The typical background of the charcoal-lit setting gives you a holiday vibe and makes you feel relaxed on vacation. If you’re a person who loves to taste the traditional smokey flavour in your meals, but you don’t know how to keep charcoal lit, you have come to the right place.
Cooking with charcoal can be one of the warmest ways of cooking a meal; it could be a barbecue at home or perhaps a beach party with your friends. You don’t want to ruin these occasions with half-cooked meat because you can’t keep your charcoal lit.
One of the most significant problems most face is how to keep charcoal lit on a barbeque night, but the charcoal does not stay lit long enough to cook the meat entirely, which can be very disappointing.
The possibilities of why your charcoal doesn’t stay lit up can come with different reasons. This article will show you your charcoal needs and what you must do to keep your charcoal lit longer.
What Charcoal Needs To Stay Lit?
Keeping your charcoal lit may not be an easy task as it’s easy to eat the smokey-flavoured meat.
Before we move into how to keep charcoal lit, there are basic requirements of charcoal to keep igniting.
Fire is the main cooking component; no meat can be cooked with perfection without heat. Every fire needs Oxygen ( the more air will keep the fire burning ), heat, and fuel to keep it going. The exact needs match the requirements for charcoal to ignite.
Why Isn’t Your Charcoal Burning?
Several factors can affect for the charcoal to not stay lit for long. The few lines that you read below will give you answers to why your charcoal isn’t burning.
Low-quality charcoal
Charcoal is the main component for a grill night. Using low-quality charcoal can hinder the performance of the ignition and burn out in no time. It obviously can cost a few bucks more than the low-quality charcoal you purchase, but good quality charcoal is worth the price!
Good quality charcoal can also be lit easily, and you’re doing a favour for yourself by giving less effort and cooking your meal much faster.
Humidity
The climate can affect to light your charcoal to ignite as the heat absorbs the Oxygen in the air. If the weather is typically wet, it can affect the neatness of the charcoal and can burn out faster.
Lack of ventilation – The chances that your charcoal doesn’t light long can be because it needs more air to ventilate. The charcoal needs enough ventilation to keep the charcoal lit long enough; Oxygen in the atmosphere plays a prominent role in keeping the charcoal lit. Fire is a heat component that maintains the ignition by absorbing air.
How To Keep Charcoal Lit?
Finally, we have arrived at the destination of how to keep the charcoal lit? We spoke about what charcoal needs and why your charcoal is not burning.
Below are some tips that should be taken into consideration in order to keep your charcoal lit successfully.
Use the right charcoal
Different types of charcoal come out in the market with varying price and quality ranges. As stated above, buying low-quality charcoal is a red flag for you to keep the charcoal lit.
There are different types of charcoal, such as lump charcoal, charcoal briquettes, hardwood briquettes, coconut shell charcoal, and binchotan. Though all these types of charcoal do the same job, it is also used for different purposes.
The briquette-style charcoal serves the purpose of keeping the charcoal lit. This type of charcoal is better than other charcoal for the heat to spread evenly and burns longer than other charcoals
Stack them
A common mistake most make is not giving off a decent start when burning charcoal, and it is important to stack your charcoal in a way that can be lit for longer.
Charcoal tends to burn for longer if stacked vertically rather than arranged flat, as the heat needs to rise from the bottom coal.
The pyramid stack method is one of the most efficient methods to keep the charcoal lit.
Avoid dampness
This condition can be very unfavorable for the charcoal to maintain the heat for long. The charcoal and the pieces of equipment used must be completely dry to keep the heat constant in the burning charcoal.
Avoid windy weather
As much as the humidity can hinder the lit charcoal, so can the windy weather affect the circumstances. Before lighting up the charcoal, consider the areas and temperature to keep the charcoal lit.
Charcoal Lighter fluids
This is an inflammable liquid used as a starter to light the charcoals. Charcoal lighter fluid is a petroleum or alcohol (methanol or ethanol) based liquid used to accelerate the ignition of the charcoal. This fluid can be used when the charcoal tends to burn out while grilling.
Use wood
Wood is another crucial material used to keep the charcoal lit, and the right amount of quality wood chunks can keep the heat alive for a more extended period. Using the correct type of wood without dampness and completely dry is essential as it can cause a foul odor and only make things worse.
Add more charcoal
After a certain period of time, it is natural for the charcoal to decrease while burning. Adding charcoal helps to maintain the heat and the temperature and allows the charcoal to stay hot.
Conclusion
Coming to an end, we contemplated what charcoal needs, why it doesn’t burn, and finally, how to keep your charcoal lit, which has helped to use the coal efficiently.
The above-stated facts can be helpful for you to spend a relaxed and quality time at a barbeque party without worrying about half-cooked meals.
Using the above tip and tricks can make things work faster, versatile and increases the potentiality of your work near the coal, and it means enjoying more and vibing without a worry.
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