Well has anyone tried these http://www.kettlepizza.com/ ? If so let me know. Looks like the concept is there, and they have the data. Just wanting some user input.
Pizza Oven Conversion kit
- Thread starter Andy V
- Start date
Mike Willis
TVWBB All-Star
Interesting…but from $150-$300 is cost prohibitive for me! However, buying a piece of stainless steel sheet metal and curving it to fit your particular kettle (with the pizza-sized cutout of course) could be entirely possible! And a LOT less expensive I'll bet....
As for your question though... no, I haven't tried it.
As for your question though... no, I haven't tried it.
Richard Diaz
TVWBB Pro
I would get a good quality pizza stone like the half inch x-large green egg and get 3 empty cans to raise the pizza stone on. Works for me every time. I use the same setup, charcoal around the perimeter.
I've heard good reviews on it with a few mods.
Also some good options on cooking surfaces.
I'm still tinkering with my set up on the kettle and have been using the following:
Build the fire towards the back of the kettle with briquettes, lump, and smoke wood chunks.
Old grill grate with the hinged part removed. The open grill area is closest to the fire/heat at the back of the kettle.
On top of the grate. I use sheet metal (maye 12-16 guage) with a half moon section cut out where the hinged grate would have been..
then a flower pot base to raise the pizza plate ... then ..
a 3/8 18 inch circular steel plate moved all the way to the front of the kettle
bottom vents open and top vent closed but the lid tilted open a little in the front of the kettle.
Interior air temps are in the 600s and the steel plate gets into the 400s.
I'd like to get the steel plate temps in the 500-600s and may add soem circular sheet metal in the interior of the lid to cut down the top air space and bring more heat closer to the steel plate.
I'm going to leave out the sheet metal next time around and see how that impacts the temps.
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Jim Mathews
TVWBB Member
There are some long, long threads, on this site, about this thing. Should be able to find it via search.
I own one, bought it after seeing a yuotube video. I have probably used it 25 times. Results are good, but not perfect. I like it, I think it's cool to watch because it looks like what it is - a real, wood-fired pizza oven. I can't say that my results are any better than I could have achieved by elevating a pizza stone on firebricks. I have it, I like it. My kids really get a kick out of it. My biggest challenge is getting the pizza to slide off the peel onto the stone, my dough tends to stick to the often-feared and much-dreaded peel.
I own one, bought it after seeing a yuotube video. I have probably used it 25 times. Results are good, but not perfect. I like it, I think it's cool to watch because it looks like what it is - a real, wood-fired pizza oven. I can't say that my results are any better than I could have achieved by elevating a pizza stone on firebricks. I have it, I like it. My kids really get a kick out of it. My biggest challenge is getting the pizza to slide off the peel onto the stone, my dough tends to stick to the often-feared and much-dreaded peel.
Bob H.
TVWBB Hall of Fame
Jim, try putting some corn meal on your peel before moving the pizza.
Jim Mathews
TVWBB Member
I have tried cornmeal, flour, breadcrumbs, and grits, all on advice from folks at pizza restaurants. Still, there are times when if I turned the peel upside down and shook it, the dough would not fall off the peel. I have some luck when I cook the dough a bit first to dry it out. This also helps me achieve the thin, burnt, crispy crust that I love.
Jim it requires a lot of corn meal. your peel needs to be covered in corn meal. If that doesn't work get a cheap pizza pan from a restaraunt supply and cook for a couple of minutes on it then you should be able to remove the pizza off the pan with a spactuala onto your stone.
As an update I was able to achieve temps of close to 600 on my steel plate by a combination of raising the plate and installing a sheet metal plate on the lid to remove about 4 inches of space. My pizzas cook in about 5-6 minutes.
Robert McGee
TVWBB Gold Member
I have been completely satisfied with using two thin firebricks to elevate my pizza stone. The top and bottom of the pizza cook at the same rate when elevated. I make my own crust and it takes eight to ten minutes per pizza.
FWIW
Dale53
FWIW
Dale53
Jim Mathews
TVWBB Member
Assuming I can get the pizza from the peel onto my stone, using the conversion kit i have, I can get temps well over 700. The included thermometer goes up to 700, and i can easily bury the needle. I don't know if that's a good thing or not.
Anyone have suggestions for crunchy, crispy crust? I grew up in New Haven CT, so I was weaned on pizza that has a crust that's very crispy, almost like burnt toast. I make my crust this, and coat it with oil, but it's not as crisp as i would like...
For crunchy crust you will need a hotter stone and/or longer burn time and/or take more time to heat the stone.
I also get high temps near the upper lid, but on the stone/plate surface it was no where near as hot. You will need a surface thermo to take the stone temp such as an infrared thermo. I bought mine at Harbor Freight for $35. When I brought my lid space down 4 inches it made a big difference forcing hot air closer to my plate.
Bringing the roof down of the Pizza Kettle was the mod that is described at this link.
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Jim Mathews
TVWBB Member
Oh. My. God.
The pics of that pepperoni pie on that thread are amazing. It's 11 AM here, I till have to get through work, I'm tempted to quit and go home to start experimenting.
I wonder how fire bricks would work on top of the higher grate? That might really create a brick-oven effect.
Firebricks may help.. keep tinkering and try to improve.. try one mod at a time.. but lowering the roof of the Pizza Kettle has made a difference in the link I posted above. I just bolted a piece of sheet metal to the underside of my stock weber kettle lid.
This is a chicken veggie jalapeno from last weekend
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Most pizza places around here uses two different pizza peels. One wood and one metal. They use one to place the pizza in the oven, and the other to take it out. Can't remember wich one they start with, though...
A traditional wood fired pizza oven is supposed to be kept "white hot" at 750 deg F (400 deg C) or more! And bakes your pizza in like 2 minutes.
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Bob Ivey
TVWBB Emerald Member
Firebricks may help.. keep tinkering and try to improve.. try one mod at a time.. but lowering the roof of the Pizza Kettle has made a difference in the link I posted above. I just bolted a piece of sheet metal to the underside of my stock weber kettle lid.
This is a chicken veggie jalapeno from last weekend
Can you post pictures of how you attached the sheet metal to the lid? TIA
Steve Cleveland
TVWBB Pro
What dough recipe are you guys using? for pies like that.
Bob H.
TVWBB Hall of Fame
What kind of oil do you coat your crust with? For crispy, try some peanut oil and see if that makes a difference.
Jim Mathews
TVWBB Member
I've been using extra virgin olive oil. I usually pre-heat my stone in the oven at 500 degrees for a half hour, then put it on the grill.
Look at this link, related to a link that J Reyes provided. Here, someone used the new & improved Pizza Kettle. Then, in order to keep the heat just above the pizza (not floating around up in the dome), they put a second cooking grate on the top nuts of the KettlePizza conversion, and on that upper grate, they put an after-market item that is just a steel sheet. I gather steel is better than stone at re-directing the radiant heat back down to the top of the pizza. The pics in this thread are amazing, I will be trying something similar.
http://slice.seriouseats.com/archiv...e-ultimate-home-pizza-setup.html?ref=obinsite