In that case I'll offer my thanks to Keri right now. It was a great suggestion and now I'll be able to give proper credit.

Glad to see you posting today, Keri. Don't be such a stranger here!

Rita

Lol, what a great idea. This guy would never have thought of it. That's the first thing I'm doing Saturday morning.

quote:

Originally posted by rich langer:
When I am at home, I usually use the sideburner on my gasser. If I am NOT at home, I use a weber parafin charcoal lighter on a piece of tin foil - much less ash.

others report success (little ash) with some "paper" torn off the charcoal bag

doesnt that leave ash all over you gas grill?

I use the upside down Weber chimney starter all the time for Minion Method starts.

I just put a single Weber Firestarter cube on the WSM charcoal grate, put the charcoal chimney upside down over that, put the briquettes in the top, and light. The cube is hot enough to reach all the way up to the top and light the briquettes.

This way I don't have to mod the chimney just for the Minion Method, while retaining the advantage of the original design for full loads of charcoal.

Regards,
Chris

quote:

Originally posted by Chris Allingham:
I use the upside down Weber chimney starter all the time for Minion Method starts.


Chris

i have had a weber chimney starter for years and never thought to do that. i always put a small coffee can with both sides gone in it and it was always a pain. i just tried this method with a few oiled papre towels and it is so much easier. can't believe i never thought of that. also a small coffee can can be turned upside down with a weber cube on top and the upside down chimney fits right over it. the coals could be lit even faster with the cube closer to the charcoal that way.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Tony C.,

I got these firestarter bricks for a fireplace from my local hardware store (package says no chemicals and that it's ok for bbq). For 7 bucks it came with 12 bricks that are each 2"x5". Using a pocket knife I cut them up into 1" cubes so each one gives me 10 cubes (or 120 for the package).

I place the cube on the grate, light it, then put the chimney starter over the cube with the cage kinda pressed against the wall of the chimney and then fill the entire chimney (both the newspaper and charcoal sections) up with charcoal. Takes 20ish minutes.