>900º reliably?

fishlessman

if your using a platesetter the flat surface forces the heat back down into the bottom of the egg. it will still get up to dome temp but the base will be too hot. what you want to do is get the heat traveling faster into the dome, it uses less lump to get there faster, and will get the dome much hotter, a blue fire ball will actually hang over the pizza which will actually be hotter than the stone (havent measured those temps but you can watch it thru the dome if you stand high enough above it, thats how i cook the pizza, egg on the ground watching it from above on an embankment. dont put your face over the dome, you will burn your eyes out i use a tank head, but i think you could use an old wok, just make sure there is enough room for air/heat flow. fill the wok with sand, sand is heat mass and you want enough heat mass that the egg comes back to temp fast enough. i made t my lump grid, its bigger with more holes than standard, lifting the lump grid up creating air space around the circumference would do the same. my firebox is in a dozen pieces, and i have no gassket. biggest problem is that the hinge bands will grow thru thermal expansion and the dome will get loose and fall out if your not extremely carefull, charwoody on the primo forum used to make band clips that fit around the lip of the dome, you might want to ask him on the primo forum for a pic to get an idea on how to make your own, you dont want a 1000 degree dome falling out.

i set the tank head on an inverted spider and get the stone as high as possible, the head is filled with sand, the stone sits in the sand which helps to keep it cooler than the dome. just know that the gasket will burn, the firebox will crack, the dome may fall out, you lump grate wont last, but the crust will have that high temp chew. wish i could get the toppings to look as nice as the rest posted here :laugh:



http://www.eggheadforum.com/index.php?option=com_simpleboard&Itemid=55&func=view&catid=1&id=411252

Señor Pantalones

Thanks Fish! Time to try that out...

So, I tried what you recommended. The lid went down as soon as it was lit, lid back up at 600 to put the place setter and stuff in, then lid back down until it made it up toto...800º! YES! It's a start...

The results:



(more at http://error.code404.com)

My setup:



And a nice capture of the whole thing:



Thanks for all the advice. Putting the lid down right after ignition had a huge impact on the overall heat. So did dumping in an entire bag of mesquite I suppose...

Now I need to get some welding gloves, because putting that place setter in was some scary business, even with oven mitts...

2Fategghead

Señor Pantalones, Is your egg in a nest or in a table? Tim :ermm: