'Old Country BBQ Pits' XL charcoal starter

[Eastex]

Dont know how many of you have Academy sporting goods stores around but this is the Old Country starter next to the Weber full size model

I've looked at them for awhile and could never figure out why I would need that much charcoal but before the Super Bowl it hit me, starting multiple grills. So I picked one up, it's made like a tank, did I need it, nah not really even though my full size Weber is starting to show its age, did I want it, yea, it'll look cool next to my mini starter.

[G$]

Does it work as well as the weber rapid fire? 

When I had one that was in that style, I had to drill extra holes to get it to work better.  To be fair, mine was smaller than the weber, not a beast like yours...

[HankB]

For me the way to high heat is to light a lot of charcoal. I have a second almost rusted out chimney for that but this chimney would be useful if it has a wire insert. The chimneys with perforated sheet metal don't seem to work as well.

[Eastex]

It's got a expanded metal type grate in the bottom, should flow plenty of air, I'll have to take some size comparison shots in the daylight

[Eastex]

Here's a shot of the two Webers and the Old Country all together. I'm gonna fire it up tomorrow , I'll let y'all know how it does

[G$]

Let us know, eastex.  The reason air flow was a problem on mine was not because of the bottom, it is because of air restriction TO the bottom. On a rapidfire, with the rectangle shaped holes, almpst half the surface area is vented.  With the  circle pattern spaced so far away, there may not be enough air flow.  Let us know how it goes.

[Eastex]

It fired up really well, didn't seem any slower than the Rapidfire. I'll try to get a pic of the holes around the base.

[G$]

Nice.  Do you use newspaper or parafin cubes?

[Eastex]

I used the starter cubes