrict the outflow with my finger or let gravity empty the syringe. I try to cover a 6" circle and down a little into the lump as explained above. On my large I do this in 2 spots.

    If you don't use the stopper take the time to move the alcohol bottle away from the egg, you don't want something spilling or catching fire accidentally.

    GG
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • BigA
    BigA Posts: 1,157
    ok thanks!!
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • BigA
    BigA Posts: 1,157
    yes we agree, tweeve just likes to think he is right all the time, i think that is bad form!
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • BigA
    BigA Posts: 1,157
    Well Tweeve, i wonder why we even try with you, you always seem to be right, this should be the tweeve forum? any one agree? :laugh: :laugh: :)
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Categories