Do patio briquette burners help with midges?
We had our first barbecue of the summer the other night and all went well until the wind dropped.
Out came the midges – or up, in fact, as most of us began being bitten on the feet and ankles. So we decided to light the patio briquette burner and first of all fired it up with eco-lighters (no chemical smells) and charcoal. Wonderful! Away went the midges and we were able to finish cooking the pork fillets on the mesh lid, which gave them a great flavour.
Then we began to experiment with various types of wood briquettes, including Hotmax for quick heat and the hardwood type for a longer burn. We found that all of them burn really well in the fire basket and gave out a pleasant warmth for when the evenings started to cool off. Most didn’t produce a lot of smoke but there was enough to keep the midges down. If you were in an area badly affected by midges, the sawdust briquettes would produce a thicker smoke if needed.
Even after dark we continued to sit out around the pleasantly-glowing fire basket, glasses to hand, waiting for the bats to emerge so we could track them with the bat detector. Takes all sorts! 🙂
