pizza -- plate setter legs up or down?

JohnB

I'm going to cook my first pizzas tomorrow. I would like to do a high temp cook -- 600 or so. Most of the set-ups I've seen have the plate setter legs down which looks like it could deflect the heat right at the gasket.

What about putting the plate setter legs up with the grill/grate on it and the little BGE feet holding the pizza stone?

thanks,

John

Semolina Pilchard

You're right, legs down does send a lot of heat at the gasket. Many do it that way with no problem, but others have said they toasted their gasket doing pizza legs down. It is a good idea to go legs up as you said.

Panhandle Smoker

I go legs up for that very reason but that's me. That set up will work fine.

loco_engr

Seems to be a mixed bag on which way everybody does it.
I wouldn't see much of an advantage with the green feet on the grid and p. stone on them other than the extra height. I do PS legs up with grid and stone.
Preheat all elements minimum 10 minutes before the cook.

FlaPoolman

If you go legs up with the grate you won't need the feet

AZRP

Put the legs up with the grid on the legs and the stone on the grid. -RP

JohnB

will the pizza stone at grid/grill height deflect the heat like the top of the plate setter?

Semolina Pilchard

When the plate setter is in legs down there is nothing for the fire to hit before it gets to the plate setter. The fire comes up and then is diverted by the setter and heads straight at the gasket. When the setter is in legs up the fire goes around the setter and then goes straight up on its way out and never is aimed at the gasket.

tarheelforever

Semolina Pilchard wrote:

When the plate setter is in legs down there is nothing for the fire to hit before it gets to the plate setter. The fire comes up and then is diverted by the setter and heads straight at the gasket. When the setter is in legs up the fire goes around the setter and then goes straight up on its way out and never is aimed at the gasket.

Interesting. So does this mean you should never go legs down? Always legs up?

RRP

Guess I'm bucking the group here but I've been egging pizzas for 9 years now with the legs down and stone directly on the setter - no feet - no grate - and NO gasket problem!

Jersey Doug

I burned out the gasket of our Small in one 500º pizza cook with the plate setter legs down. I bought a set of GrateMates and haven't used the plate setter since. I use a stainless pot lid as a heat deflector on the GM ring and put the pizza stone up on the tall GM extenders. I've had no gasket issues with pizza cooks since. (The pizzas are pretty good too.)

JohnB

I guess what I'll try is this:

plate setter legs up with the BGE grill on top
2 fire bricks on the grill
pizza stone on the bricks

This should bring the stone up past the gasket seam. I guess the dome temp will be a little hotter higher up.

btw -- thanks for all the replies!

fishlessman

youll figure it out, go cook a pizza. everyone has different ideas about what a pizza should be and they eventually find a setup that works well for what they want out of a pizza. some cook at low temps below 500, some at 600, there is even an idiot that cooks at 1200. the setups are usually different depending on temps and types of pizza and the ability of the cook at dough prep etc.

2cats

RRP wrote:

Guess I'm bucking the group here but I've been egging pizzas for 9 years now with the legs down and stone directly on the setter - no feet - no grate - and NO gasket problem!

What temperatures?

RRP

depending on the crust, but I range from 450 to 550.

Ashman

"Plate Setter, legs up or down"? Well, it depends on how much she has had to drink, and if she is willing. :laugh:

Walking on thin ice,
Gordon

Semolina Pilchard

There may be other reasons people would put the setter in legs down, but the only one I know is for pizza. Since putting the setter in legs up with the food grid on top of the setter legs and pizza stone on top works well for me I can see of no reason to put the setter in legs down.

Semolina Pilchard

Glad to hear you have had good luck with that setup. Even though you have no gasket issues, my guess is your gasket is about as thin as the hair on an old man's head. Legs down never melted my gaskets, or burned them, or loosened the adhesive, but my gaskets became so thin that they provided no cushioning. Then eventually I developed a gap that could not be adjusted out. On a side note, and this is for anyone to answer, many say they cook with no gaskets. With no gaskets can you use a wire probe thermometer without causing a problem for the probe by mashing the wire? Also, with the wire there, how does an egg with no gasket give you a decent seal?

RRP

thin as the hair on an old man's head? nope...just a long lasting Rutland gasket!

Panhandle Smoker

There you have it. That would hold up much longer than the stock felt gasket.

Semolina Pilchard

Well that is a tidbit of info that would have been helpful, don't you think? Unless everyone else on the forum, especially the newbies know this, one could take from your response that the gray felt gasket (possibly with the bad glue) will hold up just fine to the legs down setup.

RRP

well excuse me - I guess I should have mentioned the 800 pound gorilla in the room. It just amazes me the multiple setups some people have concocted and then swear as gospel and as the ONLY WAY to egg a pizza! I believe fishlessman said it best this morning - work with it and see what works best for you. My simple one works for me with assistance from that 800 pound gorilla!

Semolina Pilchard

Well I would imagine with all of the felt gaskets that have been fried when doing pizza with the setter in legs down, if one still has a grey felt gasket, legs up would be the only way to do pizza. I recently installed a nomex and am interested to see how it holds up. If you have a gasket that has been on there 9 years and have been doing legs down pizza cooks, that is impressive. I am a little weary of using a gasket with fiberglass, but in reality we probably get more fiberglass in us by going into our attic for one minute than a in a lifetime of eating food off of an egg with one of those gaskets.

JohnB

well -- I cooked some pizzas.

Maxed out at about 550.

What I'll do next time:

1) build a fire similar to an 18 hour cook. I think that's the only way to hit 600 plus. Also, I let it heat up for about an hour at 450 - 500, which burned through a lot of the lump. I'll probably preheat it for about half that time

Other than that the pizzas were great. Took about 10 minutes a pie.