289814 Sun Jul 14 09:27:19 -0700 2002 6 27 General Chowhounding Topics 0 1570487 Put away the gas grill and have gone back to charcoal. Trying lump charcoal. Any suggestions on good ways to light and maintain a long lasting hot fire for indirect grilling? Sun Jul 14 09:27:19 -0700 2002 0 bill 1 1570488 My grandfather was a big believer in lump charcoal. As a teenager, I thought he was nuts, but of course, time has vindicated him. I wish he was around to tell him so. He had a kettle grill with a set of bellows attached. You'd start the fire with a layer of wadded-up newspaper under the charcoal, then after it got going a little, you'd turn the crank, which would make a sound like an air-raid siren. I don't even know if they make that kind of grill anymore. It was super. Sun Jul 14 09:56:26 -0700 2002 1570487 0 fladd 1 1570491 Buy a starter chimney. Weber's is probably the best. Then use your air inlet damper on the grill to regulate the temperature. Add more charcoal (lit preferably) if you need to cook longer than your initial load of charcoal will burn. Sun Jul 14 10:30:25 -0700 2002 1570487 0 ted 1 1570492 Here's a thread I bet you'll find helpful. Pat Link: http://www.chowhound.com/topics/show/289678#1569357 Sun Jul 14 10:31:23 -0700 2002 1570487 0 Pat Hammond 1 1570551 Light the lump charcoal in a chimney. It'll be plenty hot in ten to fifteen minutes. Spread it out were you want it and then place some hard wood on top. In about five minutes the wood will be burning and you can now grill. Wood gives a smoke flavor lump charcoal won't, but it does lead to hot and cold spots (not a problem in indirect grilling). I switched to lump charcoal at the same time I bought a Super Cajun grill. I found that no matter how much charcoal I used it couldn't heat the grill hot enough and didn't last very long. That is when I switched to a multi-fuel fire. Now I use the lump charcoal as a quick and easy starter for the wood. The wood burns hotter and lasts longer then the lump charcoal which burns faster then charcoal briquettes. Using hard wood and the air vents I can maintain a fire between 200 and 450 degrees almost indefinitely just adding wood as needed. I've also bubbled the paint that is supposedly guaranteed to a 1000 degrees cooking steaks. Of course you may not have the temperature problem using lump charcoal alone if you use a smaller grill like a Weber kettle. Note and Caution: To see if you like using wood and if you don't have quick access to any, buy a bag of firewood. They sell them at convenience stores all over where I live for campers. And under no circumstance use a soft wood (pine, spruce, etc...) as it will make the food inedible. Mon Jul 15 11:37:39 -0700 2002 1570487 0 muD 1 1570562 All good suggestions here, but I wanted to throw in what I heard from Alton Brown on "Good Eats" the other night. He suggested to drizzle a little cooking oil on the paper used to start the fire in a chimney. The thought was it burns longer since the paper won't really catch until the oil burns a bit and that way you can more easily get those coals going. I haven't tried this yet, but it sounded like a good idea. Mon Jul 15 16:18:06 -0700 2002 1570487 0 Jambalaya 2 1570863 Alton's use of the chimney was somewhat incorrect, and oil is not necessary. He made a tight ball of newspaper, set it on the grill, and set the chimney on top. What I have always done, with 100% success, is to loosely bunch a single sheet of crumpled newspaper in the chimey (in the bottom, not in the larger compartment where the charcoal goes). Works every time. Fri Jul 19 07:59:01 -0700 2002 1570562 0 AlanH