Baking Stone Trials

[Essen1]

EC,

I have about a 5" space between stones. That, combined with a 185,000 BTUs burner, works pretty well for me. But I have a different lid on the LBE than the standard factory lid, which is somewhat lower.

[Fingerstyle]

Fingerstyle,

One solution might be to put a different top stone in, replacing the foil-wrapped bricks which seem to be not very effective. I also have about 2" of clearance around my bottom stone so the heat can rise without being blocked by the stone.

That might solve your problem of not getting enough top heat.

Hope that helps.

Thanks Mike. Actually, top browning on my current LBE setup works very well - I was mainly explaining the constraints I've adjusted for with burner and sub pan. I've produced pies with perfect top and bottom browning on both EC stones. The additional height of the EC stones, atop the upturned sub pan achieves the ideal 2" clearance between top and bottom stones (like what I had with Pfalzgraff over firebrick splits before I replaced the grill with a HD coal grate which is suspended slightly lower)

I'm all for raising the LBE bar, especially vis fuel efficiency. I think an alumina top stone would be much better than the firebrick splits.

Vic

[Essen1]

Fingerstyle,

I think an alumina stone would be perfect as a ceiling stone in an LBE. Gotta be round, though.

[Engineered Ceramics]

I think an alumina stone would be perfect as a ceiling stone in an LBE. Gotta be round, though.

I've got a spare 15.5" x 3/4" round stone, if you would like to try it.

It's pretty heavy, you probably wouldn't want to be lifting the lid on and off.

If I remember correctly, your design, has a slot on the side so you don't need to lift the lid off to cook.

Bill

[TronCarter]

Wow, I can't believe I missed this thread all this time.  Are you still looking for testers?  I would like to try some pizza making on my grill and came here to find out which stone to buy, but I would surely try out one of yours if they are still available.

Tron

[Essen1]

Bill,

Thanks for the offer. I'd love to give your stone a test run. It needs to have 1/4" hole drilled in the middle because my top stone is held in place by a 5" bolt.

Here's a pic...

[Adam T]

Engineered Ceramics,

Do you ever make any stones with a concave surface? I've been thinking about making a LBE or even a pizza oven like a LBE but with my own custom enclosure. I was wondering if it was feasible practically and financially to have someone like FibraMent make a concave or dome shape stone for a top stone.

[Engineered Ceramics]

Engineered Ceramics,

Do you ever make any stones with a concave surface? I've been thinking about making a LBE or even a pizza oven like a LBE but with my own custom enclosure. I was wondering if it was feasible practically and financially to have someone like FibraMent make a concave or dome shape stone for a top stone.

We do make round bottom alumina crucibles for melting glass.  In fact I have a couple of scrap ones laying around my yard.  The problem is they are very heavy.

the little one weights about 110 lbs, and the larger one is 280 lbs if I remember correctly.

Just for reference, there is a 15.5" pizza stone in each photo.

[Adam T]

Wow, those are heavy! Even if you could cut off half of the 110 lb bowl 55 lbs is still a lot of weight. They must be really thick. It's good to know that you could get one if you wanted.

I wonder if a somewhat domed upper stone would be beneficial for a homemade propane burner type pizza oven.