Grilling With Ethanol

Choose Ethanol ^ | 4-14-10 | unattributed

[smokingfrog]

Domestic Fuel

Grilling enthusiasts will find a new product that uses ethanol as an alternative to charcoal or propane on the shelves of many grocery and hardware stores this summer.

The FlameDisk® actually utilizes proprietary solidified ethanol and is the first ethanol product to be used exclusively for outdoor grilling, according to manufacturer Sologear, the Wisconsin-based company that invented the product. They are marketing FlameDisk as “more eco-friendly than charcoal and lighter fluid because it features renewable ethanol. Ethanol is extremely clean burning and generates 90% fewer pollutants than charcoal. The FlameDisk®’s aluminum casing is also recyclable.”

“We buy our ethanol from an ethanol manufacturer in 200 proof,” said Sologear president Chad Sorenson. “Then we convert it from a liquid into a solid with a special chemical process that we’ve developed. Nothing like this has ever been done to my knowledge.”

Each FlameDisk utilizes one pint of domestically produced ethanol, which makes it a new market for the fuel, albeit a small one. “Obviously, the largest volume consumer of ethanol is the transportation industry and we’d have to go a long way to cut into those volumes,” Sorenson said. “But it has a lot of significant potential with about 3.8 billion grilling occasions in the U.S. every year and we are already selling product overseas so we think over time this could be a significant new use of ethanol that may have not been considered prior to this.”

The FlameDisk is already on the market and available at places like Ace Hardware, Home Depot, and True Value with a suggested retail price of $4.99.

[CrazyIvan]

I’ll stick with my old eco standby-— chunks of tires.

They can't match the more controlled burn, and fine aroma
of creosoted railroad ties. And there's no steel belts to
dispose of.

[Freddd]

So you can use corn to grill your corn ...

[West Texas Chuck]

“They can’t match the more controlled burn, and fine aroma
of creosoted railroad ties. And there’s no steel belts to
dispose of.”

Ewwwww. I’ll never forget one night camping on Padre Island when my buddy started burning an old telephone pole that was laying there. I had burning creosote wafting into my tent all night.

Nope, count me out on both counts. I prefer Stubb’s charcoal and/or some nice clean hickory. Or maybe even mesquite.