Easy ways to make a great charcoal fire
Have you ever watched someone trying to light a charcoal grill using tons of lighter fluid and making a giant smelly mess? We have! Charcoal grills offer a wonderful blend of natural cooking elements that can be enjoyed without resorting to lighter fluid overload.
There are several ways to safely light your charcoal grill. Light the coal bricks with the grill lid open. You’ll need to be about 3 to 4 inches of coal briquettes across the entire grill. They usually take 20 to 30 minutes to heat up before you can start grilling.
There are several aids you can use that you can use to help you start your fire:
► The most popular are electric starters. They use a coil heating element that is heated by being plugged into an electrical socket in your home. It’s placed under the coal briquettes. Once your fire has started you unplug and remove your starter.
► Many people like using chimney starters. These are a metal cylinder that is filled with coal briquettes. News paper is stuffed under the cylinder and ignited. After the coals are lit, you dump them into the grill.
► Another easy fire starting method is using coal briquettes that have lighter fluid already on them when you purchase them in the store. These can be call match-start, self-start or some other similar name. This is the simplest way to light your grill.
► For those of you that want a more environmentally friendly way to start your grill, you can use non-toxic paraffin to place under the coals to start your fire. There are also alcohol based gels that can be placed on the coal briquettes to start your grill.
Once lit, there is an easy way to tell how hot the grill is. Place your hand above the coals. If you can count 4 or 5 second your temperature is about 350 degrees. A 3 second count is about 400 degrees. And a 2 second count, 450 degrees.
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