tips for maximizing heat output of your grill

[Lloyd Lande]

I've tried taking out the stainless steel flavor bars and one of the 2 grill grates on my weber to try and maximize the heat output. I also use tin foil to block heat from escaping out the sides when the grill lid is proped open. Anybody have any other tips, thoughts or suggestions?

[Willard]

Hi Lloyd,

Both your questions are very good, One of the 2stone users went the extra mile and did an in depth post on the subject of the grill and what he learned. It's buried somewhere, I'll see if I can find it. -willard

[Frosty TheBeerMan]

Good morning Lance,

One tip that Willard discussed with me, just a few days ago, is inexpensive tiles. After he saw my setup ( the 2Stone on my grill ) he suggested I get some tiles cut, and place those on the left and right side of my 2Stone, so get more heat up into the 2Stone oven, instead of it going up and *around* the oven. I'm going to try this on my next bake.

[Lloyd Lande]

i have the metal strips that Willard supplies. I also use loosely wadded aluminum foil over them to block additional heat from escaping around the sides, especially when the lid is partially open

[Willard]

Lloyd,

Here is a copy of a post made by Mark Busse on a thread at Pizzamaking .com -willard

Quote:
I just wanted to throw out some tips for using the 2Stone in a Jenn-Air grill in particular, or really probably any gas grill.

When I first received my 2Stone, I could only get my 52K BTU Jenn-Air to 450F internally temp of the grill
according to the Thermometer on the outside of the grill. My stone surface temp was only 500F, the 2stone air temp only about 600F.

Here are the things I did to get higher heat.

1. If your grill is more than 2 years old, remove the burners and clean them using a drill bit just slightly smaller
than the holes in the burner, ream the hole for a few seconds until it is clean. To remove the burners, just remove
the small cotter pin at the bottom rear of each burner, then the burner will easily lift out, putting the burner back
is just as simple. You do not need to replace the cotter pin as it is only used for shipping. My burners were cast iron,
I gave them a good tapping on concrete to remove all of the loosened particles.

2. Replace the regulator. The stock one is garbage. You can pick up a universal char broil regulator at lowes for about
15.00. It comes with the regulator and hose so replacement is as simple as loosening the nut and removing the hose and
regulator assembly from your grill.

3. If you are using a Blue Rhino tank, call around to your local Natural Gas suppliers in your town, ask how much for a new tank
and fill. I paid 40.00 for a brand new tank and fill. Refills are 18.00. You only need to look into using a non Blue Rhino tank if you
still are not able to achieve high heat after doing Step 1 & 2 & 4 & 5. THe reason for this is posted above in a separate post.

4. Remove the Heat Shields from the top of the burner, these just lift off, very simple. This allows the full heat to rise straight up
from the burner.

5. Place the 2Stone over the burners in a way that you are covering the largest flame surface. Next line heavy aluminum foil all around the 2Stone as shown in my post above, this is the key to getting the really high heat in the 2Stone. This will funnel all of the heat from the bottom directly into your 2Stone. Now we are cookin!


After doing these things, I now achieve 550F on the Grill thermometer. I get about 700F on the stone, I get what looks like 900F+ on the air temp inside the 2Stone, I used an oven thermometer that goes to 500F, I put it in the 2Stone and after about a 15 minute preheat with all 4 burners on high, the needle was way past 500F, which is why I have to guess at the temp being around 900F. NOTE: I preheat with the grill lid closed. I also close the grill lid while I cooked my first pie on it. I will do more testing with the lid open while cooking to see if I notice any heat loss in the 2Stone.

I went through a lot of trial and error and frustration trying to get the 2stone to achieve high heat. No fault of Willard's mind you, Willard has been great supporting me after the purchase. It was just my grill and some of the things you need to do to prepare. I would be curious to hear what kind of temps folks are getting with their grills, be it gas or charcoal. For the low cost I think this is a great piece to add to your equipment needed to produce a really satisfying pie. I am really really happy now and have lots of testing and tweaking to do. Willard's new oven that uses the bayou burner should work really well for folks that do not own a grill. I am guessing that thing will get above 1000F.

I will be cooking up some neapolitan and NY Style this weekend. I will post results and more pictures in order to help others out. One thing I cannot get over is how much improved the pizza is when using these high temps vs. a home oven. For those of you that are at this stage, I am sure you would agree. For those that are still using a home oven, I highly recommend you look into this solution. The resul

[Willard]

Lloyd,

Are your burners set up like the new Genesis, from side to side?

willard

[Lloyd Lande]

yes they are: side to side and 3 of them front middle and back

[Willard]

Lloyd,

Grilling some chicken the other day, I discovered that my Genesis burns much hotter on the left side, I'm wondering if you move your 2stone to the left and put both of the side grill skirts on the right if the 2stone may run hotter for you. just a thought. -willard

[Lloyd Lande]

interesting.. It burns hotter on the far end of the burner gas supply? The gas supply comes in from the right side on my genesis... I'll do some checking with the thermometer and see if there is a difference on mine...

thanks..

[Willard]

Yes on the far end. On mine all three burners are also connected with a fourth
tube that also acts as a fourth burner. This would also help to keep the right hand side of the handle cooler since the heat mostly comes out the front of the 2stone.

[Lloyd Lande]

my older genesis has a handle with plastic in it, which melted with the grill open.. so now I take it off when I use the 2 stone.

[Lloyd Lande]

Fired up the 2stone last night. moved it all the way to the left side and put both metal strips on the right covered with wadded up aluminum foil. My older Weber Genesis doesn't fully close with the 2stone it, so I also created a front door with several sheets of aluminum foil. I took out the flavor bars but left the grill grates. I preheated about an hour. When I lifted the aluminum foil in the front, it singed the hairs off my arm, the grill grates were glowing red. The first pie went in and was done in about a minute, bottom burned a bit, but didn't have a burnt taste. For the rest of the pies, I lifted the aluminum foil for a minute or two before the pies went in,, they all came out fabulous and cooked about 2.5 mins. Got great pop and char on the outer crust, good spot char on the bottom and the tops melted and cooked great! I love this thing. My pizzas are perfection!!!

Wish I had the space for the inferno!!!

[Lance]

Willard said "Grilling some chicken the other day, I discovered that my Genesis burns much hotter on the left side, I'm wondering if you move your 2stone to the left and put both of the side grill skirts on the right if the 2stone may run hotter for you. just a thought."

W,

You are a technical guy, how much hotter? How do you define "much" Did you happen to laser gun it? Are you going to make me do it? LOL

Any thoughts on why? The 4th tube is the crossover which allows all three burners to ignite from one electric ignition point.

Lance