How to Start a Charcoal Fire
Anytime you are going to smoke or grill meat using charcoal, the first thing you must do is to get it properly started. There are a few options here, but what I typically use when using my Oklahoma Joe’s Smoker is to use a charcoal chimney. This tool will allow you to get a bunch of really hot coals relatively quickly and reduce some of the headache with lighting the coals. Follow the four steps below to get your charcoal properly lit!
Step 1. Fill the chimney with charcoal
Fill the charcoal chimney with the appropriate amount of your favorite brand of charcoal. We typically use Royal Oak charcoal or Kingsford charcoal when we smoke with charcoal. A standard chimney holds about 100 briquets, but you may not need that many for your cook.
Step 2. Add newspaper and light it
Add one or two sheets of newspaper, following the instructions on your chimney. Light the newspaper in several spots. As the newspaper burns in the chamber below, the flames light the edges of the charcoal above. Peek through the vents of the chimney to check if the coals have started and the edges of the coals have turned gray. I also like to add a piece of paper from the top and the bottom to try and make sure the coals light.
Step 3. Create a coal and wood chip ring in your smoker
In your smoke box of your grill, build a ring of coals and wood chips. This will give you a longer cook time for smoked meates, and also get the smoke flavor throughout. Add some big chuhnks of wood for more smoke and longer cook times.
Note: Skip this step if you are only lighting charcoal to grill meats.
Step 4. When you see flames up top, pour out the coals
After about 10 minutes, you will see the coals starting to glow through the vents and flames starting to flicker over the top layer of coals. Pour them out into a pile in the middle of your coal ring and wait until the coals are mostly covered in ash and gray in color and then spread the coals out. The entire process takes approximately 15 additional minutes.
From here, you should be set for a while! Keep an eye on the temp, and adjust the air flow accordingly. You can also add more wood chips or coals if you need to extend the cook time. Be careful not to let the coals completely burn out if you are doing a long cook, so keep an eye on your grill!
