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CT Grillguy
CT Grillguy Posts: 149
edited November -1 in EggHead Forum
Had a bit of a disaster with my first Pizza attempt tonight. I used a Pizza Stone on top of the Plate Setter. This puts the Pizza Stone at the level of the Gasket. Well, I got the Egg up to around 500 and the Gasket started to melt and smoke all over the place. The Pizza was ruined by the smoke from the gasket. Then the Gasket melted to the point that it stuck together (top to bottom) and pulled off the shell when I openned it.[p]I have seared steaks numerous times at well over 650 and never had an issue like this. Is it the Pizza stone radiating heat into the Gasket?[p]What can I do to keep this from happening again? I've owned my Egg for over a year and have had no problems at all. But this one really stinks.
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  • The Naked Whiz
    The Naked Whiz Posts: 7,777
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    CT Grillguy,
    You got me. I use a 16" stone on a plate setter at 550 degrees and have never had that problem. [p]TNW
    The Naked Whiz
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  • icemncmth
    icemncmth Posts: 1,165
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    CT Grillguy,[p]Last weekend I cooked 40 pizzas at 600+ deg...for well over 3 hrs ..and no problem
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  • Unknown
    Unknown
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    icemncmth,[p]Sorry to go a little off topic here... What is the secret of maintaining the temp at 400+ with all the lid opening/closing to swap the pizzas in and out? I can barelly hold at 500 for 2 pizzas. Did you have to add lumps?[p]Thanks,
    Waruwaru
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  • QBabe
    QBabe Posts: 2,275
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    CT Grillguy,[p]Sounds to me like your dome temp reading may have been incorrect. Sometimes the airflow is blocked and it's WAY hotter in there than the reading says. The gasket material is able to withstand very high temps (I think in the 1000 range), so for it to melt, you had to be hotter than that. [p]Tonia
    :~)

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  • CT Grillguy
    CT Grillguy Posts: 149
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    QBabe,[p]Thanks, yes I woke up this morning and saw this.[p]DSCN1142.jpg[p]As you can see, the air coming up inbetween legs of the Place setter was so hot it fried the gasket. The areas around the legs are white and fine.[p]Looks like the Temp was much higher than the 500 my dome temp was reading. How can I get a more accurate reading when using this set up?[p]Thanks QBabe
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  • Meinbmw
    Meinbmw Posts: 157
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    CT Grillguy,
    Was the top aligned with the base of the egg? Maybe you had gaps and flame/gases penetrated the area that melted?
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  • CT Grillguy
    CT Grillguy Posts: 149
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    meinbmw,[p]No, that's the wierd thing. I had an excellent seal. It had gotten so hot that is ate into the gasket. The legs of the plate setter were the only think that kept those areas from getting torched as well.
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  • tach18k
    tach18k Posts: 1,607
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    CT Grillguy, put the thermometer in boiling water and make sure it reading 212 (unless your in denver or the deepest side of death valley) on the dial, adjust the backside nut if it needs fine tuning.

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  • SuperDave
    SuperDave Posts: 319
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    CT Grillguy,
    Hey! I've been there.... and I know what happened.
    The heat came up and deflected from the bottom of the plate setter/pizza stone combo and it directed it into the joint between the dome and the base.[p] I experimented with this and found that if you put the plate setter in legs up and then put the pizza stone on it keeps the heat about 4 inches lower and more consistent at the pizza stone level.
    It worked for me, and you don't have to worry about burnt crust and raw pizza toppings.
    Give it a try next time. And don't forget to check out the mothership for a new indestructable high temp gasket. They are around 20.00 plus shipping.
    Cheers
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  • Carolina Caniac
    Carolina Caniac Posts: 16
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    SuperDave,[p]I assume you are putting the grid on top of the inverted plate setter, and the stone on the grid? Or is your stone wide enough that it goes directly onto the plate setter's feet?[p]I would surmise that the 16" stone isn't helping things much here, either- those who use the BGE 14" stone may have avoided this problem as they have more clearance between the stone and the walls of the cooker (and therefore, the gasket). For better or worse, I have the big one myself.[p]Though I haven't fried a gasket while cooking pizzas yet (believe me, I've found other ways)- I would like to avoid doing so.
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  • CT Grillguy
    CT Grillguy Posts: 149
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    SuperDave,[p]Thanks! Good to hear someone else has had this happen. Doing what you suggest, how much harder is it to get the Pizza onto the stone seeing as it will be a couple of inches below the rim?
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  • BabyBoomBBQ
    BabyBoomBBQ Posts: 703
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    pizza12006.jpg
    <p />CT Grillguy,[p]I get great results with an inverted plate setter, grid then the 14" stone on the grid extender. Might be worth a try to see if your larger stone would work with this set up.
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  • icemncmth
    icemncmth Posts: 1,165
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    waruwaru,[p]Actually I let the egg heat up for 30 mins or more....As for the temp drop I really didn't have too much of a problem...I was opening the egg every 5 mins. I had two pizzas going at the same time ...one was half done and one was just put on the stone. Then whe the half done was on about 5 more mins and it was done I would open the egg and take it out and put another fresh on in and now the routine starts over..a half baked pizza and a fresh...[p]That is why I had the egg to around 600 deg when I started. That way once under way the egg would hover around 550 deg..
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