Pizza on the grill set up questions

[MikeRocksTheRed]

@gchenworth  -   I think you are stuck on the idea that you have to have the baking steel for the KettlePizza to work and to not end up with pizzas burned on the bottom.  That is not the case at all.  I've probably done 100 pizzas now on my KP without the steel an they call come out great.  It's just a matter of making sure I have my coals setup and the correct amount of wood to give me the right heat in the dome so that the top cooks at the proper rate in comparison to the crust.  I do want to get the baking steel because I think it will let me use less fuel and save me money on the long run.

Also, you should check out California Pizza Stones if you are in the market to replace your cracked pizza stone.  If you are set on getting a Baking Steel that is cool too, but I had a California Pizza Stone that I didn't have to perfect care of and it never cracked or caused any problems for me. When I moved from AZ to CO I gave my stone to one of my AZ WKC buddies since I now have the KP tombstone, but if I hadn't given it away I'd bet money I would still have it in 20 years and would still be singing high praise about it!


http://www.californiapizzastones.com/pizza/files/pizza-stones-That-Do-Not-Thermal-Shock.php

[gchenworth]

@MikeRocksTheRed .  You are a wealth of information!  Been poking around the forums and found a bunch of your posts will help me up my game.

I agree I don't need the internal lid but I want it for reasons you mentioned... use less fuel... if the dome of the lid is open, I'd bet there's a 75 or 100 degree difference between the top of the dome and the surface of the pie.

I was pretty determined that I was going to try the lid modification (cut the opening) and give that a try.  But the more I think about it, I think I'm going to buy the Kettle Pizza base model then using a spare lid, drill a hole in the top, drill a hole in the center of this
https://www.amazon.com/Weber-Smokey-Mountain-Smoker-Accessory/dp/B01DE6NBTS/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1516658815&sr=8-2-spons&keywords=weber+water+pan+cover&psc=1
and use a bolt to permanently attach it to underside of the lid, then use a thick stone like you recommend above.

I'm thinking that using your pac man charcoal set up I should be starting out with about as efficient a set up as I can get.  And maybe I'll be making pies that are good on top and not torched on the bottom without abusing the world's supply of charcoal and firewood.

I am a little concerned about the wear and tear the really high heat will do to my performer bowl... but hey, if I wear it out, then I got my mileage out of it.

I'll replace the broken stone with a baking steel for when I make pizza in the house.

BTW, it took me a while to see your last post because I wasn't observant enough to see that there was a second pages of posts... lol

[LivingTheKetlle]

Best to use indirect heat for pizza baking. Put the charcoal in a circle then the centre is less hot and the heat can reach the upside of you pizza easier


Sent from my iPhone using Weber Kettle Club

[fljoemon]

I like the platesetter idea ( I have one from my BGE) that @Old Dave posted. I can use a vortex in the center and get the hot coals in there. Platesetter above the vortex and then pizza stone on the platesetter with a small airgap. Very interesting idea .. will try it out soon.