Help With Melted Damper Plastic on Lid

[bamakettles]

Had an issue last weekend during a pizza cook using the kettlepizza accessory.  Long story short, I melted the damper handle on my lid.  Now there's black plastic on the lid that I'd like to remove.  Any advice?


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[ReanimatedRobot]

My best idea is gently using a razor scraper.  I have used them to remove paint and baked on crap on the inside and outside of a kettle.  Just be careful about the angle so you aren't driving the blade into the porcelain.  If there is some small remnants you can try dish soap and 0000 steel wool. 

In the future I would grab a crappy black kettle with no plastic for the kettle pizza.  The vents don't even need to work as you just leave them wide open to cook.

Kettle pizzas are hard as hell on the porcelain and any plastic.  I use a black premium kettle that I picked up on clearance one year.  You have to remember that you have to be in the 600 degree area for temp most times but I have even pushed 700+ (maybe even 800+)  when I need to cook pizza fast and in quantity.  That is hard on anything.

You could also look into a baking steel for the kettle pizza as it will deflect the heat down instead of onto the lid and vent.  It has advantages to cooking the top of the pizza too.

Sent from my SM-G925R4 using Weber Kettle Club mobile app

[bamakettles]

Thanks so much, great tips.  My bright red kettle actually turned a really dark crimson during the cook and I thought it might have ruined the finish at the time.  It turned back to normal color after it cooled.  Being the Weber fanatic I am, I actually bought two of these SE units when I found this online deal so I have a brand new one in my home office.  I just don't want to use it!  ; )

[ReanimatedRobot]

A number of colors will change with high heat.  One of the crowd favorites is yellow because it will actually turn orange. 

As far as I know they can get that hot time to time without much issue. Just avoid banking the coals against the porcelain and that will help a lot.  The kettle pizza requires banking the coals so the porcelain gets constant high heat contact along with the wood burning. 

Good luck with the pizza cooks! They are probably my (and my guests) favorite at the moment.

Thanks so much Ranger, great tips.  My bright red kettle actually turned a really dark crimson during the cook and I thought it might have ruined the finish at the time.  It turned back to normal color after it cooled.  Being the Weber fanatic I am, I actually bought two of these SE units when I found this online deal so I have a brand new one in my home office.  I just don't want to use it!  ; )

Sent from my SM-G925R4 using Weber Kettle Club mobile app

[bamakettles]

And so far pizza has been the most challenging thing I've attempted in a while!

A number of colors will change with high heat.  One of the crowd favorites is yellow because it will actually turn orange. 

As far as I know they can get that hot time to time without much issue. Just avoid banking the coals against the porcelain and that will help a lot.  The kettle pizza requires banking the coals so the porcelain gets constant high heat contact along with the wood burning. 

Good luck with the pizza cooks! They are probably my (and my guests) favorite at the moment.

Thanks so much Ranger, great tips.  My bright red kettle actually turned a really dark crimson during the cook and I thought it might have ruined the finish at the time.  It turned back to normal color after it cooled.  Being the Weber fanatic I am, I actually bought two of these SE units when I found this online deal so I have a brand new one in my home office.  I just don't want to use it!  ; )

Sent from my SM-G925R4 using Weber Kettle Club mobile app

[ReanimatedRobot]

Try the pizza forum for tips.  If you main trouble is the pizza sticking to the stone then I highly recommend using parchment paper.  It make spreading the dough a lot easier and prevents the sticking.  Just pull it out from under the pizza after it cooks a few minutes. 

Sent from my SM-G925R4 using Weber Kettle Club mobile app

[jhagestad]

This was a concern of mine when I was contemplating buying another kettle.  I'm not such a fan of a plastic vent handle like that... although the ones I've used from @KP have held up perfect thus far.

[bamakettles]

Restored back to new condition!  I used automotive rubbing compound and a round applicator.  Took 45 mins and lots of elbow grease.... relieved!

Believe it or not, that's the same grill in my avatar.....turned dark crimson at 700F lol.........


Sent from my iPhone using Weber Kettle Club

[jhagestad]

Great job! I'm glad you were able to buff that plastic out. Looks good as new!

[ReanimatedRobot]

This was a concern of mine when I was contemplating buying another kettle.  I'm not such a fan of a plastic vent handle like that... although the ones I've used from @KP have held up perfect thus far.

I haven't had any issue with the plastic vent handles and prefer to have them.  I think that as long as you aren't running hot on a pizza cook or putting the vent directly over a Charcoal basket (shouldn't happen during offset cooking) it will be just fine.  At least you don't have to put on gloves for a little adjustment.  The only issue you might have is on your non vent handle kettle you forget that you need gloves.

If it isn't for you appearance wise then you could probably break it off pretty easily.

Sent from my SM-G925R4 using Weber Kettle Club mobile app

[bamakettles]

I've used the "bump it with the spatula" method for years on the upper damper.  I'll probably leave this one without a handle as I plan on trying the TipTopTemp to control low and slow in the future.  My oldest kettle sports a wooden file handle affixed to the damper which works really well.

[View to a Grill]

@bamakettles Now I see what you mean by taking of the plastic damper.  Man that sucks!  Glad you got it fixed.

[jhagestad]

This was a concern of mine when I was contemplating buying another kettle.  I'm not such a fan of a plastic vent handle like that... although the ones I've used from @KP have held up perfect thus far.

I haven't had any issue with the plastic vent handles and prefer to have them.  I think that as long as you aren't running hot on a pizza cook or putting the vent directly over a Charcoal basket (shouldn't happen during offset cooking) it will be just fine.  At least you don't have to put on gloves for a little adjustment.  The only issue you might have is on your non vent handle kettle you forget that you need gloves.

If it isn't for you appearance wise then you could probably break it off pretty easily.

Sent from my SM-G925R4 using Weber Kettle Club mobile app

Totally agree with you there - it's a good thing I don't cook pizzas on my kettle!  Most of my issues stemmed from the fact that my upper vent is dirty/sticky from years of cooks, so without some kind of vent mod or halfway decent cleaning, I used the same "spatula bump" that @bamakettles mentioned to make small adjustments on slow-n-low cooks. Now that I've got the @KP grill handle, problem solved.  Next spring I'll have to find that tutorial on how to drill out the top vent rivet to give the vent and lid/bowl a good cleaning.