Turn Your Weber Kettle Grill into a Kettle Pizza Oven

Carbon said:

Awesome pies!! Beautiful crusts...

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thanks! Trying to get similar results to your pies in your WFO!

Sledneck said:

(in a low very freaky voice) Yeahhhhhhhh that pizza is for a dirty giiiirrrrrllll http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVeQBHludGs&NR=1

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I mean, use some regular firebricks... for Pete's sake!! :roll:

I used to set my stone on 2 firebricks, set on edge. This puts the stone up higher in the kettle dome where the heat is. I had great luck with this technique.





But now I have an Egg.

Those pies look GREAT, but would love to see pics and details of your build as I haven't started mine yet...what are you using as a heat deflector for the inside of the weber cover?

gtsum said:

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...

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Great idea

Moose said:

Those pies look GREAT, but would love to see pics and details of your build as I haven't started mine yet...what are you using as a heat deflector for the inside of the weber cover?

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I just made a couple more pies today so it is too hot to take pics, but I will tomorrow and post it up. The biggest difference so far was using firebrick as the hearth - it has improved the pies quite a bit

Here are the pies I cooked today...70% HR - first one cooked in 3:45 I think it was and was good..not as much top browning as last night with 68%. Went on at 600 stone temp (725 dome temp). Second pie went on at 650 stone temp and bottom was too burnt ??? ???. Here are pics of the setup..the diffuser bowl is off center in the pic (centered when cooking). I have the FB cheated up front so my spacing in the rear is bigger..it is certainly hotter in the rear as you can tell by the burn marks from the second pie (which was placed near the back for some reason??. Do you think I need a bigger vent for more airflow? I am contemplating taking out the diffuser and trying it and then trying a pizza stone on the FB with no diffuser as well (which would raise my pies in the dome a bit). I have an 18 inch alum pizza pan in the lid to decrease volume

I still need more air flow over the top of the pies I think

I don't think you probably need a bigger vent for airflow - my guess is that your firebricks are blocking off some of the rising heat from the back, which is why using a round stone may help with that. With a round stone (probably 16 inch would be best) with the stone positioned very closely to the front of the vent, the space in the rear would allow more heat to move over the top of the pie.

Also, any particular reason you didn't line the inside of the kettle or cover with foil? That also seems to be a good heat deflector...

Also, did you rotate your pizzas when you cooked them? That may help reduce the back getting burned...

Check out these videos, and see how quickly his pies cook:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYRnKe6gJxs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1maPZLe_zo&feature=related

gtsum said:

Do you think I need a bigger vent for more airflow? I am contemplating taking out the diffuser and trying it and then trying a pizza stone on the FB with no diffuser as well (which would raise my pies in the dome a bit). I have an 18 inch alum pizza pan in the lid to decrease volume

I still need more air flow over the top of the pies I think

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I had foil inside, but it starts to melt and come off..it only lasted a couple of cooks. Most everyone that I have see make these does not use foil anymore (that vid of vila roma is several years old). Vila's cooker is a smokey joe, much, much smaller then my 22.5 - he is using basically the same burner and is getting quite a bit hotter temps (since the kettle is so small). I think the weber 18.5 would be ideal size, but I had the 22 sitting here not doing anything which is why I tried it with it. Yes, I rotate the pies about every 45 seconds - I am going to mess with the SS bowl some more and see how it goes.

What is the benefit of an open side? Air flow? Does is cook better or faster than just putting the lid on the grill?

bbqchicken said:

What is the benefit of an open side? Air flow? Does is cook better or faster than just putting the lid on the grill?

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The opening in the front is where the hot air will vent out. The air flow over the top of the pizza cooks the toppings while the stone cooks the crust.


Sent from my obsolete 3GS iPhone.

As a quick heads up, there will be a review of the KettlePizza in the next issue of Smoke Signals (available in February).


Eric

bbqchicken said:

What is the benefit of an open side? Air flow? Does is cook better or faster than just putting the lid on the grill?

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The vent helps force hot air over the cooking pizza so the top cooks more or less as quickly as the bottom. The smaller the vent, the more hot air will flow over the top of the cooking pizza. On my kettle, the vent is merely that - it does not serve as an opening to put the pizza on or remove it from the kettle.