New Toy : Looftlighter

Great news Adie!

I'm all over this one! No more newspaper all over the yard!

I may hold off a bit, unless the wife feels generous and gets it as a gift. Shipping from the UK or the U.S. is a little steep. This one goes in my "save up and buy" bin for now.

I'll have to check this out thank's for the link Adie

and for our Deutsch Freunden...

"We are negotiating with two major chains for Europe 2009 and will come back when it is signed. Today I think there are only two resellers in Germany who has the Looftlighter:

http://www.world-barbecue.biz/index.php?page=shop.cart&func=cartAdd&product_id=52&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=36

and

http://www.steinfeldt.de/

Best wishes

Richard Looft"

I am contemplating to buy one, but have a few questions.
Does it work fine with briquettes too and how about using it with the minion method ? I saw that Shrike wrote "wont do much with the minion method". (3rd post from the top).

Hi Ton,

i have had mine for some time now and have used at competitions etc, in terms of the minion method it works fine as you only need light the coals in the centre of the pit.

I haven't had anyproblems with lighting coals or lump and have even lit my chimenea with it. I would have to say that the electric side of the device is a drag as you always need to be near power. In competition I now use a Quick Fire 2 Blowtorch.

Hope this helps

Adie

I took the plunge, ordered one and am awaiting delivery.
To be prepared, could you meanwhile give me some advice and/or tips on how to use it ? I mean, what is the best way to light a full batch of briquettes (i.e. a full Weber chimney) so that they are at high heat as soon as possible for grilling ?

I usually put the working end of the looft in the cone of the weber chimney starter and fire away for a few minutes. You will need a decent forearm to do this as it can get a bit heavy.

Thanks Adie, but do you mean the bottom of the chimney and lifting the chimney with your hand/arm to reach the bottom ? Or do you mean putting the looftlighter at the top of the chimney and light the briquettes from there ?

Yeah, I hold the chimney starter and rest it on the end of the looft lighter for balance and light it from underneath.

However... when I am lighting it for the smoker I just light the coals in the coal basket of the smoker at the centre from above.

I hope this makes sense.

In the meantime I have tried the Looftlighter a few times, but for the moment I regret having bought it. I tried to light a full chimney of briquettes with it (having the briquettes in a pyramid in the coal basket), but even after some 10 minutes I only had a few briquettes partially glowing and also partially covered with ash. I don't understand how it should be possible to have your grill ready in 5 or 6 minutes as the package says. For the moment I have reverted to the old method with the starter and lighting cubes, because that goes faster and more convenient.

Hi Ton,

Sorry to here that you're not having much joy with it. I think the 5 -6 mins thing is a little optimistic, the only way to get that kind of result i would think is by using lump in the grate and not a chimney starter. I usually use mine to set the bottom coals going in the chimney starter, once this is done, I leave it to burn through for about 25-30 mins or when there is a grey dusting on the top few coals.

If i need to get a chimney of briquettes going quickly I usually put a couple of bit of lump in the bottom.

Cheers

Adie

Thanks again Adie for your reply.
Btw, I did not use the chimney starter for the lighting, I only used it for measuring the amount of briquettes and dumped the coals on the grate.
Meanwhile I sent an email to the dutch dealer from whom I bought the Looftlighter. He answered that the Looftlighter was developed for lighting charcoal and not briquettes and that it doesn't work well with briquettes because these need time. He also suggest using charcoal combined with briquettes (the same as your advice).
But on the Looftlighter website they say that the grill can be ready within a few minutes using charcoal or briquettes.

Ton wrote:
But on the Looftlighter website they say that the grill can be ready within a few minutes using charcoal or briquettes.

Well i guess they dont say what size of grill

Anyway, lighting briquettes works with the looft, it just takes a bit longer.
You need to be patient, after a while the fire gets so strong as its pushed by the hot air that
the rest of the charcoal starts really fast.

I wouldnt use the looft for lighting a chimney, especially not from underneath. Just pour the charcoal on the grate, light it and let the grills airflow do the rest. If you really wanna light a chimney with the looft, put only a handful of charcoal inside, light those and then fill the chimney with the rest.

By the way, heres how i lit my Big Green Egg this morning with the looft, 2 minutes for a roaring fire.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ow7Lm6_bCf0

DM

Thanks Don Marco.
So I assume it indeed would be best to use charcoal or charcoal combined with briquettes ? At least when I want to be ready within short time ?

And should I keep pointing the looft to the same point all the time or is it better to do it at various points ?