Author Topic: Little Black Egg (Read 266934 times)

toddster63 · « **Reply #1660 on:** July 23, 2012, 01:12:45 PM »

Quote from: PizzaEater101 on July 23, 2012, 12:18:27 AM

Well, I made a pie with the setup of having the bolts support the kiln shelving. Guess what it was an epic failure but not because of the bolts.

What happened is the lid or dome whatever you wanna call it is on a hinge and you can lift it with the handle and it will open up. The bolts are in the way of the hinge and I did not notice until after I was heating it up and noticed it was not getting nearly as hot as it did the first time I used it. The bolts prevent the lid from completely closing so there is a pretty noticeable gap between the lid and the bottom half of the unit. Too much hot air is escaping.

Not a problem though, I am gonna remove the hinges and just lift the lid/dome off instead of raise it as it is now with the hinges. I need those bolts because the grate sags with the stones on it so eventually maybe the grate will break because the heat and the weight of the kiln.

So tomorrow I take the hinges off and then do another bake. The first bake I did the other day was fine. I think this Little Red Corvette works really well but I need the hinges off and hope everything is back to normal.

I'll let you guys know how it goes after it's done.

Thanks

James, what a lot of us with 18.5" Webers do is to us the charcoal grate made for the 22" model. Charcoal grates are made of steel, and hold up to the heat fairly well. They still sag somewhat from the heat, but it seems to taper off and not continually sag or get so it's a PITA to use, such as with the regular cooking grates. You might try to find a steel "charcoal" grate for your LBE...

Also, not real cheap, but I know you have rectangular grill, you might consider a specialty cast iron or steel grate from the following:

http://www.cast-iron-grate.com

http://www.huntingdoncocustoms.com/bbqgrillgrates.html

PizzaEater101 · « **Reply #1661 on:** July 23, 2012, 01:56:58 PM »

todd, thanks for the info and links. I checked out the links. I have to look more carefully and see what they have for mine.

I actually got my lid to close. I tried to pry the hinges off with a screwdriver but the rivets were just to strong for me to pry them off. I was able to pry the legs off the grill when I was making this thing and they were riveted on yet these hinges were just riveted too strong. So what I did was I have a jigsaw and was able to cut the hinges off so now the lid closes. There are two hinges, one set of major hinges and two smaller ones. I just had to cut the major or big hinges off and the small are still there so I can still raise the lid with the smaller hinges.

So it was an epic success, well not quite but almost. The only thing that prevented it from being an epic success was that the bottom of the pie was a little to charred. Not so bad where I could not eat it but just a bit. Was my fault because I let it get too hot, I mean the kiln. The thing heats up really fast and when it was about 450 F I went inside and did some stuff then I came back out and it was about 730 F so I lowered the regulator a bit but was impatient and put the pizza on. I know that the temp of the hearth drops some but from 730 F does not drop that much. So I need to watch it and make sure about 630 or so drop it.

By the way, the first time I used this thing last week I got that spider webbing effect in the rim that I so like. This time I did not because I did not stretch it the way I'd get a rim. But maybe combination of rim, Power Flour, and high heat and maybe no oil gave me the spider web effect. Very cool.

Using this Little Red Corvette really is more efficient than using my home oven. I like this thing. I have to dial it in where I can make it consistently good. Might have mentioned it before but will again. Mine isn't egg shape so it can't be a Little Red Egg so I just call it a Little Red Corvette (LRC) even though it's not really Corvette shape nor is it all red but there is a Prince song from 1982 called Little Red Corvette so I thought I'd call it that.

I misplaced my digi camera so I can not take pics but wish I did so I could have posted the pics.

So for now I'm good but I am gonna look into these grates you talk about.

Thanks much

buceriasdon · « **Reply #1662 on:** July 23, 2012, 04:23:02 PM »

I would go a more DIY approach to the support grill sagging. The home improvement stores carry a cut metal dept. where you can get some 3/8" steel rod. Layout and drill some parallel holes on two opposing sides of the bottom, don't need many, but enough to support your hearth stone. Cut the rods to length, slip in from side to side and set the tile/stone on it and your done.
Don

PizzaEater101 · « **Reply #1663 on:** July 23, 2012, 04:50:14 PM »

Quote from: buceriasdon on July 23, 2012, 04:23:02 PM

I would go a more DIY approach to the support grill sagging. The home improvement stores carry a cut metal dept. where you can get some 3/8" steel rod. Layout and drill some parallel holes on two opposing sides of the bottom, don't need many, but enough to support your hearth stone. Cut the rods to length, slip in from side to side and set the tile/stone on it and your done.
Don

I like your idea. I have those hole already because I have bolts sticking out of them and the bolts are strong enough to support my stones but I think that steel rods going across the entire length of the stones would be more supportive. I'll see if Home Depot has cut metal department to cut these for me. Thanks buceriasdon.

toddster63 · « **Reply #1664 on:** July 23, 2012, 04:53:28 PM »

Yeah, that's a great idea, Don.

buceriasdon · « **Reply #1665 on:** July 23, 2012, 04:59:32 PM »

3/8" might be excessive except if the burner is right below the cross rods but I'd rather over engineer than under.
Don

PizzaEater101 · « **Reply #1666 on:** July 30, 2012, 07:46:22 PM »

When you guys turn on the burner are you turning it on at a low setting then gradually increasing the gas over time or do you start off on high? Thanks.

pizzaneer · « **Reply #1667 on:** July 30, 2012, 08:23:00 PM »

Personally, I turn it on med-low until the stone gets to temp, reduce it to low while I skin and dress, then launch & turn it up. I'm shooting for 20% higher top temp than stone temp.

That does depend on whether it's the first pie, etc. I try to give the stone a little cool-off time between bakes, as nobody in my family likes char but me.

toddster63 · « **Reply #1668 on:** July 30, 2012, 10:06:45 PM »

Quote from: PizzaEater101 on July 30, 2012, 07:46:22 PM

When you guys turn on the burner are you turning it on at a low setting then gradually increasing the gas over time or do you start off on high? Thanks.

That all depends on what is going on, and how much time I have. I prefer to start at medium and let the stone take about 20 minutes to get up to 600-650Fish. But sometimes when running late, I turn it up much higher (maybe 2/3-3/4) and get the stone to temp in closer to 10 minutes... But again, I prefer it a little lower and longer—it seems to make a more stable stone temp. Though the IR gun says 625F in both cases, when using quicker heat up times I get more sporadic under skirt results—naked spots, too much char on spots...

pizzablogger · « **Reply #1669 on:** August 13, 2012, 12:22:34 PM »

While the LBE can be tempermental, requires a good amount of tinkering and is not ideal, they are still one of the best deals around for having a compact, easily transportable oven that can produce a nice pizza.

I still have not gotten the excellent top heat and bakes that Chau or Toddster63 have been able to acheive with their LBEs, but I wanted to give thanks to Villa Roma for starting this road and laying down the inspiration we have all followed. Thanks!

Some recent efforts:

http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,14521.msg200182.html#msg200182

http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,14521.msg201698.html#msg201698

toddster63 · « **Reply #1670 on:** August 13, 2012, 03:52:40 PM »

Looks mighty fine and tasty to moi, K, very nice indeed...! Really dig the yellow cherry tomat's...!

lennyk · « **Reply #1671 on:** August 16, 2012, 12:15:40 PM »

what is the typical size pie made in an LBE ?

WaterDog · « **Reply #1672 on:** August 16, 2012, 01:25:25 PM »

Quote from: lennyk on August 16, 2012, 12:15:40 PM

what is the typical size pie made in an LBE ?

With my 16" stone, pies are 12-13".

toddster63 · « **Reply #1673 on:** August 16, 2012, 07:57:50 PM »

Biggest pie in my 18.5" LBE on a 16" stone is 14"...

simcha · « **Reply #1674 on:** August 19, 2012, 06:05:37 PM »

Hi everyone, I need some help. Currently my wife has shut down my LBE because I keep burning pies

. What I'm finding is that I can't get my LBE to temps below 600 degrees. I have the 20psi regulator and it's really powerful.

Pies that have to bake at 500 quickly become charcoal in my inferno LBE.

Can anyone offer some ideas of how I can decrease the temps? Also I'm running my LBE at the lowest possible setting on the regulator valve.

Thanks for the help!

scott123 · « **Reply #1675 on:** August 19, 2012, 06:14:24 PM »

Simcha, in what way are the pies burning? Tops or bottom?

What kind of deflection do you have in place?

buceriasdon · « **Reply #1676 on:** August 19, 2012, 06:41:44 PM »

simcha, I don't recall a picture of your burner placement except it was inside the kettle. Do you have anything to deflect the heat to the back of the kettle and not so much heat to the tiles you are using. One thing I would do is raise the grill and tiles up higher so it is flush with the top of the kettle. I think it's too low in the kettle presently. If you don't have some sort of burner deflector then that's on the list also. You have some more fine tuning ahead.
Don

simcha · « **Reply #1677 on:** August 19, 2012, 08:54:15 PM »

Yes my burner is mounted on the bottom of the kettle, not in the Bayou Classic holder thing. Currently I have some quarry tiles to buffer the flame, some broken pieces to fill in where there are holes.

Also my pies are burning on the bottom, the top looks great!

I have not tried to mount the grill on the top of the kettle, this would only give about 2-3 inches, would this make a significant difference in the temperature?

Would opening the gas valve on the propane tank only half way be helpful or does it need to be fully open?

What about downgrading to the 10psi regulator?

Thanks for the help!

ThatsAmore · « **Reply #1678 on:** August 19, 2012, 09:02:42 PM »

Quote from: simcha on August 19, 2012, 08:54:15 PM

....
What about downgrading to the 10psi regulator?

From what I've read on gas burners, it's the regulator that gets you the BTU's.

Notice on this 20lb regulator http://bayouclassicdepot.com/m5hpr1_propane_regulator.htm it has a valve after the regulator to limit flame on the burner.

Chicago Bob · « **Reply #1679 on:** August 19, 2012, 09:03:20 PM »

keep the valve open...do you or a neighbor have a gas grill that you could demo the regulator from....