BBQ Dragon and Chimney of Insanity

I'll be using a lot of binchotan soon, and apparently the good stuff is difficult to light. In doing some research, I came across the BBQ Dragon, which is basically a portable fan/bellows designed to light charcoal. It beats the hair dryer I've been using - or so I hope. The company also makes a chimney starter that has an 90 degree air inlet that's designed to pair with the fan, so you can create a forced-air bellows-starter situation. It looks like it would be righteous for post-searing sous vide. And it's much safer and controlled than @Grant_Lee_Crilly_63791 's recent antics with a leafblower. (Don't try that at home).

Here's a video overview of the starter and fan. I'll post a video of the starter being used to sear a steak below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKxRmewhD8w

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Brandon_Byrd_40557

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTe4SUupprs

Brandon_Byrd_40557

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbH4cE3Yulk

Leaf blower @ 0;30.

pd3ski_278514

The bincho/aramaru will light up fairly fast if you start with sumi pieces and small recycled pieces. Just lay the bincho on top inside the grill while you do prep. The walls of that grill are incredibly reflective due to the nature of the material and will help light it. If I have a fire going in my pit I put the charcoal in there where it lights up very fast! One thing to watch out for is the inevitable popping of charcoal some pops more than others, sumi is safe tho. Meaning when you put it into the fire don’t stare at it without glasses on!!

Brandon_Byrd_40557

I had no sparking at all with the Pok Pok stuff. It looks to be more or less the same as as sumi. I've got 55 pounds of charcoal coming tomorrow :-)

Brandon_Byrd_40557

I can confirm that the chimney / fan combination does indeed accelerate the lighting process. I wanted a new starter because my old one was the small Weber, and that was simply too small. I also like the BBQ dragon itself, though it's sort of big and clunky. It can really wake up a grill and get it raging, apart from its use with the charcoal starter. Also helpful for blowing out ash at the end of the day. The combination is sort of expensive, but it's definitely better than what I had been using. I can see it being really useful for people that have larger charcoal grills and want to get a lot of coals going in a short amount of time.

Daniel_J_1122159

Video is no longer available. I don't barbecue a lot and I rarely have a good meal. I was advised to change my grill, according to those who really do make good steaks, my grill is terrible. Now I choose between these options, are they much worse than the one you cooked on? Can you share a link to the store where you bought it?