Question for Spin

Unknown

Spin: After insertion of a pizza, is it best to close top vent or leave it open? I'm having a little trouble getting top completely cooked. Thanks
Gord

Gfw

<p />Gord, Not Spin, but... the last pizza that I made, I followed Spin's advice and left the bottom vent wide open - temperature was controled using a broken firebrick on the top - a temp of 550 degrees was easily maintained and the top was cooked relatively evenly.

[ul][li]Top Vent Closed[/ul]

Tim M

Gord,[p]You might want to tell us more about your setup and the temps you used and how much ceramic you had. Toppings not being done before the crust burns is often one of two things:
The dome temp is too low - and closing the top will only snuff the fire lower[p]Or you need more ceramic mass to prevent the crust from getting too hot too fast. Or both.[p]Tim

Puj

Gord,[p]Not to confuse you (because both methods get the job done) but I take the opposite approach than GFW to regulate the temperature. To maintain 550 to 580 for a pizza bake, I leave the top vent wide open and regulate the bottom vent. Most of the time the opening of the bottom vent is maintained between 1/4" to 3/8" wide.[p]Make sure that the mass that you're using provides for sufficient airflow throughout the egg. Many times a setup will restrict the airflow in the dome, causing the temperature below the stone to be much higher than the temperature in the dome.[p]Keep plugging away.[p]Puj

Spin

Gord,[p]You need to address the vent settings only if the toppings are cooking unevenly. If the dough is done before the toppings, raise your cooking temp (25-50F) and shorten the cooking time (10-20%). This will add more heat in the dome.[p]Spin