Here's a tip folks. Lighter fluid, while immensely useful during the grilling process and getting it started, is not to be played with. And while it's common knowledge that gasoline + fire = manly explosions, it's a bit of common sense that may or may not slip one's mind. Now, I'm an idiot, at least to the point where I'll forget what I was talking about if I'm really excited about something and I'm literally tripping over my words. But I can at least light a pile of charcoal briquette's up, right?
Now in my defense, I was able to get it lit up. I might have gone a bit exact on the pyramid I had to stack though and arranged it with a 5x5 briquette base. Applied the lighter fluid, lit it up, and let the charcoal ash over for about 15 minutes. Simple yes? Now, unfortunately for me, I'd neglected to spread the coals after the ashing, and a lot of them had cooled off. So I had to add more charcoal to it and proceeded to ass more lighter fluid to aid in the process.
I didn't have my little idiot moment there. See, there were no glowing embers at the time, so I figured, "Hey, I should be safe" so I added the fluid and lit up. Impressive when it went up, but hardly enough to get the ball rolling for cooking. So mom comes out and says 'We need more charcoal on it."
And more.
And more.
And yet more again, until the entire bottom was nothing but ash and unsoaked briquettes to the untrained eye. (IE, mine) So effectively, I'd gone right back to square one. So there I stand, frumping a bit as there's little to no heat coming off the coals. Upsetting, naturally. In my haste to get things started again, I added more fuel to the fire, totally forgetting about the hot embers glowing softly to themselves beneath the pile.
Now in my defense, I was able to get it lit up. I might have gone a bit exact on the pyramid I had to stack though and arranged it with a 5x5 briquette base. Applied the lighter fluid, lit it up, and let the charcoal ash over for about 15 minutes. Simple yes? Now, unfortunately for me, I'd neglected to spread the coals after the ashing, and a lot of them had cooled off. So I had to add more charcoal to it and proceeded to ass more lighter fluid to aid in the process.
I didn't have my little idiot moment there. See, there were no glowing embers at the time, so I figured, "Hey, I should be safe" so I added the fluid and lit up. Impressive when it went up, but hardly enough to get the ball rolling for cooking. So mom comes out and says 'We need more charcoal on it."
And more.
And more.
And yet more again, until the entire bottom was nothing but ash and unsoaked briquettes to the untrained eye. (IE, mine) So effectively, I'd gone right back to square one. So there I stand, frumping a bit as there's little to no heat coming off the coals. Upsetting, naturally. In my haste to get things started again, I added more fuel to the fire, totally forgetting about the hot embers glowing softly to themselves beneath the pile.
On the plus side, I know now that 'FWOOMPH' is indeed a sound, and it's actually very impressive when you hear it.
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