Pizza Kettle/Weber BBQ

[Tatoosh]

I have a 22.5 inch Weber BBQ Grill, the One Touch Gold version with the ash can.  I am in the Philippines and waiting for a Pizza Kettle insert to arrive by slow boat.  Maybe another month or six weeks before it hits my door step.  I ordered the semi-deluxe version that comes with a 15 inch pizza stone.  I also ordered separately, a D shaped 22 inch stone, which I'm hoping will allow me to make somewhat bigger pizzas than the OEM stone.  Considering the rough and tumble of transoceanic shipping plus the way packages are handled here, I figured buying two might get me one stone delivered unbroken.  Maybe, maybe not, time will tell.

In the unlikely event both arrive intact, I've been reading different threads here and seeing the use of fire bricks to create a makeshift brick oven on other grills and standard ovens, and it occurred to me that the smaller stone might make a good ceiling if I can find a way to suspend it in the Weber's dome. 

I think the Weber's food grill sits in the Pizza Kettle which sits where the food grill normally sits.  Otherwise, it might be easy to put the big stone on the food grill (without the Pizza Kettle installed), set the smaller stone on it and heat them both with with the dome on.  Then somehow pull the small stone off (maybe have a metal frame with handles for it made) and hang inside the dome.  Hit the Weber with a fresh load of charcoal and wood to get it up to top temperature again.  Put the Pizza Kettle on the Weber's base, the dome on the top with it's hot pizza stone ceiling and start making pizza. 

The small stone in the top should help reflect heat toward the top of the pizza.  It may help keep the air moving from the back of the oven and either helping it stay warm and perhaps even keeping the air movement over the pizza instead of circling in the dome.  Or not, hard to say. 

Is anyone else here using the Pizza Kettle or have tried it on their Weber BBQ?  Attached is a photo of one I found on the internet and resized to meet the requirements here. 

[scott123]

Is there still time to cancel your Pizza Kettle order?  The Pizza Kettle looks nice, but it makes horrible pizza.

[Tatoosh]

Is there still time to cancel your Pizza Kettle order?  The Pizza Kettle looks nice, but it makes horrible pizza.

Well, unless I can get them to turn the cargo ship around, no.  Have you used the Pizza Kettle? I have seen varying results reported, but not utter and outright failure with them.

 

[scott123]

Tatoosh, I'm sorry to hear that it's already on the water.

With a few modifications, it should be alright.  I can't seem to find the link right now, but I've seen the insert modded with a stone ceiling. You just have to drill into it right above the hole and run supports to suspend a stone on. Even with the ceiling just above the hole, it's still kind of high, but it'll be better than the dome of the grill acting as the ceiling.

Whenever you're working with a bottom heat scenario, the lower the ceiling the better. That's why these inserts don't work- they take an already too high ceiling and lift it even further.

[Tatoosh]

The manufacturer has a double grill setup (on youtube) where a second food grill is hung from top of the insert, the dome then on top of that.  They were cooking chicken at the regular grill level and with a second full size food grill set at the top of the insert, they were heating corn on the cob.

So, if they can hang a food grill there, I'm sure I can figure out a way to hang a pizza stone.  My OEM pizza stone, provided it arrives in one piece will be 15 inches, not the 22 inches I'd prefer.  But a visit to the local metal fabricator should give me a correct diameter shield that will hold the stone and help prevent air from circulating in the top of the dome.  I'm not sure if that is ideal, since some of the hot air might going to the top of the dome with the vent closed my help keep the ceiling stone's temperature up.  But that is pure supposition on my part.  

Worst case scenario, if the stone is broke, I can try to find a big piece of steel or aluminum and have it cut and dressed to the correct diameter for the ceiling.  I know some folks heating the aluminum as hot as possible with it set close to their oven's broiler, then sliding the pizza on it and letting the broiler do the top while the hot aluminum plate (3/4 or 1 inch thick) does the bottom.  

I'll sort something out. I have high hopes that pizza from a charcoal and wood heat source will pick up some flavors that just are not readily available in my kitchen oven.  Time will tell.

[FVG]

I had mixed results with the kettle grill. I modified it by hanging a stone just above the opening.

http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,4753.1460.html

Have had very good results, use the link and it is towards the bottom of the page.

[Tatoosh]

FVG,

Bingo!  You have the same D shaped pizza stone I ordered and am keeping my fingers crossed will arrive in one piece.  How do you like the propane mod?  If I had another Weber to play with I might try that.  But with only one I will stick with charcoal and wood fuel.  

Questions prior to the modification:

1. Did you find it difficult to refuel the Weber?  Do you just lift the whole Kettle off the Weber, stone(s) and all to add more charcoal and wood?

2. Did you find the charcoal and wood added any flavor component to your pizza?

3. What were your cook times like?  Do you know what sort of temps you were getting with charcoal & wood fuel?

Questions about the 2nd stone:

4. I have the 14.5 or 15 inch stone coming as part of the Pizza Kettle package. Do I need to add some sort of shielding around it to close off the dome?  Or just suspend it at the top of the Kettle, below the dome, and leave the air gap?
Closer inspection of your photos made me realize you are using the D shaped stone as your top stone and closing off air movement with aluminum foil.  I really want the larger size stone on the bottom so I can make larger pizzas, possibly rectangular instead of round. So I will like suspend the smaller stone above on some sort fabricated frame that can be made to close off air circulation to the dome.

Questions about your modification:

5. What did you use to cut the circle in your base?  I don't plan to do this but the idea is very interesting.  If I set up a mobile pizza station at some point in the future, I might want to take a Weber 22.5 Silver (no ash catcher) and do that so the charcoal/wood feeding was no longer a factor.

6. How does the propane compare (pluses and minuses) to the original configuration?  Same temperatures?  No need to add wood? Just cook straight with propane?

Very nice design and execution.  Pizza looks great.  Sorry to ask so many Q's here but that is a very intriguing setup!  

Tatoosh

[FVG]

Refueling is fairly easy the way I had it setup – with the D stone on the grate I just took off the top and dropped in some coals / wood as needed. I did not detect much flavor difference using the wood and coal versus the propane setup. With coal and wood I was getting temps on the stone at around 700 degrees with the thermometer on the kettle going past its 700 degree max. I did set it up a bit differently than shown on the docs that come with the Kettle Grill.

I uses a sabre saw with a fine tooth metal blade to cut the and for now I am using just propane. While I am getting similar results with the 2 methods it is much easier to control the temperature when using propane. This is probably the biggest drawback of the Kettle Grill – difficult to regulate temperatures. I get stone temps at around 750 with propane only.

Few pictures from the Kettle using coal and wood and how I set it up are below as well as pizza from this afternoon. My next attempt will be with propane and some wood – I suspended the coal grates from the grill but still need to work out how I do the top stone.

[Tatoosh]

Great photos and thank you very much for sharing your experience.  Even short periods of 700F heat sounds great to me.  Or the 600F range since my home gas oven is 475F/500F maximum.  I think modifying a Weber Silver for propane is the way to go if you want a mobile unit or longer consistent burn times.  If you do wood or wood and charcoal along with the propane, will you cut a hole/door to dump the ashes?   

Feeding: I'm happy to hear it is not so difficult to lift the Kettle setup off the Weber and feed it.  That has been nagging doubt about the design.  Since we will use it for personal use or small parties where we make 3 to 6 pizzas at a time, one or two feeds should be sufficient. 

Ceiling: One thing I ran into on the internet that looks like it would make a great ceiling for the Weber/Kettle set up is this Cordierite stone that is not very expensive.  Need to do some checking to make sure it is food safe, but since it is used in pottery making, I think it likely is fine.  I've heard bakers talk about using pottery shelves to create ovens in other forums.  Diameter of 21 inches,  just shy of perfect, and at $29.95 it's way cheaper than the baking stones I bought.  Available at Axner  They do hit you for some packaging charges though. 

Dough: I was reading that the dough for wood fired pizza, which cooks at short cook times, needs to be different than the dough for ovens with longer cook times.  My flour choices are very very limited here, Gold Medal AP flour, or unknown sources of bread, AP, and cake flour that's been repackaged into clear plastic bags.  Do you have a thread where you talk about your dough experiences?

Toppings:  Does the Weber/PK cook the top enough I can put raw meats there?  Stuff like Italian sausage or similar uncooked ground beef.  Or do I need to cook/parcook those prior to using as a topping?  I'm looking forward to learning about how this all works together.