Kettle Pizza Temperature Drop

[KenB]

My first KP cook yesterday.  For Fuel I used what I considered to be a full chimney of Diamond Char Wood on my SSP.  When the coals were ready I pushed them to the back of the kettle in a C shape with some coals under the stone.  I then put 3 good size chunks of Applewood on the coal.  Put the KP, stone and Lid on.  Temps got to over 600 with nice flame in the rear of kettle.  First pie was fine, maybe a little too hot as I got some burned crust but kept rotating the pie and I was pleased with the result.
2nd pie was fine too but then the temp started dropping rapidly and I pulled everything apart and put in more chunks...never got back to the 600 degree mark.  What am I doing wrong?  Not enough charcoal?
Wrong kind of wood?  The top vent was closed and bottom vent just cracked open BTW.

[Troy]

Applewood burns up pretty quickly and doesn't put out a ton of heat. I'm sure it was good for heating the dome for a couple pies, but not much more.

I'm not familiar with the Diamond Char Wood, but it sounds like you needed more fuel.
For a normal pizza cook i use about 2 chimneys worth (one lit, one unlit)
The kettle pizza with stone and dome steel takes 45+ minutes to heat up and balance out.

[northwestkettle]

I had similar results first time I used my kettle pizza now I dump in close to a whole unlit chimney of kingsford charcoal and then put in 3-4 good sized pieces of cherry or apple because that's what I have on hand then dump close to a full lit chimney on top and I was able to crank out 8 pizzas last time we made pizza I also found if I use a hook and some long tongs I can lift the front of the grate and shove more wood to the back of the grill without taking the whole top off and loosing all that heat


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[blieb]

I've been using Kingsford competition charcoal.  Full chimney, piled high in the rear.  Once that is going I add another maybe 50% more coals distributed ... This gets me to maybe 500?

With the kettlepizza prograte and basket in the rear... after the coals heat up, I slide some big pecan chunks into the basket.  That's what takes me over the top and adds great flameage.  I know the prograte was expensive package, but I think it's a big success factor.

I won't throw on a pie until stone is 375+ and lid thermo at 600+.

I can do maybe 4 pies before adding more wood.  I haven't added more charcoal mid cook because it's a pain in the butt... And if I drop in from the top I can't guarantee placement.

When I've cooked 8 pies I put even more charcoal initially, but then it's borderline too hot, even with vents closed.

After about 60-90 seconds I do quarter turns.

I've tried to maximize my pizza assembly for quick turnaround because the fuel does burn up quick.  3 wooden peels loaded and ready ... but, and this is funny, my DW doesn't like to touch flower ... Seriously, it's like nails on a chalkboard for her.  So I run in and roll out dough then run back out to keep the process going.

I think if you set up to be able to drop wood in the rear easier, that should help.  Hinge grate opened in rear maybe?  And something on top of the kettlepizza to direct the heat over the pie, kettle dome is far and makes it take longer on the clock.

Sorry, I turned this response into a blog. 



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