This is a basic intro to Blackstone Pizza Oven Mods. Nearly all the information here comes from many ideas posted on www.pizzamakingforum.com There is no attempt to claim anything posted here is unique, but since the main BS thread is over 200 pages long, a short FAQ should help some new users.
Why do I want a BS
Many people are perfectly happy with making a pizza in their home oven, or even a grill. So why would anyone want a BS.
What do I need beside my BS.
The BS does a great job making pie, but you will need a few accesories.
PEELS You will need a pizza peel to load and retrieve pies. Some users suggest a wooden one to load, and a separate peel, usually metal, to retrieve. The theory is that you put flour on the peel used to load the pie, and if you use that same peel to retrieve, you will get some uncooked flour on the crust which will leave a bad taste.
IR GUN I think that besides the peel, this is the most essential accessory. The included thermometer is probably not very accurate, and worse it tells you the temperature of the area above the cooking chamber, not the cooking chamber itself, so it has little to do with using the BS. With an IR Gun, you can get an idea of exactly when the lower stone is preheated enough to start launching pies. If you are cooking a number of pies, it can also tell you whether the lower stone is going up in temp during the cook, or cooling off, and will let you know how to adjust the flame to keep the temp consistent. There are some pretty expensive IR guns, some with adjustable emissivity. IMHO, you don't need that, the cheapest you can find is fine. The actual temp of the stone doesn't really matter, so long as your gun is consistent. If you load when your gun says 650 and the bottom of the pie is how you like it after 2 minutes, it doesn't really matter what temp the stone is, you know that next time if your gun says 650, it should take about 2 minutes for the bottom to brown. You can pay more to get an IR gun that measures over 1,000 F so you can tell the temp of the upper stone, but I usually launch based on lower stone, not the upper stone, so I don't need a gun that goes much over 700 F.
How To Fire Up My Blackstone.
Do I Need To Mod My Oven
NO. Many users take the BS out of the box, assemble it, and start turning out great pizza's from the first day. If so, at most you might want to consider the Bearing Mod, or relocating the Stop Collar Mod. Bearing mod
For many of us, depending on the type of pizza being cooked, a mod might make sense to try to change the rate at which the top, rim, and bottom of the pie bake .
Before you do that, I suggest you get an IR gun and play with the preheat times and flame controls to see if you can get the balance right. BTW, there is no one right balance, the style of pizza, the type of flour, type of cheese, the topping, and your personal preferences as to amount of browning or char all factor in.
What Model Do I Have :
While there are no official models of the BS, various changes in manufacturing have occurred over the years.
This is a guide to the changes noted on Pizzamaking.com Model History
General Mods
Ball Bearing Mod or Relocating the Stop Collar.
This mod is designed to make the platter easier to turn, in the hopes that it will make it easier on the rotiss motor.
Upgrading the Rotisserie Motor
While the motor supplied with the BS works, a number of users have upgraded to a heavier duty rotisserie motor
Reversing Direction of the Rotisserie Motor
The stock motor turns the lower stone clockwise. As a result, you see the pie just as it comes out of the hottest part of the oven, the right side. If you reverse the direction to counter clockwise, then you will see the pie just before it goes into the hottest part of the oven. That way, if you think it is brown enough, you can pull it, or if it needs a little more, you can let it continue to rotate.
Reversing Rotisserie Motor Direction
Switch for Platter
Some users have no trouble launching a pie onto the platter while it is turning, others don't enjoy the challenge as much so they run a switch to the front of the BS so they can turn off the rotis motor, launch the pie, then turn it back on.
Increasing Efficiency of BS
A number of users have tried to increase the efficiency of the BS. I have gotten pretty good mileage from a full refill of a propane tank ( the exchange programs usually only give a tank that is 2/3rd full ) so I haven't tried any of them.
Jackie Tran ( Chau ) Mod to front opening
Balancing Top and Bottom Heat -
The vast majority of mods deal with adjusting the way the pie cooks - for some, they want the bottom to brown faster. Some want the top to brown faster. Others are happy with the overall top to bottom balance, but found the center of the top of the pie brown before the outer edges and the rim, and so they want to adjust that - which prompted the Chau Flector Mod.
Basic Adjustment of Top to Bottom Heat
Before you do other adjustments, consider these methods to adjust the top and bottom heat to your liking.
Adjusting Height of Lower Stone
Decreasing the Bottom Heat.
If you find that the bottom is burning before the top is done, you might try this mod to decrease the heat being absorbed by the bottom stone.
CHAU FLECTOR - Increasing Browning of the Rim
Chauflector - Increasing Browning of Rim