An actual chimney starter is only $15 for a basic one at Home Depot, and it will last for years, even if you often forget to put it away and leave it outside in the rain like I do:
continuing the sidejack a bit, I experimented with some of my homemade pickled jalapeno brine (the only thing I bother pickling anymore and probably won’t bother going forward) and yeah, not so good for broiling/grilling, great for frying. It added flavor and a subtle heat, but the one key ingredient I’ve found in making CFA style fried chicken was adding a bit of powdered sugar in the breading.
Back to actually grilling. With beef having been sky-high in price recently and only getting worse, most of my grilling friends are doing -more- chicken and pork especially. I find boneless, skinless the norm, as there are lots of complaints about uneven cooking for bone in selections (which brings us back to heat control of course). I suspect a grill the size mentioned in the OP would probably want to stick to boneless options.
Oh, cool tip about the powdered sugar. I’ve not come across that for breading. I imagine it not only imparts a little sweetness, but also adds to the browning. I usually add paprika to my breading as it has sugars in it and helps add a darker color (not just because of its own redness, but because of how the sugars brown) but I’ve never tried sugar itself. I’ll give it a go next time.
Very much depends where you’re from. Where I am, barbecue can be a grill, and is very much a noun as well as a verb.
I’ve heard another key ingredient to CFA-style chicken, if that’s what you’re going for, is adding straight MSG to the breading.
Even the spiffy Weber model that @silenus displayed is only about $25, and it’s a lot nicer than the bargain models (I have the Weber now, used to have a Home Depot cheapo). But any chimney starter is better than lighter fluid.
My advice would be:
- Get chimney starter
- Start out using briquettes. They’re more consistent in burn rate than lump charcoal, so they’re better to learn on.
- Get a good instant-read thermometer. I like the Thermoworks Thermapen models (I have a Mk 4, which I think is now the “ONE”) (I see @silenus has already pointed this out. I would also bet the ThermoPop that @pulykamell references is good too)
- If you’re going to err, do so on the side of under-done. You can always cook something a little more, but you can’t un-cook something.
- Get a leave-in probe thermometer for things like roasts, pork butts, etc… If you eat a bunch of steaks, they’re fantastic for using the reverse sear technique.
- Learn how to do the reverse sear technique.). Much better than sous-vide for steaks because it dries out the exterior, letting you get a dramatically better sear after cooking than sous-vide does. And it doesn’t take any specialized equipment, just an oven and a grill.
- Practice. That’s the #1 thing that’ll improve your grilling. You eventually get a sort of feel for how long grilling different things takes and when they’re actually done.
Wait can’t I eat BBQ in the US? I have been told something different. What is the deal?
@not_what_you_d_expect: if you haven’t done so already, check your local fire codes for the minimum safe distance between any open flame and nearby structures.
Technically, you are eating “something prepared in the manner of BBQ,” ie “low & slow.” 
Of course, given the propensity of Americans to verbify nouns and nounify verbs, the distinction has rapidly become moot.
OK so even you guys don’t agree on the language. Thanks. This thread could become BBQ war eeek. Next time I go to the US I want to have a good BBQ like I see on the net.
Start in North Carolina. East, then West for comparison. (I personally am partial to Lexington-style.) Then Texas for brisket and hot links. Then on to California for Santa Maria tri-tip. You can skip the rest of the country. 
(Runs screaming, chased by an angry mob.)
Sounds like valuable information. I will make that trip one day.
Yeah, but in (at least some of) those places, they use “barbecue” as a noun. My North Carolina roommate would refer to buying “a pound of barbecue” and insisted “barbecue” only meant “barbecued pork.” It could also be an adjective, derived from the noun, as in “a barbecue sandwich” which means pulled/chopped pork sandwich. I’ve seen this in the south (like Mississippi), but don’t know what they do in Texas as far as that goes. (And it, presumably, wouldn’t be pork there, anyway.) Or even simply “Let’s go out for some barbecue” to mean any type of meats in barbecued preparations.
Brine lean meat, not fatty. There are marinades for fatty meat but using salt on lean mean is so it retains more liquid when cooking, on top of making it taste delicious, changing protein structure, etc… None of the other stuff counts much if the meat is dried out. Sweet and acidic marinades work well with fatty meat, it’s just not necessary to add all that salt. For instance I marinate ribs in a marinade of apple juice, some apple cider vinegar, onion and garlic.
A quick once-off alternative to a chimney starter is to fold some heavy-duty foil - a triple layer will do - and shape into an open-ended cylinder by tucking the ends into each other. Possibly need to fold over the top and bottom to give it some more rigidity. Then punch some small holes all over with a knife or church key. You just need it to hold the column of charcoal above whatever fire lighter you’re using (kitchen towel + cooking oil works well and doesn’t reek of petrochemicals) until the top layer ashes. Then yank away with tongs.
I’ve done this successfully several times, usually when I’ve taken my Weber to someone else’s house but forgotten my own starter, but also other places like holiday houses. Nice thing is that you can tailor the size of your foil chimney to fit smaller grills, like the OP’s. Or make a couple if you find yourself having to fire up a larger grill.
I’ve also seen hacks about using cartons, but that usually has a plasticized lining, I wouldn’t burn it.
I don’t even intend to put mine “away”. It lives on the patio. Over the winter, I tuck it into the grill, under the lid. But from the first time I grill until I winterize the patio, it just sits out there. I’ve had the same one for more than a decade, it’s totally fine.
Thank you. I hadn’t considered that aspect. At least it’s very movable.
Yeah, pork vs beef is a dividing line.
Carolina BBQ at 20:25, is pork and has sauce.
KC: Pork or beef
TX BBQ at 35:00—beef, no sauce
Highly entertaining series if you can find the rest of them…
Though the definition of “sauce” can be quite different than what most people think of as sauce. Like if we’re talking Eastern North Carolina barbecue. It’s basically just vinegar, sugar, and some hot pepper flakes.
I’m late to the BBQ, but I have two things I thought of…
-
If you don’t want a chimney starter, you can get an electric starter like this one. Easy to use and not environmentally unfriendly (I think). I have both and like both.
-
When you are done, close up all the vents (though if you don’t have a lid this won’t work) and then you can use the briquets again next time. You can get a fair amount of reuse out of the charcoal and just top off with fresh ones next time if you need more.