The Charcoal Chimney

When we were home this summer, nay even before that, my brother Micah was on a serious grilling/smoking (meat, not tobacco) kick. Apparently, he recently received a smoker as a gift and was thrust into the not-so-secret underworld of obsessed smokers.

From what I can tell, that smoky underworld is mostly composed of middle-aged men. And my brother.

Micah and me, swagged out at Isaac and Caroline's rehearsal

So, while we were home for 2 weeks, I had ample time to talk with Micah about his new hobby. Somehow, it came to light that one reason we don't use my grill here (the one we've used to smoke barbecue a few times) is because the charcoal here is too hard to light, Micah gave me a mini-lecture on the innumerable benefits of the "charcoal chimney."

In fact, he was so disturbed about the whole thing that he gave me some money to go get one. He also told me how I could make my own. I was not able to make it to a hardware store to purchase a pre-made chimney, but I was able to procure an empty #10 can (a big coffee can) which I brought back to Asia with me so that I could make my own chimney.

And for any of you that know me, making my own definitely suits me better than buying one. We'll see how long the homemade one lasts...

The Process

1) Get all the necessary items and tools together

2) Cut the bottom off of the can, so that you have a cylinder with no ends

3) Create a platform to separate the charcoal (which goes above) from the paper (which goes below). Usually, people use coat hangers or buy some sort of metal grate/screen, but I felt like punching holes in the recently removed lid to see if that would suffice.

Part 1 - Score the edge of the lid and remove about 1/4" so that it can fit easily back into the can.

Part 2 - Don gloves and bend the edges down so that I don't cut the fool out of myself on sharp metal every time I use the chimney.

Part 3 - Punch holes in the lid to create a surface through which the flames from the paper (below) can ignite the charcoal (above)

4) Punch draft holes around the bottom of the can, in order to allow oxygen up from the bottom. This will hopefully create the "chimney" effect that ignites the charcoal more easily. Or so Micah says.

5) Add brackets inside the can to hold up the "grate" that I created, and revel in my handiwork.

6) Continue to revel.

And that, my friends, is how it's done.