Pizza fail with Slow n Sear

[haeffb]

Well, not complete failure, but an imperfect result.

I decided to try using my SnS in the Kettle Pizza rather than my tried n true charcoal basket setup. I loaded the SnS with some used charcoal, some new, and a chimney of lit briquettes.

I used the St. Louis style thin crust recipes (see previous posts) and made four pizzas. Everything worked just fine, except the stone never got hot enough. The pies were great, but with a chewy thin crust instead of a crisp thin crust.

I will go back to the baskets with a few coals directly under the stone next time.

[MikeRocksTheRed]

It was worth a shot.  I've thought about trying my SNS but I figured it's not worth messing with what works. I'm thinking it might work with a basket flat against the SNS to hold some coals to heat the stone.  I don't think the SNS is going to reinvent anything or result in using less fuel .


Sent from my iPhone using Weber Kettle Club mobile app

[LightningBoldtz]

yeah, seems like you need that radiant heat from the charbaskets

[theduke]

Any coals under the stone?
How much total charcoal?
How long did you wait for the setup to get to temp?
What temps were you hitting when you put the pies in?
Using any type of steel / stone over the top?
Any wood splits?
I've gotten REALLY good results with the SNS / Kettlepizza combo so I'm curious where it went awry. I do think the radiant heat from the sides of the baskets helps a lot and that's the one area the SNS requires a bit more pre-planning as far as getting the stone to temp.
Here's something I posted awhile back about that combo in case you'd like to give it another shot.
http://weberkettleclub.com/forums/pizza-forum/sns-kettlepizza-pretty-fantastic-combo/

[MikeRocksTheRed]

Any coals under the stone?
How much total charcoal?
How long did you wait for the setup to get to temp?
What temps were you hitting when you put the pies in?
Using any type of steel / stone over the top?
Any wood splits?
I've gotten REALLY good results with the SNS / Kettlepizza combo so I'm curious where it went awry. I do think the radiant heat from the sides of the baskets helps a lot and that's the one area the SNS requires a bit more pre-planning as far as getting the stone to temp.
Here's something I posted awhile back about that combo in case you'd like to give it another shot.
http://weberkettleclub.com/forums/pizza-forum/sns-kettlepizza-pretty-fantastic-combo/

I think the baking steel is what is making the KP and SNS work so well for you.  Just read your post again, and I can tell from the pics that the setup is MONEY!!!!  I still need to get a baking steel!

[theduke]

I totally agree Mike! It's pretty much the key to the entire thing. I'm barely using a little more than one heaping chimney of charcoal and a couple wood splits and getting temps close to 1000 at the steel and 5-600 on the stone with very little effort. I got very similar results with my first setup which was just two stones on the upper grate.

[haeffb]

Any coals under the stone?
How much total charcoal?
How long did you wait for the setup to get to temp?
What temps were you hitting when you put the pies in?
Using any type of steel / stone over the top?
Any wood splits?
I've gotten REALLY good results with the SNS / Kettlepizza combo so I'm curious where it went awry. I do think the radiant heat from the sides of the baskets helps a lot and that's the one area the SNS requires a bit more pre-planning as far as getting the stone to temp.
Here's something I posted awhile back about that combo in case you'd like to give it another shot.
http://weberkettleclub.com/forums/pizza-forum/sns-kettlepizza-pretty-fantastic-combo/

No coals under the stone - which is probably where I went awry.

A full chimney plus probably a half of leftover. I let the oven get up to temp, then add a few large chunks of wood (not full splits). Once they are fully engaged, I add the pies, then refresh the wood chunks between pies if temps are dropping.

I have the pie pan that came with the KP on an upper grate and an old pizza stone inside the pie pan that serves as a thermal mass.

I don't have an infrared therm, but the KP therm was reading about 700 degrees.

[theduke]

No coals under the stone - which is probably where I went awry.

I think you're on the right track with that.

[G19]

So bring me up to speed please.  The baking steel is at the grate height but not covering the SNS or is it raised to make a oven roof .  The pizza stone is that on top of the steel or raided above? 

[theduke]

So bring me up to speed please.  The baking steel is at the grate height but not covering the SNS or is it raised to make a oven roof .  The pizza stone is that on top of the steel or raided above?

Not 100% sure if you're referring to the pics in the post or the posts themselves but I'll give it a shot.
The steel kettlepizza sells goes over the kettlepizza unit (creating a roof as you described) regardless whether you use a sns or some other method. Could even run it without the lid of the kettle if you so chose.
The pic I posted of those stones on top was my way of mimicking that before I invested in the steel and quite honestly worked just as well. The grate under them was an old grate I used to support the stones. I just like using the steel as a griddle occasionally so it made that purchase worthwhile for me.