Lower intake vent fan

mkevenson

I am using a small fan aimed at my lower vent to help achieve high temp pizza cooks. Very inefficient. Does anyone know of a fan that will adapt to the lower vent, like a bellows or digi Q fan , that will run constantly and not need to be connected to a controller?

Mark

alaskanassasin

I have never used a pizza porta but if you start with a clean egg and loosely piled in chunks of coal, piled all the way to the top of the fire ring there is no reason your egg shouldn’t go nuclear.

stlcharcoal

Bbq dragon

RRP

Well, sir your idea of using a fan blowing into your lower vent with the protective screen open and while sitting that close to your home is enough to scare me. Pease MOVE IT

RRP

BTW just in case you don’t know it - your dome is sitting in your band quite crooked. Properly seated then your dome thermometer should be in the middle over your handle.

mkevenson

alaskanassasin & Sticharcoal, thanks for the help. I ordered a BBQ dragon, not withstanding a couple negative comments. My wife gets her fan back. Not that she needs it when it's snowing!

sumoconnell

Seems like a poorly set stoker could do this - there was quite a kerfuffle about that recently!

pgprescott

why not Just use a controller and leave the pit probe out of the pit? It should call for air constantly. 

Carolina Q

I have a large egg that will easily reach 900°+. No fans needed, just leave the top and bottom vents open and load plenty of lump. Scary as hell!

I used to think the egg could function as a wood fired oven. It cannot. BTW, I haven't done this in many years... 

It can however, do as @RRP implies. I too, suggest you move it. House fires will ruin your day.

mkevenson

pgprescott said:

why not Just use a controller and leave the pit probe out of the pit? It should call for air constantly. 

pgprescott, thanks, I will try that method.

mkevenson

sumoconnell said:

Seems like a poorly set stoker could do this - there was quite a kerfuffle about that recently!

sumoconnell said:

Seems like a poorly set stoker could do this - there was quite a kerfuffle about that recently!

I missed that discussion and unfamiliar with the " poorly set stoker". Carolina Q said:

I have a large egg that will easily reach 900°+. No fans needed, just leave the top and bottom vents open and load plenty of lump. Scary as hell!

I used to think the egg could function as a wood fired oven. It cannot. BTW, I haven't done this in many years... 

It can however, do as @RRP implies. I too, suggest you move it. House fires will ruin your day.

CarolinaQ, it seems that the folks over at Pizza-Porta have cooked hundreds of pies at high temps. Other than the dome coming loose and falling off, preventable, what fire hazards are encountered? I will review RRP's posts. 

alaskanassasin

mkevenson said:

sumoconnell said:

Seems like a poorly set stoker could do this - there was quite a kerfuffle about that recently!

sumoconnell said:

Seems like a poorly set stoker could do this - there was quite a kerfuffle about that recently!

I missed that discussion and unfamiliar with the " poorly set stoker". Carolina Q said:

I have a large egg that will easily reach 900°+. No fans needed, just leave the top and bottom vents open and load plenty of lump. Scary as hell!

I used to think the egg could function as a wood fired oven. It cannot. BTW, I haven't done this in many years... 

It can however, do as @RRP implies. I too, suggest you move it. House fires will ruin your day.

CarolinaQ, it seems that the folks over at Pizza-Porta have cooked hundreds of pies at high temps. Other than the dome coming loose and falling off, preventable, what fire hazards are encountered? I will review RRP's posts. 

 Hot embers blowing out the top especially using a fan and into your deck, or that dormant ornamental grass for example.   Do the Pizza-Porta guys recommend using a fan?

mkevenson

RRP said:

BTW just in case you don’t know it - your dome is sitting in your band quite crooked. Properly seated then your dome thermometer should be in the middle over your handle.

RRP, sorry I missed your reply yesterday. I see the misplacement of the thermometer
being aesthetically incorrect, however the dome being a spherical shape and with no smoke leakage, I  wonder if it maters? I have made the adjustment since that pic was taken when I changed the gasket. More important, obviously, is any fire danger.The BGE now resides in a table built for it and an additional concrete pad is being made further away from the back deck. I believe I will move my fire extinguisher outside also. Do you know of cases where there were fires being caused from an upright BGE? Curious.

alaskanassasin

My un-monitered egg wrapped the thermometer last week with the bottom and top vents half closed. Does the pizza porta create a draft block?

PigBeanUs

What temps are you trying to hit?

You shouldnt need a constant forced stream of air to hit 700-800, just a good amount (or time) at the beginning, during start up or after the fire is established (to bump temps up quickly). Once the fire hits a certain temp it should roar right along

ColtsFan

mkevenson said:

RRP said:

BTW just in case you don’t know it - your dome is sitting in your band quite crooked. Properly seated then your dome thermometer should be in the middle over your handle.

RRP, sorry I missed your reply yesterday. I see the misplacement of the thermometer
being aesthetically incorrect, however the dome being a spherical shape and with no smoke leakage, I  wonder if it maters? I have made the adjustment since that pic was taken when I changed the gasket. More important, obviously, is any fire danger.The BGE now resides in a table built for it and an additional concrete pad is being made further away from the back deck. I believe I will move my fire extinguisher outside also. Do you know of cases where there were fires being caused from an upright BGE? Curious.

There is a dimple in the dome that is supposed to line up with a tit on the top band for proper placement/alignment.

fishlessman

we used to make a bent metal clip that bolted to the band at the handle, up over the dome lid lip to hold the dome on at high temps. with the daisy off the dome on the ground you can get it to 800/900 fairly quick, then get it to as high as 1200 by reaching in the lower vent and shaking/ poking the lump grate with a wiggle stick (just a long rod bent at the end to poke thru the grate). make sure the lump grate has the bevel side facing down as it collects less ash that way. the new bands have the dome clips built in but not sure that band is compatable with that rig, ask over there. there have been fires with the lower vent open before the screens

PigBeanUs

fishlessman said:

we used to make a bent metal clip that bolted to the band at the handle, up over the dome lid lip to hold the dome on at high temps. with the daisy off the dome on the ground you can get it to 800/900 fairly quick, then get it to as high as 1200 by reaching in the lower vent and shaking/ poking the lump grate with a wiggle stick (just a long rod bent at the end to poke thru the grate). make sure the lump grate has the bevel side facing down as it collects less ash that way. the new bands have the dome clips built in but not sure that band is compatable with that rig, ask over there. there have been fires with the lower vent open before the screens

This is my thinking too.

700-800, even 1100, can be reached with a full load of lump and a little time.

Maybe the pizza oven insert thing is really affecting draft, though?

No familiarity with that thing, myself.

fishlessman

this will keep the dome from falling out, really simple to make. mounts to the handle bolt

Mattman3969

So it looks like PP recommends leaving the top chimney vent closed to circulate air in the dome and controlling temp by a small pedal style vent on the side of the PP insert.  Visually that vent looks smaller than the daisy wheel. I think this setup is causing airflow issues because this would be like trying to get a raging fire with just the pedals open on the DW.   

mkevenson

alaskanassasin said:

mkevenson said:

sumoconnell said:

Seems like a poorly set stoker could do this - there was quite a kerfuffle about that recently!

sumoconnell said:

Seems like a poorly set stoker could do this - there was quite a kerfuffle about that recently!

I missed that discussion and unfamiliar with the " poorly set stoker". Carolina Q said:

I have a large egg that will easily reach 900°+. No fans needed, just leave the top and bottom vents open and load plenty of lump. Scary as hell!

I used to think the egg could function as a wood fired oven. It cannot. BTW, I haven't done this in many years... 

It can however, do as @RRP implies. I too, suggest you move it. House fires will ruin your day.

CarolinaQ, it seems that the folks over at Pizza-Porta have cooked hundreds of pies at high temps. Other than the dome coming loose and falling off, preventable, what fire hazards are encountered? I will review RRP's posts. 

 Hot embers blowing out the top especially using a fan and into your deck, or that dormant ornamental grass for example.   Do the Pizza-Porta guys recommend using a fan?

Nope, my idea. The top vent however is closed during the pizza cook, exhaust thru the pizza-porta. At high temps I have never seen embers, just flames, but not coming out. I will be careful.

mkevenson

Colts fan, Ah, now I understand!!!! Thanks

PigBeanUs

mkevenson said:

alaskanassasin said:

mkevenson said:

sumoconnell said:

Seems like a poorly set stoker could do this - there was quite a kerfuffle about that recently!

sumoconnell said:

Seems like a poorly set stoker could do this - there was quite a kerfuffle about that recently!

I missed that discussion and unfamiliar with the " poorly set stoker". Carolina Q said:

I have a large egg that will easily reach 900°+. No fans needed, just leave the top and bottom vents open and load plenty of lump. Scary as hell!

I used to think the egg could function as a wood fired oven. It cannot. BTW, I haven't done this in many years... 

It can however, do as @RRP implies. I too, suggest you move it. House fires will ruin your day.

CarolinaQ, it seems that the folks over at Pizza-Porta have cooked hundreds of pies at high temps. Other than the dome coming loose and falling off, preventable, what fire hazards are encountered? I will review RRP's posts. 

 Hot embers blowing out the top especially using a fan and into your deck, or that dormant ornamental grass for example.   Do the Pizza-Porta guys recommend using a fan?

Nope, my idea. The top vent however is closed during the pizza cook, exhaust thru the pizza-porta. At high temps I have never seen embers, just flames, but not coming out. I will be careful.

air flow is what creates high temps.

with the exhaust vents nearly closed, how would you *push* more air into the egg to raise temps?

the air will come straight back out the lower vent if it has nowhere to go.

mkevenson

Fishlessman, thanks for the tip, and pic. I will try to keep the dome from falling off.

mkevenson

Mattman, there are actually 2 daisy wheel vents on the Pizza-Porta, one on either side. The door can also remain open without much loss of heat. The top vent is not closed until the dome temp is near your baking temp. I close mine about 650 F and launch my pie at around 750-900 F. Plenty hot for a Neapolitan style pie.

fishlessman

was just on their site looking at how one of these works. my thoughts is to remove the top cap till the ceramics are up to the temp you want then set it up as they suggest. be careful though, ss has a habit of warping at high temps, i dont know if i would really want to push temps higher than recommended

Carolina Q

675°, easily reached. Platesetter, legs down, pizza stone raised about 4" above PS (with air gap). Closest to Neapolitan I've been able to achieve. I'm far happier with my result than with the pics I've seen of the Pizza Porta pies.

mkevenson

Carolina, Your pie looks very nice. I appreciate the care you took in opening your dough. The pics that you have seen of pies cooked with the PP attachment are unknown to me, but if substandard, might be the cook, not the cooker? I competed in BBQ comps for a couple years. It was very evident that there were cooks who had thousands of dollars in BBQ equipment who could not compare to some who had a couple hundred dollars of equipment. The point being it is the cook, not the cooker, in many cases. Over the years I have tried a lot of different BBQ accessories, some proved very valuable, some got stored in the garage. This is my 1st venture with a BGE, now about 5 months. Low and Slow, is a dream, high temp is more of a challenge and uses a lot of Lump. I have had a WFO and loved it but my new residence is more restrictive and my yard is smaller so I must rely on ONE cooker for my BBQ / pizza cooking needs.
Thanks to all of the posters here and other forums, I continue to get better and am enjoying the journey very much!

Mark

mkevenson

I have a Digi Q 3 controller that I use for long, slow meat cooks. Thanks to pgprescott's suggestion, I used today for my pizza cook. Left the pit probe outside the BGE and the fan ran the whole cook and did not overheat. Temps achieved approaching 800F. RRP & Colts Fan, thanks for pointing out my dome misalignment. I adjusted and reset for a bit of under bite.