bbq: Hi Having a bbq today and people are coming round for about 3pm. i would like to get the bbq ready to start cooking at 4pm. when is the best time to get the charcoal bricks and firelighters on? I'm using Home Grown Charcoal - not grown by me, its what it says on the bag! ;-) and standard white firelighter brick thingys.|||should be around 15' to 30' before cooking. good luck with the bbq|||Get it going now|||put all the charcoal on the fire about three hours before you need it. that way you will spare your guests the ordeal of eating crap food as the fire will be out . send down to the chippy for some real food and your party will be a great success. this will also greatly reduce the chance of food poisoning. or , if you must inflict your friends to this ordeal , pre-cook everything the night before , then simply use the BBQ to heat and flavour the food with the traditional f***ed up taste. vast quantities of booze will help dull the memory ,thus ensuring at least some of your friends will still be speaking to you afterwards. a few useful tips....... don't try to cook peas.....don't bend down and sniff the food ,at least if you want to keep your eyebrows.......if the fire is going out , just lob on a splash of petrol.claim afterwards it was a firework display.......be nice to the emergency services ,they are overpaid and underworked.( this is not a typo) have fun!|||A good 20 Min's before otherwise if you start it on any later than this your sausages/burgers etc will be black and not cooked thoroughly enough. Have a good BBQ : )|||30 minutes|||i would allow at least 40 Min's the coals need to be a hot ember so that you can cook on them when you have lit the Barbi the fumes and smoke need to be gone before your guests arrive its not nice to have them breathing in those fumes.|||I would make sure that I have all the meal planned and ready to go. Normally I let my grill great ready about 25 minutes before cooking time. Don't forget your veggies and desserts.|||The charcoal needs to be grey and lots of heat no flames it should take 20 30 Min's after lighting, fire lighters and small morning sticks are good much better than adding BBQ lighting fuel, buy some BBQ sauce and paint all your food with it it helps stop it burning,|||Homegrown I believe is the same as lump or natural coal (if you've looked at it and it's looks like charred sections of wood that are really light) Then they light, and turn into cooking coals a little faster than commercial coals. I would suggest 15 minutes from the time you stick the match, till you can grill it will be fine. You can stack and arrange them now. Have fun|||Saturate the coals with fluid at 3:15 and 3:20 ish, Light up at 3:30|||Most here are right 25 - 30 min If you use a starter stack or chimney maybe 15 min It is a tall metal tube|||20 min or so depending on the amount of charcoal you use|||fire it up @ 3:15 / unless your having fish then you need to fire it up around 2:50|||One hour.