Grills of Japan Charcoal Starter Pot

This charcoal starter pot is the perfect tool for lighting Binchotan charcoal before transferring it to your Shichirin, Konro or Hida Konro grill. Fill it with Binchotan charcoal — careful not to overfill — and hold it over your gas hob or open flame until the charcoal is fully lit. It should take about 10 – 15 minutes until it is glowing. Once it reaches this point, simply pop it in your grill and wait 10 minutes for the heat to build inside the grill. This starter pot makes lighting and handling the charcoal easy, mess free and safe.

• Open-based pot for lighting Bintochan charcoal
• Wooden handle to prevent burning your hands
• Speeds up the process of setting up the grill

• Diameter: 15cm

• After use, leave to cool on the hob or an area safe from children
• Hand wash once cool

Tips and tricks for lighting your grill

How to light your binchotan charcoal:

• For best results, use a chimney starter pot
• Fill the pot with binchoan
• Hold it over your gas hob or open flame until the charcoal is fully lit. It should take about 10 – 15 minutes until it is glowing — patience is key!
• Once fully lit and glowing, transfer your binchotan charcoal to your grill and wait for a minimum of 10 minutes for the binchotan to fully build the heat and insulate your grill. If using a bigger grill, place additional binchotan on top of the already lit charcoal and wait for it to be fully lit before you start grilling.

How much charcoal should I use?

You'll likely need more than one bag of binchotan charcoal to heat the grill to a high enough temperature — don't be scared to add more to the grill! You should have enough to cover the base of the grill.

How do I increase the heat of my grill?

Use the vents to adjust the heat — open vents mean more oxygen will reach the coals, which in turn means a higher temperature. Binchotan lasts a long long time, but if you do need to add some, only add enough to keep the bottom of the grill covered.

How to extinguish your binchotan:

• Binchotan burns way longer than natural hardwood charcoal so when you’re done grilling, you can simply extinguish your coals and use them again
• To extinguish, put your charcoal in an extinguishing pot or dip in water for 30 seconds and leave to dry in the sun
• You can store your charcoal in the extinguishing pot, ready for your next grilling adventure!

Drying out your charcoal:

• If you hear cracking or popping sounds you’ll need to dry out the charcoal first — this is because binchotan absorbs moisture from the air and expands when heated
• You can pop it in the sun to dry or if you want to start grilling right away, put it on low heat for around 10 minutes and then increase the temperature
• Additionally you can place a metal grill net over the top of the charcoal chimney or Starter Pot for the initial heating phase

Can I use normal charcoal with my Hibachi grill?

• Yes! If you use normal charcoal it's recommended you use the grill outside as normal charcoal will release carbon monoxide.