P
pomah25
Guest
Pretty sweet looking! I wonder if i can jerry rig something out of a drum.
Turn Your Weber Kettle Grill into a Kettle Pizza Oven
- Thread starter MilitantSquatter
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- weber kettle mods
McGurk
Full Fledged Farker
My thoughts, exactly. I literally JUST sketched out what it would/should/could take to make it.
-Cut the bottom 1/3 off of a drum (with bottom still on) at the rib, so it would sit on the bottom of the kettle.
-Put 4 SS bolts along the bottom hold a grate, elevating it off of the heat source about 6".
-Cut an access hole, about 4" high and wide enough to get a stone and the pizzas in and out, just above the rib with the top of the grate even with the bottom of the hole. No need for a door by this guy's design.
-Attach some sort of handles on the top of each side to allow for removal for the addition of fuel while it is hot.
-Attach a thermo if you want; it might not be a bad idea.
Tip it on it's side, put the grate in, and set it on your hot kettle. Let it get to temp with a stone in, and cook away! Seems easy enough, and you don't need his fancy shmancy laser-cut steel and custom milled handles...
-Cut the bottom 1/3 off of a drum (with bottom still on) at the rib, so it would sit on the bottom of the kettle.
-Put 4 SS bolts along the bottom hold a grate, elevating it off of the heat source about 6".
-Cut an access hole, about 4" high and wide enough to get a stone and the pizzas in and out, just above the rib with the top of the grate even with the bottom of the hole. No need for a door by this guy's design.
-Attach some sort of handles on the top of each side to allow for removal for the addition of fuel while it is hot.
-Attach a thermo if you want; it might not be a bad idea.
Tip it on it's side, put the grate in, and set it on your hot kettle. Let it get to temp with a stone in, and cook away! Seems easy enough, and you don't need his fancy shmancy laser-cut steel and custom milled handles...
gtsum
Babbling Farker
I got mine put together today and did a dry run. At 10 minutes the cooking stone (which was on top of the Primo Deflector stones) was at 300. At 15 minutes it was 450 and at 20 minutes it was at 625. I am going to cook some pies tonight on it and we will see how it goes. I cut out a vent in the front (side) of the lid and have my stones and d plates all the way to the front (near the vent). Have the top weber vents closed. Idea is to get the hot air moving from the back, across the pie, out the front. I dont think I have it tweaked yet because I dont think I have a hot enough temp up top (I am shooting for cooking at 650 stone temp and about 700 air temp above stone)....we will see
bob80001
Knows what a fatty is.
Glad to see it can get north of 600. Can't wait to see your writeup here and some pics of what you produce. I would really like to build my own pizza oven in the back yard, but that's waaaay outta my budget, so I have been looking at alternatives.
gtsum
Babbling Farker
well, I could not wait to try it..so, I have 4 dough balls here, and I am also making 2 more as I type...so I thought I would go ahead with a test run. Within 15 minutes the stone temp was 600 and the dome temp read through a thermo in the lid was 750 (this is not accurate, but it gave me a general idea). I prepared a skin and found out I had NO pizza sauce...not enough time to make any, but we did have spaghetti last night, so I thought why not? Spread the skin out, slathered on the "sauce" or "gravy" as some call it and topped with whole milk shredded mozz. Slid it on and stood back to see what would happen.............I rotated every 45 seconds and after 3 minutes the bottom was perfect, but I had a ways to go on top yet, so I slid an cold aluminum perforated pizza pan underneath the pie directly on the pizza stone and cooked him another 45 seconds...took him off at 3 min 50 seconds and I must say, it came out fantastic. This was the best crust I have made (and that includes maybe 30 pies on the Primo ceramic cooker). It was charred nicely (no pics...only one I got was blurry) and the rim was nice and crunchy on the outside and soft and moist on the inside. Strange it sounds, the pizza sauce (meat sauce to boot) was actually not bad on the pizza! At least I know what to expect for my next pies now...at least I hope I do....For a first time on a rattle trap put together cooker, I am quite surprised it came out better then anything I have done on the Primo....
A few thoughts - I need a larger disk or stone up in the lid...I need more heat on top of the pie to get the nice leopard pattern on the rim and cheese - I need about an 18 inch stone though (hard to get). I think that will help me on heating the top. Once I get that fixed up, I will attempt higher heat pies (720 stone temps, etc). I am going to have to get a different grate as well, as the stock cooking grate is going to warp with the heat and the weight of the D plates and the Primo stone on it - I might use the 18 inch charcoal grate and drill long bolts in the side of the cooker to hold it....here are some pics - I am going to clean up some of the rough spots, but I was too anxious to try it out today!
A few thoughts - I need a larger disk or stone up in the lid...I need more heat on top of the pie to get the nice leopard pattern on the rim and cheese - I need about an 18 inch stone though (hard to get). I think that will help me on heating the top. Once I get that fixed up, I will attempt higher heat pies (720 stone temps, etc). I am going to have to get a different grate as well, as the stock cooking grate is going to warp with the heat and the weight of the D plates and the Primo stone on it - I might use the 18 inch charcoal grate and drill long bolts in the side of the cooker to hold it....here are some pics - I am going to clean up some of the rough spots, but I was too anxious to try it out today!
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Carbon
is Blowin Smoke!
That kettle mod looks good! What kind of flour are you using?
gtsum
Babbling Farker
Con Agra Bakers Choice HG (Bread Flour) from Sams. It is actually not too bad...and you cannot beat the price. I used to use KABF, but I can get 25lb bag of the Bakers Choice for a buck more then 5lb of KABF
gtsum
Babbling Farker
I am thinking something like this for the pan in the top of the lid...a heat mass is not needed imo, as there is so much hot air coming over the pie..but I think this would decrease the volume in the lid and force the air down over the pie more....
http://www.overstock.com/Wholesale/...d=123620&fp=F&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=12682410
http://www.overstock.com/Wholesale/...d=123620&fp=F&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=12682410
gtsum
Babbling Farker
couple more pies tonight on the LBE - I need to tweak it a bit - my main grate is sagging and I need more airflow over the top of the pie...regardless, still the best crust I have made (including anything I have made on the Primo or the home oven). It is crunchy outside and moist and chewy inside...this is a pizza making machine. First pie cooked in 4 1/2 minutes, the second one cooked in 3 min 15 seconds (stone temp was about 590 and lid thermo read 700 when put this one on).
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Carbon
is Blowin Smoke!
Man, those pies look awesome!!
gtsum
Babbling Farker
Carbon - I just noticed you have a wood fired pizza oven??? Got any pics? I think I am going to talk the wife into making an outdoor WFO for the patio....of course, this kettle mod (cost me $10) attempts to klone a WFO...it does not quite get there, but it does work!
Carbon
is Blowin Smoke!
My oven project is not yet completely finished although the oven itself is fully functional. It basically only needs final stucco. After that I will construct a small concrete counter/workspace right next to it.
Here's a photo of the oven I took a few days ago...
Attachments
gtsum
Babbling Farker
Check out this link - it's a complete tutorial. This guy uses just a regular pizza pan on the inside of the cover. BTW, your pizzas look GREAT!
gtsum
Babbling Farker
I made some adjustments to the LBE today and got much better results. Replaced the stock grate with a new charcoal grate and used 3 inch Ss bolts to hold him up (since the grate is 5 inches smaller then the kettle). Cut some Firebrick for the hearth and put a small SS bowl filled with one layer of lava rocks about an inch above the burner to spread the heat out). These made a big difference. Cooked 4 pies tonight at varying temps...the 4th one was the best of the bunch...good char, nice leoparding on the top, crispy crust and rim - even after cooling down it maintained it...all cooked from 3:45 to 4:10 - for about $30 that I put into this thing, it is a pizza cooking machine...the pies I used to cook on my ceramic cooker do not come close to these...good thing I suppose so i dont go through any more fireboxes!
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Carbon
is Blowin Smoke!
Awesome pies!! Beautiful crusts...
L
loveboxer
Guest
I have one of these too and do not have the problem of the crust cooking faster than the top at all..
ccourt9283
Is lookin for wood to cook with.
I have an extra 55 gal drum that I was going to make a second UDS with maybe a dedicated pizza grill instead?
Sledneck
Full Fledged Farker
Sledneck
Full Fledged Farker
(in a low very freaky voice) Yeahhhhhhhh that pizza is for a dirty giiiirrrrrllll http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVeQBHludGs&NR=1
