Light the embers quickly and easily
Many people find it difficult and time-consuming to light charcoal and briquettes. On top of that, the food can end up tasting like lighter fluid. But this is now all in the past. By using a chimney starter, you can get your charcoal and briquettes ready for use in about 10 minutes. This is the same amount of time it would take to preheat a gas grill, for example.
So how does a chimney starter work? Fill the chimney starter with charcoal or briquettes. Place a few Mustang firelighter cubes or sachets on the charcoal grate of your charcoal grill or kamado grill. Place the chimney starter on top of them and light the firelighter cubes or sachets with a gas lighter or match. The flame will rise upwards in the chimney starter cylinder, igniting the charcoal or briquettes at several points at the same time. When the charcoal or briquettes on top start to glow red, pour them onto the grill’s charcoal grate and spread them out in an even layer. Then all you have to do is put the grill grate in place and get grilling. Easy, isn’t it?
Electric assistance
Have you heard of electric lighters for charcoal and briquettes? The Mustang grill lighter is an electric hot air blower that blows air at 650 °C onto the charcoal or briquettes, igniting them quickly. Place the tip of the grill lighter against the charcoal or briquettes and switch it on. Hold the tip in place for about 20–30 seconds until the charcoal or briquettes around the tip start to glow red. Then move the tip of the grill lighter some distance away from the embers and turn on power range II. This makes the grill lighter blow air onto the embers, causing the charcoal or briquettes to ignite rapidly around the grill. In about a minute, the charcoal or briquettes inside the grill will have been ignited. Then you just wait until the embers are ready for cooking. You can start cooking when the embers are evenly gray all over.
For kamado grills, there is also an ignition fan available, which is installed in the bottom valve of the grill. Ignite the charcoal with a chimney starter, firelighters or an electric grill lighter, then turn on the ignition fan. The fan blows air onto the embers, accelerating their ignition. It takes just a few minutes to ignite the entire mass of charcoal. After this, you can remove the ignition fan, adjust the bottom valve to the desired position and start cooking.
