How to use your chimney starter made from a clay flower pot

Posted by Anonymous , 9/5/2007 Tags:usechimneystarterfromclayflowerpot
Post By :
Anonymous
Rate:
Vote

How to use your chimney starter made from a clay flower pot

Introduction

Chimney starters work by stacking or piling the charcoal and igniting the bottom coals. Once the bottom coals are lit, they won't go out. The heat from them will rise, warming the coals above them. This warm air rising sucks in more fresh air from the bottom, which is then burned and then rises, bringing in even more fresh air from the bottom, and so on.

Here's an quick intro on how to use a flowerpot chimney starter safely and effectively.

Please, please plan ahead. Charcoal burns hotter than wood, it burns at around 550-600 degrees. Clay flower pots can be brittle. Think about what you're going to do with your chimney starter before every coal inside is glowing red and on fire.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You'll Need

  • Clay pot chimney starter
  • Something to lift the starter once the coals are red-hot (I use my barbucue spatula)

Steps

1

Step One

Make sure your chimney starter is absolutely, perfectly dry. Terra cotta is a porous material and absorbs water. If your starter has any water in it, it could rapidly turn to steam, causing the chimney starter to explode. Never use a terra cotta chimney starter if it has been rained on, absorbed dew, or been left outside in wet weather.
2

Step Two

Put your chimney starter in your grill the way it was on the kitchen table - wide opening down, small opening up, against the grate.
3

Step Three

Place charcoal inside starter, directly against the grate. I usually try to place the charcoal more on one side of the starter to leave room for airflow on the other.
4

Step Four

Loosely crumple up 2 sheets of newspaper. Do not crumple newspaper too tightly or it won't burn.
5

Step Five

Place under the grate directly beneath the chimney starter and ignite.

Overall Tips & Warnings

  • It might take some trial and error to get the newspaper right. When I use straight newspaper, I get a
  • lot
  • of smoke out of the top of my starter. I live on the 2nd floor of an apartment building, so here's what I do to reduce the amount of smoke.
  • Spread a small amount of lighter fluid over the newspaper before crumpling.
  • Place a few coals in the bottom of the starter, squirt some lighter fluid over those, then stack the rest of the charcoal on top. The fluid on the coals will burn for a while because of limited airflow, giving the coal and the coals aroudn it time to heat up and ignite.
  • Plan ahead for this. Don't do what I did, which is wait until the chimney starter was the same temperature as the burning charcoal inside before figuring out how to get the thing off my grill so I could cook. If you didn't put a wire handle on it before you lit the coal on fire, carefully lift up the bottom of the starter with your grill spatula and spill the coals out onto the grill. Then put your spatula into the pot and lift slowly.
Tools: |