My Wood Fired Double Kettle Pizza Cooker

[tpd]

Here's my version of the "frankenweber". After doing a bunch of online research and seeing how other people have made these I borrowed the ideas

I liked, made a few tweeks and here's what I ended up with.

The goal of this project is to make a wood burning pizza cooker that will cook pizzas at a high temp using materials I had lying around and as little fabrication as possible.

Any ideas or suggestions are welcome.

Start with 2 Weber 22.5" kettle bottoms. One will remain the bottom and hold the fire, the other will be used upside down as the top. The bottom I decided to use was one I had already cut the legs down on to use as a fire pit. I think the shorter legs are a must when you take into account the amount this weighs when done.



Decide which one you will use for the top and remove the grates. Remove one of the factory grate holders and mark out your opening hole, mine is

about 15 inches wide by 4.5 inches high. Cut the opening, I used a cutting wheel on a 4" grinder. Clean up the opening to remove any frays or

sharp corners.



Bend the factory pieces that hold the charcoal grate so that you can put the grate below them, instead of on top. This will become the roof of the oven.

.

Here's a shot of the charcoal grate in place as the roof. My first idea was to attach fire brick to the grate to flatten the top and provide heat. Due to weight though I think I am going to replace the fire brick in the top with a 16" round pizza stone. Should fit right in.

[oventhusiast]

Re: My Wood Fired Double Kettle Pizza Cooker

Looks like you're making an 'egg', for a lot less money!
Big Green Egg, World's Best Smoker and Grill

Keep us posted!

[tpd]

Re: My Wood Fired Double Kettle Pizza Cooker

Add hardware around the kettle to hold the cooking grate in place from falling out as the factory mounts are now on top of the grate. I added

extra hardware around the kettle to account for the weight of the fire brick on the cooking grate.



With the grates in place it will look like this



THen I laid out the fire brick for the base on the cooking grate. Only had a chisel and hammer to work with so I was pretty happy with my

corners. Still have to cut 1 more brick for the front. THere will not be brick along the back edge, I am leaving that open to put a hot log.



I reassembled everything and put the fire brick in. I like the way it's coming along. There's about 4.5 inches between the top of the fire brick

and the roof of the cooker. My hope is that I can get a nice hot fire going in the bottom, then put the top on and put a burning log right on the

fire brick to help heat the cooking area. After letting it all heat up I will push the log to the back on the grate and as it burns out it will fall back into the bottom kettle.

[tpd]

Re: My Wood Fired Double Kettle Pizza Cooker

I bought a 15" pizza stone to use as the roof. I attached it to the top grate using a nut, bolt and some washers. I purposely positioned the stone so it was closer to the back edge. I'm hoping I can create some draft up and over the stone near the front where the opening is larger.



Here it is installed in the kettle. I put the stone on the upper side of the grate just because I like it being held in there. If I can't get a hot enough temp on the top, the grate can be flipped over so the stone is on the bottom and closer to the pizza.



Then I finished cutting in the fire brick so there's not a big gap in the front:



And here's what it looks like inside the completed "oven".

[tpd]

Re: My Wood Fired Double Kettle Pizza Cooker

To make sure the top doesn't fall off during use I fashioned some clamps around the rim of the bottom kettle.





With just the 2 clamps in place the whole unit is much sturdier, but I plan on adding 1 more clamp. I am able to pick the entire thing up and move it around. It's heavy, but not much worse than my UDS with the grates and charcoal basket in it.



All ready to go.

[tpd]

Re: My Wood Fired Double Kettle Pizza Cooker

Finally got to try out my new Wood Fired Double Kettle Pizza Oven (aka Pac Man) today. The results were outstanding. Once I got it up to temp it held for a good 2 hours with only having to open it once to add another log. I'm not sure what the exact temp was in the oven as my infrared only goes up to 486 and it was beyond that. The first pie I did was a personal size and it took about 2 minutes. The next one was about a 10 inch and it took a little over 4 minutes to cook. Definitely hot enough and fast enough for my liking, and considering the entire fuel source was wood I am very happy. I need to just work on getting the cooking stones more even as they aren't nice and flat. Other than that, there's not much I'd change other than the position I cook the pies in the oven to avoid over cooking the edges. And I need to work on my dough as this one was a little heavier than I want. Here's some pron:

Getting the fire ready, I used elm as the main heat source and added some cherry to the mix and cherry directly on the cooking rack:



The top of Pac Man in place,I put some fire brick in front of the opening while getting the interior hot. Took about 35 minutes after I put the top on to get a reading of 486+ on the cooking stones.



The personal size off and cooking


Done, got great crisp on the top of the pie

[tpd]

Re: My Wood Fired Double Kettle Pizza Cooker

THe bottom. Obviously I have to learn the hot spots on the stones, but hey, it was the first one.


Second pie, pesto\red pepper on one side, basil\tomato on the other.


And the bottom, gettin better already


ALso did some wings on the kettle off set with cherry wood. Smoked them about 2 hours then glazed them with BBQ sauce and crisped them up direct. UNfortunately in my haste to eat them I didnt get a finished pic.

[tpd]

Re: My Wood Fired Double Kettle Pizza Cooker

Some better pics from my friends cam

Feta\Spinach\sausage:

[fxpose]

Re: My Wood Fired Double Kettle Pizza Cooker

Nicely done! I saw your work a couple of days ago on The Brethren. If I were to do this I would have gone with wood also, instead of gas. Nice cook on the pie!

[tpd]

Re: My Wood Fired Double Kettle Pizza Cooker

Nicely done! I saw your work a couple of days ago on The Brethren. If I were to do this I would have gone with wood also, instead of gas. Nice cook on the pie!

Thanks, took me a while to get my account set up on here. Wanted to run it by the "pizza gurus" on this site for feedback.

[Ken524]

Re: My Wood Fired Double Kettle Pizza Cooker

Outstanding Mod!

[Rafiki]

Re: My Wood Fired Double Kettle Pizza Cooker

Hi, I copied your build vertually to a T. It works well though I can't get the fire to draw with the top kettle on and end up choking the fire too much. I had to let the fire burn down to coals before placing the top kettle on. I see in the pictures you even block the slot off with bricks. Do you have this problem at all?
Maybe I need a better wood.
Any help would be appreciated.
Cheers

[tpd]

Re: My Wood Fired Double Kettle Pizza Cooker

Rafiki, I don't have a problem with it choking the fire out. Not sure how you did it, but I get a blazing fire going without the top on, for a good 35 minutes or longer. I start with 2 x 4's and try to pack as much hardwood in the bottom as I can, spreading it evenly. Once I put the top on, the bottom tames a bit, but I still have flames coming up the sides when I cook the pies which is usually at least 35 minutes after I put the top on. I leave all 3 vents in the bottom open, if you have yours closed try that. I would try different wood too.

[heliman]

Re: My Wood Fired Double Kettle Pizza Cooker

Excellent looking device - what sort of temp can you get it up to?

[Rafiki]

Re: My Wood Fired Double Kettle Pizza Cooker

tpd, thanks for the reply. I have changed the type of wood and have had a lot better results. Do you also leave the top vents open? I found that after things have heated up I can shut the top vents without choking the fire. Thanks again for your help.