BGE Pizza Stone too thick?

BakerMan

For 2 years I used a thin Pampered Chef Pizza stone on the Egg with excellent results. It finally cracked and I got a BGE pizza stone. Since I started using the BGE stone I cannot get the bottom crispy on pizza. I am cooking at 650 degrees and the I'm letting the Egg heat up but the BGE stone does not get hot enough to cook the bottom when it is setting on the plate setter. Last night I tried something different. I used three canning lids to space the stone up off the plate setter and kept the heat to around 575. The top and bottom cooked evenly for the first time in 4-5 cooks.

dlk7

I don't use a plate setter when using my pizza stone.  Heats up pretty fast that way.

Hic

I do pizza with the palesetter legs up and the stone on the grid. If I were to do them with the legs facing down, I would use a spacer as you have done between the stone and the platesetter.

 

tjv

if you are doing thin crust, go high in the dome with just the stone......well mixed steak like lump burn to provide an even heat plume to bring the stone to temperature.  

t 

BakerMan

For those of you who don't use plate setter do you place stone directly on BGE grill grid? Does the grill warp?

bicktrav

I've done pizza without a platesetter one time, and it was a disaster.  Burned the bottom like crazy without thoroughly cooking the top.  Maybe I had the heat too high; still, I wouldn't advise it.  Your best bet with the BGE stone is to use the platesetter with the legs up.  Then place the grid on, then put the stone on top.  Try to get the stone as high in the dome as possible.  I think the problem you're running into might have to do with using the platesetter with the legs down. 

tjv

you got to get the stone high in the dome. I use a 16 inch stone and have it 7-1/2 inches above the fire ring.  

onedbguru

I do ps l-u, grate, add 3 fire bricks to raise the pizza stone up into the dome a bit more. 600-700 6-8 minutes... perfect!!!

it will be a week or more before I can do pizza or anything else for that matter.. I am currently in the middle of a kitchen reno.  finishing the ceiling sheetrock today. 2-3 weeks more and it will be done.

DamageCase

I do pizza all the time on the BGE stone and for the longest time had trouble with it getting TOO hot.

When I do a pizza I set the plate setter feet down, then use the little green BGE Feet on top and set the pizza stone on the feet to create an air gap to keep the stone from getting too hot.



I light my Egg and I keep the pizza setup in the egg the whole time it is heating up. I find it takes about an hour to heat the stone up sufficiently to cook a pizza in 4 minutes at about 700F.

I heat it up a little slower, keeping the bottom vent on the large about half open and no vent cap. I try to get it to about 600F on the dome and hold it there for a while.

What has improved how I make a pizza big time is getting an IR Thermometer from Thermoworks (makers of the thermapen). I use it to see the temp of the stone before I start cooking instead of guessing and burning the bottom or putting it on before it is ready.

I aim for a stone temp of no more than 600F, but then open the Egg wide open for the 4 minutes while the Egg is cooking the pizzas so the dome temp might climb to 700... but between pizzas I close it back up a bit so as not to over heat the stone.

There were last night`s pizzas

Good luck!!!
Brian

ChokeOnSmoke

Complete opposite problem for me, I do everything I can to avoid the bottom burning.   I finally got it down.  Upside down Woo2, indirect ceramic stone, bge feet, pizza stone.  Puts the stone about half way up into the dome and I don't preheat the pizza stone any more then 15 minutes.