Extra heat deflector idea. Yay or Nay?

GoooDawgs

I have an XL,  but sometimes with multiple butts or racks of ribs I run out of indirect space.    I have put extra foil to fill in the gaps, but wanted to poll the group on using my XL pizza stone on top of the PS.    

With the stone on the PS, I have about a 1/2" gap around the entire stone and base.    This looks perfect for my next big cook, but are there any downsides to this set-up?

Is it too little airflow?   Anyone else do this?   Thanks guys! 

pgprescott

I like it. Air flow should be fine for L&S. Nice. 

lousubcap

Great audible in my book-plenty of air-gap.

DMW

Great idea. I've had the same challenge on my XL and I have the XL pizza stone sitting unused for almost 2 years. Please report back on your results if/when you try it.

GoooDawgs

I will report back this week.   Have a large brisket going on next weekend, so I'll have to experiment with a shoulder first to make sure it can hold temp for an extended time.    Thanks everyone! 

Little Steven

It will work fine. You can do the same setup for high heat cooks if you put some spacers between the stone and the platesetter

Foghorn

That should work well. You'll probably find that the vent settings that you'll need to achieve a given temperature will change as a result of the reduced airflow.  You'll probably also find that any temperature adjustment takes longer as it will respond more slowly - including the initial ramp up. But it will likely be really good once you stabilize the temp. There will just be a learning curve. 

If it works really well, you may find that the top of the meat cooks faster than the bottom because the heat accumulating and reflecting off the dome will be hotter than the air under the meat. If that's the case you should consider cooking your brisket or butt with the fat side up. 

GoooDawgs

Probably a dumb question, but would I need an air-gap between the PS & stone?  I'll definitely air-gap the drip pan and stone, but unsure of the rest... any thoughts?   I'll report back soon.  Thanks!

Mattman3969

You'll definitely need to adjust time and vent settings for your cooks.  That is very similar to how my new drip pan fits my large.  Whole new ball game on indirect cooks.  Nothing you can't overcome but a change of pace from the heat shield of just the PS.  

johnkitchens

Sounds like a solid plan to me. 

GoooDawgs

Mattman3969 said:

You'll definitely need to adjust time and vent settings for your cooks.  That is very similar to how my new drip pan fits my large.  Whole new ball game on indirect cooks.  Nothing you can't overcome but a change of pace from the heat shield of just the PS.  

That makes sense.. so regarding the air-gap between PS and stone,  what would you recommend?

Mattman3969

I personally don't think it's needed.  Air gap between stone and drip pan  I firmly believe in.  

J-dubya

Will the XL stone fit on a spider from CGS? 

DMW

J-dubya said:

Will the XL stone fit on a spider from CGS? 

I have both, but never tried it. Don't see why not, will have to give it a try.

DaveRichardson

I don't think that a spacer is needed between the PS and stone in that setup.  You have basically created a massive ceramic mass.  I agree with @Foghorn that the ceramic mass will have the reflective heat effecting the meat more on the top than the radiant on the bottom.

This begs to have the laser thermometer evaluating the ceramic mass temp.

I have, as of this weekend, started using my pizza stone in the Spider rig to act as the PS on this weekend's cooks because I liked the larger diameter of the stone compared to the PS.  Yes, the vent setting were a little different for the 250 on my Large, but it was obtained easily and maintained very well.

fishlessman

in the large i found the spider and cgs stone to be the better setup. the stone sits lower and theres more distance from the setup to the meat for a low and slow so less over cooking near the edges.  when i used to use a much larger stone the stone reflected more heat downward and the result was more lump being used,  not much difference on low and slows but it really ate lump at higher temps. im thinking the same thing would happen with an xl

Photo Egg

I would never try this set up with my XL. The space between the cooking grid and platesetter are already short. Adding the additional stone only makes the space even less. How are you going to get a spacer and drip pan in that short space and still have any airflow on the bottom of your brisket?
This is the set up I did a few days ago. I used a large steamer tray lid as my drip pan with a thin rolled aluminum snake between platesetter and drip lid.
Even this did not give me any space. I did not like this set up at all. It cooked the brisket to much from the bottom because it was so close to the ceramics below.
  

Ladeback69

@GoooDawgs, I think @Photo Egg is right about you may not have enough of an air gap between the grate and the pizza stone.  You could get rid of the drip pan and just wrap the pizza stone with foil, but I kind of like the idea of putting it on a spider if it fit.  To get extra space on my XL I just got a extra smaller grate with SS blots, washers and nuts on it to raise it.  That way I have two zones. I have done to pork butts stacked on top of a brisket many times this way.  

Here I am using it with my cast iron skillet as the deflector to reverse sear a steak.


To get it higher I use fire bricks under it to make sure I have an air gap between the two levels. 

Hans61

I'd say yay wish I had that size of stone

GoooDawgs

Photo Egg said:

I would never try this set up with my XL. The space between the cooking grid and platesetter are already short. Adding the additional stone only makes the space even less. How are you going to get a spacer and drip pan in that short space and still have any airflow on the bottom of your brisket?
This is the set up I did a few days ago. I used a large steamer tray lid as my drip pan with a thin rolled aluminum snake between platesetter and drip lid.
Even this did not give me any space. I did not like this set up at all. It cooked the brisket to much from the bottom because it was so close to the ceramics below.
  

@Photo Egg I see your point...  space is tight indeed.  Perhaps I could raise the grid an inch to compensate for the stone?  Or, I guess I could just use the PS and grab a steam tray similar to what you used.    Tough decisions when cooking a large brisket!!  Thanks for your help.