The Franken Weber

[hotsawce]

I did a forum search, but couldn't find anything on the famed "Franken-Weber."

It's over at thepizzahacker website (unfortunately, I can't post links.)

Modified Weber Kettle grill, uses charcoal and wood, and seems simple enough (however, we all know how little variances in "simple" can lead to a host of different results.)

Just wondering if anyone has the plans or has replicated it with success.

[scott123]

http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,10057.msg87721.html#msg87721

As I said in the other thread, I think he's got some good ideas, but I'm not sure he's there yet from a perspective of hearth heat.

[hotsawce]

Why would you want to cook a pie above 1000 degrees?

From what I've read, it seems like the pie cooks in under two minutes, and one can keep it going for long amounts of time while retaining heat (something the LBE lacks, unfortunately.) I wonder if the coal/wood usage does anything to the flavor of the pizza....

The use of perlite is interesting, and I'm really curious to know how it's constructed. I'm sure its a bit more complicated than throwing in a few firebricks and slathering the top in high heat cement and perlite....most of us are pretty familiar with subtle nuances affecting ovens.

[scott123]

1000+ degrees (F.) is pretty standard for the dome of a Neapolitan wood burning oven. I have no doubt they're talking dome temp, not hearth temp. Hearths, in theory, should be in the 850 deg. realm, but I can tell from his setup, his cooking time and the look of his pies that he's falling short of that.

I'm sure its a bit more complicated than throwing in a few firebricks and slathering the top in high heat cement and perlite....

How sure are you? This is his second oven (that we know of), so he's refined it a bit, but basically, that's exactly what's going on here.

[hotsawce]

What are you seeing in his pizzas that indicate this? The spotting on the pies looks good to me, everything looks to have cooked properly, and the cook time of 1 to 2 minutes in the frankenwebber would indicate everything is in order. You have to remember there's not really a dome, hearth, or anything in this thing....it's a modified weber grill. One isn't going to turn a weber grill into a 1:1 miniature replica of a brick oven 

And I'm so sure it's not that simple because people here have tried weber mods of the like with little success, and the slight variation is evident in all of the Little Black Egg attempts.

[azpizzanut]

Hi All,

Jeff's website is www dot thepizzahacker dot com

Also search on "frankenweber" and "pizza hacker" on YouTube. There are at least four short videos showing brief views of the Weber in action. Use the back and stop feature to get a good look at what he's doing.

Jeff is in the process of commercializing the FrankenWeber and will have a completed unit or kit available soon.

Meanwhile, I have a great Weber 22.5" kettle conversion made by Al Contarino who is currently selling them on eBay. I did a slight mod to mine by making a metal dome to set lower, but above the pizza, than a stock Weber dome. It reflects heat to the top of the pizza. Al's conversion ring cooks good pizza on the grill just the way it is. I do use kindling of hardwood to add heat and flavor. When the thermometer gets to 700 deg "things really get cooking".  The temp climbs when the kindling starts to flame. That is a critical time and I am always in awe when I see the dough puff and the cheese start to brown. It will get hotter than 700 deg but I don't want to mess with success. The conversion doesn't use firebrick or gimmicks. Al recommends an aluminum pan. It cooks pizza on a grill, in a hurry.

Cheers,

[Ev]

This is my take on a portable semi- wood burning pizza oven.

[Ev]

More photos

[Jackie Tran]

The proof is in the pizza.  Nice looking pie ther EV.   Good job. 

[buceriasdon]

Nice pie! Looks like the oven works well.  I've been thinking along somewhat the same lines with a radiant gas burning at the rear of a square grill and a another burner underneath the hearth. Good job EV!
Don

[Matthew]

This is my take on a portable semi- wood burning pizza oven.

You should start a new thread entitled "Things you can do with leftover material from building a WFO"

[Ev]

Ah, but that would not be accurate. I built this one first!

[Jackie Tran]

EV what is the material you put on the outside?  Is there a link this build somewhere? Im curious as to how well it worked. What are some of the drawbacks you found with this oven?

[Ev]

JT,
 It's just a thin coat(1/2 inch)of perlcrete. There is also some wire mesh material underneath to give the perlcrete something to hold on to.
 This oven works great, though I haven't really tested it with a good neapolitan dough. I usually run it at about 600 on the deck and use a basic Lehmann style dough.
 The biggest drawback, I guess is having to add wood every other pie or so. You definitely need the wood burning or else the toppings won't cook right. The only other drawback I can think of is the weight of the dome section. There are fire brick splits mounted to the inside of the dome using and old grill grate.
 The only build thread is pretty much what you've seen above.

[HASassin]

i think ive found the grill for me.

at first i was a little phased about using wood, and what a hassle i thought that would be, (hence, i was leaning more towards the LBE), but now that i think about it... if you want to go all the way possible - (that is without WFO) then this is the closest you can go

i just have some questions about building it.
how did you go about doing it? did you have plans?

how did you shape the wire frame?
is the wood/fire bricks sitting on the metal grate?

[HASassin]

JT,
 It's just a thin coat(1/2 inch)of perlcrete. There is also some wire mesh material underneath to give the perlcrete something to hold on to.
 This oven works great, though I haven't really tested it with a good neapolitan dough. I usually run it at about 600 on the deck and use a basic Lehmann style dough.
 The biggest drawback, I guess is having to add wood every other pie or so. You definitely need the wood burning or else the toppings won't cook right. The only other drawback I can think of is the weight of the dome section. There are fire brick splits mounted to the inside of the dome using and old grill grate.
 The only build thread is pretty much what you've seen above.

i think ive found the grill for me.

at first i was a little phased about using wood, and what a hassle i thought that would be, (hence, i was leaning more towards the LBE), but now that i think about it... if you want to go all the way possible - (that is without WFO) then this is the closest you can go

i just have some questions about building it.
how did you go about doing it? did you have plans?

how did you shape the wire frame?
is the wood/fire bricks sitting on the metal grate?

[HASassin]

also - i had another idea -

why not just use a regular bbq grill (i like natural gas) and crank it up to make, and stick some wood at one end of it, and cut a hole at the opposite end, and bend the metal upwards (so it makes a roof)

now you dont have to do too much modding - you can just crank your regular grill to max temp, and when it reaches around 540 degrees the wood will instuntaneosly combust, thereby raising the temp even further - and theres a window for airflow

with this idea you can prolly get around 800 degrees at least