Author Topic: Little Black Egg (Read 267939 times)

Villa Roma · « **Reply #140 on:** January 26, 2008, 06:19:31 AM »

The weather was cooperating so I decided to road test the LBE with the side vent mod. I was on the last legs of my gas tank so all I could muster was 650 degrees. I made 2 New Yorkapolitan pizzas and 3 whole grain pizzas. All were very light and the NYA pizzas cooked in 2 1/2 minutes and the whole grain pizzas cooked in 3 minutes.

NYA pizzas: http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,6167.msg52912.html#msg52912

Whole grain pizzas: http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,5682.msg52913.html#msg52913

The side vent mod literally converted the LBE into a fire breathing dragon. I lowered the bottom stones back to the stock position prior to this pizza session. With a fresh tank of gas, next time I'll be.......SMOOOOOKIN!

Villa Roma

2stone · « **Reply #141 on:** January 26, 2008, 08:25:02 AM »

Villa Roma · « **Reply #142 on:** January 26, 2008, 10:53:29 AM »

Here's some detail on the vent mod. I used a piece of rolled up foil to create a baffle which limits the air flow in the area closest to the vent. This forces the hot air to be directed from the sides and back of the oven over the stone, creating a sort of convection wind tunnel effect. With the side vent being smaller sized than the intake, it creates a small back pressure and turbulence. I can't wait to try this with a full propane bottle.

The top vent can be used to control the air temp by siphoning off some of the hot air and the gas regulator is used to control the stone temp.

Villa Roma

ehanner · « **Reply #143 on:** January 28, 2008, 11:33:03 PM »

That looks like a good idea VR! Are you still planning on using a top stone? I wonder if you would need it with all that hot air rolling up around the stone and over the Pizza.

I'm sure you have looked at this but I discovered that the lid slips back and fits in a clam shell style, catching on the hook in the lid. It seems like that might be plenty of opening to get a pie in and out and hold enough heat.

I picked up my spare tank tonight after filling it and now it's howling 40-50 mph winds and the temps are supposed to fall from 40 to -5 tomorrow. I may never get to try this out!

Eric

ehanner · « **Reply #144 on:** January 28, 2008, 11:41:52 PM »

2stone, how about helping me understand what the best way would be to rotate the stone in this rig. I'm thinking of trying to mount the burner up inside the cooker a little offset to one side. Then I would rotate the stone so the burner covers one side of the stone as it rotates. A motor with a shaft up the center could be mounted below the cooker and stay cool enough I think.

Eric

Villa Roma · « **Reply #145 on:** January 29, 2008, 01:12:34 AM »

ehanner.....I'm staying with the top stone for now. The last few mods are a series of tweaks to get the maximum performance out of the LBE.

My next experiment will be to replace the bottom 16" stone with ceramic briquettes. This will allow some of the heat to propagate up to the 16" cooking stone on top of it while still providing some thermal mass as well as a heat buffer. This will make for faster heat up times and use less gas. This should allow the cooking stone to reach 750+ degrees in short order, using a minimal amount of gas.

Once the stone is up to temp I can lower the gas to idle and when I make a pizza, I'll just turn the gas up as required for a 1 1/2 - 2 minute pizza. I used this technique before with great results but with the stock vent. This should work a lot better with the expanded top and side vents.

Never tried the clam shell technique, let me know how it goes.

Villa Roma

ehanner · « **Reply #146 on:** January 29, 2008, 08:38:00 AM »

Villa Roma, So the plan is to place the ceramic briquettes on top of the grate and the cooking surface on top of them? Unless you plan to put the points down it seems like you would be loosing the direct contact heat transfer and insulating the top from the briquettes. I'll be anxious to see how you do that.

I bought a box of 6 inch square unglazed quarry tiles yesterday. I had hoped to get larger tiles or thicker but Home Depot didn't have anything thick at all. I'm going to clip some corners and lay a buffer below the cooking stone.

Eventually I think I'll place the stone on a steel plate and find a way to rotate it. The top stone could also help direct the hot air flow where you want it to be (top of the pie).

I'm sure you have it posted somewhere on this massive site but what is your favorite dough recipe for testing? I'm thinking I'll whip up some high hydration (80%) Harvest King with no oil or sugar and make some small shapes to test heat patterns.

Eric

Y-TOWN · « **Reply #147 on:** January 29, 2008, 08:54:19 AM »

Quote from: Villa Roma on January 26, 2008, 10:53:29 AM

Here's some detail on the vent mod. I used a piece of rolled up foil to create a baffle which limits the air flow in the area closest to the vent. This forces the hot air to be directed from the sides and back of the oven over the stone, creating a sort of convection wind tunnel effect. With the side vent being smaller sized than the intake, it creates a small back pressure and turbulence. I can't wait to try this with a full propane bottle.

The top vent can be used to control the air temp by siphoning off some of the hot air and the gas regulator is used to control the stone temp.

Villa Roma

Villa,

I may have asked this question before and can't find the answer

Do you run your stones (16") directly on the flame (I know you said you utilize two, one that cracked after some years and is now used as a buffer).

I called the Fibrament factory about a crack in the stone and was told I was the first

that the stone had fibers and it would not break - well the crack is getting larger with each use. Looks like no help from the factory

I wondering what kind of stone you are using which does not crack with the heat from the LBE.

Here is what mine looks like now

Y-TOWN · « **Reply #148 on:** January 29, 2008, 09:05:51 AM »

I looked at the scan of the stone here on line and it looks like there is a chip out of the stone at the crack - not a chip - I was holding the stone resting on my on my lap for the photo and had black pants on - the chip looking part is my pants

Villa Roma · « **Reply #149 on:** January 29, 2008, 03:13:37 PM »

Y-Town.....The stone I use is an Old Stone Oven brand. You can do a search on it or go here: http://p4online.com/16rounpizbak.html

Don't buy from Amazon, I've heard of a lot of broken stones in shipment due to poor packaging.

I run mine fully exposed to the flame. Another alternative is using a kiln shelf but I've been really satisfied with the OSO brand.

Villa Roma

ehanner · « **Reply #150 on:** January 29, 2008, 05:49:33 PM »

VR,
Well I fired up the LBE today in the garage to test my oven temps. I ran it at full blast for about 15 minutes in the clam shell configuration and the best I could get was in the mid 500's. I put down a layer of 4 6x6 quarry tiles and then a 16" thin pizza stone (1/4"). I closed the top with the standard vents open and let it run for a while and it did warm up some. I went back to the clam config and checked the surface at about 600-640F. The handles got to 150 on the IR gage and there are a lot of hot spots on the stone. I haven't installed any foil yet. Maybe the foil will reflect some of the heat back.

Eric

Y-TOWN · « **Reply #151 on:** January 29, 2008, 07:03:26 PM »

Quote from: Villa Roma on January 29, 2008, 03:13:37 PM

Y-Town.....The stone I use is an Old Stone Oven brand. You can do a search on it or go here: http://p4online.com/16rounpizbak.html

Don't buy from Amazon, I've heard of a lot of broken stones in shipment due to poor packaging.

I run mine fully exposed to the flame. Another alternative is using a kiln shelf but I've been really satisfied with the OSO brand.

Villa Roma

Thanks for the reply, I'll order the one you suggested.

I don't rember if mine was an Amazon purchase or not -

I know one thing the company will give little if any help (Fibrament factory) - if it holds together I guess I'll be happy, but that company will not get another dime from me - not much customer support for such a high priced stone.

BTW I saw the LBE update, which I plan to do.

portions of this post were removed by Y-town

ehanner · « **Reply #152 on:** January 30, 2008, 10:37:42 AM »

Villa Roma,
After thinking about my test yesterday, I'm wondering where all the heat is going. Does the IR temp gage read the air temp? If it does I need to be more careful about where I take a reading. When I checked the outside of the kettle, I would get 600+ on the lower part of the kettle but only 300+ on the top just a few inches away. It seems like the 16" stone is significantly blocking the flow of heat to the top half. Have you tried to bake with only the stone and nothing as a buffer below? Maybe the quarry tiles are too effective as a buffer. Hmmmm.

Villa Roma · « **Reply #153 on:** January 30, 2008, 03:19:28 PM »

Eric.....The IR gun measures the temperature of objects, so if you point it at the grill, it will measure the grill temp not the surrounding air.

I never measured the lower part of my grill but it may be the stock vent is too small so the heat is just backing up in the lower part of the grill. I'll measure the upper and lower part of my grill next time I fire my grill up. You only have about 3 square inches with your stock vent and I have about 20 inches with the top can vent and the side vent. I think at one point you're going to have to perform surgery on your LBE.

I tried just one stone on the bottom and the pizza would burn real fast. I would stick with the tiles.

My last batch of pizza used 75% hydration and 2% salt. I use 1/64 tsp of IDY per 100 grams of AP flour. Just flour, water, salt and yeast/starter with a 12 hour RT ferment.

Villa Roma

ehanner · « **Reply #154 on:** January 30, 2008, 04:58:01 PM »

VR,
I am trying to understand my IR reader so I'm measuring a can of coke that came in from the garage where it's -2 outside and maybe 25 in the garage. When I shoot ice I get 32F, the outside of the can reads 45F and there are ice crystals in the soda can. The inside is 50F. Ice still measures a solid 32F.

When I have beamed the kitchen oven I get numbers similar to the control setting. The hot stone is usually a little lower than the oven wall (10-15 degrees).

Will the foil help achieve higher temps?

Eric

Villa Roma · « **Reply #155 on:** January 31, 2008, 11:55:58 PM »

Eric.....The foil will reflect the heat back into the oven and also provide a certain amount of insulation, so yes, the foil will help, especially when applied to the lid.

Villa Roma

Villa Roma · « **Reply #156 on:** February 02, 2008, 01:01:37 AM »

Have a big family? Like to entertain large groups? You say you need to make 16" pizzas. Maybe you just like living L A R G E.

Not a problem! To further demonstrate the versatility of the modified Weber kettle grill, I offer up the 22" grill with a 19" kiln shelf. Perform the above stated mods and you'll be cranking out massive 16" pizzas every two minutes. Even the hungriest of hoards will be no match for your new found pizza making prowess!

Maybe the small personal size pizzas are more to your liking. We've got you covered, just use the 14" grill with a 12" kiln shelf and fire it on your gas cooktop in the kitchen or get a small propane burner and use it outside.

Rest assured that no matter what size pizza you desire, there's an LBE built just for you.

Why would you want anything else?......Villa Roma

Villa Roma · « **Reply #157 on:** February 02, 2008, 01:51:22 AM »

Of course there's always this big rascal. It can make a 36" pizza!

More power......Villa Roma

ehanner · « **Reply #158 on:** February 02, 2008, 06:56:12 PM »

Holy Cow Villa Roma!! That's a big stone!!! You must be cooking on base for the flight line.
Eric

Villa Roma · « **Reply #159 on:** February 03, 2008, 12:43:54 AM »

Speaking of cows, you could probably fit a whole cow on that grill.

Maybe even an elephant!

The only name befitting this behemoth is: The Big Black Egg

Size matters......Villa Roma