Getting going with the Snake?

Gwaihir the Windlord · Mon Oct 26, 2015 6:31 pm

First post here, so greetings from Brisbane to all of you friendly and helpful gents and ladies.

I recently picked up a nice used Weber kettle (22" red OTS, Dated stamped L, 1989 I believe).

Drawn in by the allure of low and slow, I've been setting up some experimental snake burns using Heatbeads. Clearly, there is room for tweaking with the degree of overlap of briquettes, and the number of rows/columns.

However, one difficulty I am facing is getting the small number of briquettes (required for starting) ashed over, or nearly so. This I think is influencing the way that the snake is igniting in the first instance.

I have a chimney as well as the Heatbeads blower, which work spectacularly with a 1/2 to full chimney-load of Heatbeads. With 8 or 9 briquettes, not so much.

Has this been an issue for anyone? How did you solve it? Any tips will be welcomed

Thanks, Paul

chriso · Post by **chriso** » Mon Oct 26, 2015 7:44 pm

I just use a small pile of charcoal on the start of the snake. Get that going, adjust the vents, throw on the food then leave it.

Buzabbq · Post by **Buzabbq** » Mon Oct 26, 2015 7:50 pm

I use 1/2 a chimney at the start which then leads on to the snake. I find it gets my kettle up to temp quickly and the snake then just maintains the temp.

comfortablynumb · Post by **comfortablynumb** » Mon Oct 26, 2015 9:56 pm

As seen on other threads.....

Get yourself an empty spaghetti tin (or similar, jam tin, whatever) and remove both top and bottom.

Simply place in centre of your chimney and put your 8-9 beads inside the tin.

A single fire lighter should do the trick.

Thanks to whoever I stole that from

gordona000 · Post by **gordona000** » Tue Oct 27, 2015 1:40 pm

Yeah,
I ended up using one of those IKEA kitchen utensil holders as a chimney insert.. Seems to do the trick..

Andrew

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Gwaihir the Windlord · Tue Oct 27, 2015 6:46 pm

Thank you everyone.

The chimney insert seems the way to go. And Ikea is close by!

I'm pretty sure that my issue will resolve once I can get the starting briquettes burning well.

Cheers, Paul

Gumb · Post by **Gumb** » Wed Oct 28, 2015 10:17 am

To help that IKEA canister, bash the bottom in a bit with a hammer so it has a small peak in the middle. That helps airflow underneath.

Gwaihir the Windlord · Thu Oct 29, 2015 8:54 am

Thanks Gumb. I picked one up yesterday, and am planning a cook on Saturday. Fingers crossed!

Cheers, Paul

urbangriller · Post by **urbangriller** » Thu Oct 29, 2015 11:11 am

Gwaihir the Windlord wrote:Thank you everyone.

The chimney insert seems the way to go. And Ikea is close by!

I'm pretty sure that my issue will resolve once I can get the starting briquettes burning well.

Cheers, Paul

Get a couple of Ikea Rib Racks while you are there!

Gwaihir the Windlord · Fri Oct 30, 2015 9:19 am

Bugger. Didn't know about those. Well, I pass by my local Ikea on the drive home from work, so I might pop in this afternoon!

yakabot · Post by **yakabot** » Fri Oct 30, 2015 9:52 am

Kmart also has similar steel utensil holders too, if that's easier?

urbangriller · Post by **urbangriller** » Fri Oct 30, 2015 4:54 pm

Gwaihir the Windlord · Mon Nov 02, 2015 7:40 pm

A quick follow-up...

I got the Ikea utensil holder, and made some legs with 75mm long steel bolts.

I sat this contraption on the HeatBeads blower, and it worked quite nicely in getting 8 briquettes ready for action.

I'm going to drill a few more holes in the base to get a little more air through.

Thanks for all the suggestions

Aussie BBQ Forum