have you ever made a giant size chimney starter

[johnnyreb]

i need to make a giant chimney starter, one that will hold maybe 5 lbs of charcoal. could i use a galvanized bucket for this. i guess im asking would the galvanized bucket be ok as long as im not cooking with it.
i have noticed some of the cheaper chimneys are made of what looks like cheap galvanized material and some are painted

thanks for your input

Reb

 

[tn_bbq]

I think you'd be OK.

Might I ask why you need such a large chimney?

I suspect if I need a large amount of charcoal to be lit at once, I'd get a weedburner and/or some other gas powered system or perhaps a burn barrell and a shovel.

I thought I saw somebody modify an old gas grill so they could use it to prelight a bunch of coal.

 

[johnnyreb]

i made a charcoal basket in my fuel drum cooker kinda like the UDS version but bigger..its about 3 ft wide and 6 ft long with expanded on the sides going up 6"... its on a rail that slides out of the drum


i want to use the same principle of lighting the coals with unlit on bottom and place lit on top

hope it works

ill try to get a pic of it later

 

[bigsteve]

I don't know much about metal. But I recently did some reading since I wanted to make a home brewed rotissorie for my weber. What I found out was that there are several different processes that can be used to galvanize metal. At least one process when heated to the level that charcoal can provide emits fumes with known carcinogens.

OTOH, if you search for galvanized charcoal chimneys, you'll find them being sold.

I don't hide under the bed, but home brewed bbq stuff from galvanized metal sounds too iffy for me. Ain't gonna happen at Rancho Bigsteve.

 

[morkdach]

stay away from galv. for a chimney.
have a fab shop roll you a piece of 16ga. mild steel bout 10" dia & 20" tall that should bout 5 pounds. have pics of one i made if ya want to see it.

 

[pignit]

One thing I would keep in mind is you have to handle this thing full of hot coals. I have a rather large chimney starter and when it is full of raging hot coals I have to really be careful how I handle it and pour the coals out without getting burnt. That's the first thing I thought of when I read your post. Gotta be able to pour em out safely and keep the hair on your arms.

 

[pineywoods]

Weed burner

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=91033

 

[pignit]

That's what we use when we roast a whole pig and light up a couple bags of charcoal at one time. Works great!

 

[pineywoods]

Dave I get lots of use outta mine I use it for the Lang, the drum, Campfires, and for burning the property they are handy as heck

 

[johnnyreb]

ok when i got the cooker it had a pull out charcoal "tray" with no way for the coals to get air..i modified it by cutting out several squares in the bottom to put expanded in the bottom and up the sides so it is now a "basket"..i hope it works...has to be better than it was

heres some pics







i was gonna make a chimney out of whatever pail i could find by cutting out the bottom and putting a smokey joe charcoal grate in the bottom

the weed burner route may be good to..how long should i hit it with the weed burner to light the top surface coals

 

[pineywoods]

I light wood splits in about 5 minutes and the coals should be less than that

 

[rickw]

I just lit mine, a Horizon offset, and it only took a few minutes with the weedburner.

 

[pignit]

Yep.... couple of minutes will have you rollin. With that setup I would use the torch. Much faster than a chimney. Nice set up.

 

[travcoman45]

Got the same weed burner as jerry, works great fer lightin charcoal an so many other things! I'd recommend it too.