Lighting the Ooni 2S:
Lighting the Ooni 2S: The Ooni 2S is really easy to light and get up to temperature but I have some hints and tips to make it as easy as possible.
What else do I need?
Flamers firelighters are worth their weight in gold, so handy for lighting charcoal.
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I light the flamers with one of these:
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Pellets:
I only use the Ooni pellets. They are sustainably sourced and are fully traceable which is important to me for food cooking. The pellets are made from 100% beech which is a hardwood so will burn slowly and consistently.
Other pellets are available, just be aware some pellets from a well known pellet smoking company apparantly have wood flavoured oils included in them which can cause issues when used in the Ooni.
Cheaper wood furnace pellets are available also, these tend to be softwood based so burn quickly and can smoke or cause soot deposits. Some people use them and swear by them, others have had no luck with them. I will buy a bag at some point and test them.
The Ooni pellets are available at Lakeland for £18.49 (10KG) and £18.50 on the Ooni site. Ooni state their 10KG pellet bag will last for 7 to 10 hours of continuous burning and a pizza can be cooked on 300g of pellets.
Ooni 2S – Method 1: Preferred method.
I spotted this video by Ooni on their YouTube channel:
It suggests dropping the hopper to the lowest level, putting 2 handfuls of pellets in the hopper, lighting it and waiting 3 minutes then topping the pellets up to the level of that first notch on the hopper.
Take the pellet crate out and put 2 large fistfuls of pellets in.
Put the pellet crate back in part way and slot in a “Flamer” firelighter before pushing the crate all the way in.
Make sure the hopper handle is facing inwards away from the fire and make sure the pellet scoop is in the hopper. The Ooni works on convection so you need the scoop in and the front door shut.
I light the flamer with one of the long nosed fire lighters. You can use a blowtorch to light it but I find it harder to get the fire going. With the flamers it’s a quick light and walk away.
The flamer will get to work quickly.
You will see a bit of smoke as the pellets get going.
The hopper is left on the lowest setting throughout so the Ooni 2S hits the highest temperature. This is easier than the phased moving of the hopper in the next method.
I used this method on a pizza cook, it was really easy to get the Ooni lit and up to temp, this will be the preferred method in future:
Ooni 2S – Method 2:
There is a bit more fiddling with this method than the first method but it still works, method one is just easier.
Start off by raising the hopper to the highest point. The hopper controls the temperature and the lowest setting appears to be the hottest.
Take the pellet crate out and put 2 large fistfuls of pellets in.
Put the pellet crate back in part way and slot in a “Flamer” firelighter before pushing the crate all the way in.
Make sure the hopper handle is facing inwards away from the fire and make sure the pellet scoop is in the hopper. The Ooni works on convection so you need the scoop in and the front door shut.
I light the flamer with one of the long nosed fire lighters. You can use a blowtorch to light it but I find it harder to get the fire going. With the flamers it’s a quick light and walk away.
The flamer will get to work quickly.
You will see a bit of smoke as the pellets get going.
After 3 minutes I drop the hopper 1 level. Lately I have just been dropping it right down to the bottom at this point but gradual changes work. Stick another handful of pellets down the hopper.
After another 3 minutes drop the hopper to the bottom notch and fill it with pellets up to the top of the collar (the bit that sticks out above the top notch below).
The fire will be well under way now.
After about 10 minutes from lighting the flamer the fire should be raging and the stone should be above 500C. I use the IR gun linked at the top of this page. Make sure you get one that goes above 500C, this one goes to 750C. If your stone isn’t at 500C close the door and leave it for a bit. Make sure the pellets are topped up above the collar.
Gratuitous arty fire shot!
Gratuitous arty smoke shot!
When the fire is well underway and you are at temperature, you will hear the flames roaring inside the oven.
Be careful when you open the door as the flames roll all the way up to the front!
You are now good to go!
Lighting Tips:
When my Ooni was outside there was always a gentle breeze which helped stoke the fire. When I had a BBQ Hut built there wasn’t a breeze inside and the fire seemed to struggle to light a bit plus the smoke was heavier at the start. I started blowing the back of the hopper to get it going but then I remembered I had a looftlighter so I have started using that to give the fire a good kick at the start. This has helped reduce the amount of smoke and made the fire take much quicker. I have also given the pellets a blast with the looftlighter when I top up with pellets between pizza cooks which ends up like a turbo boost to the fire!
Jam Funnel:
This works for the 2S and the 3. Maintaining the fire in the Ooni takes a bit of concentration, you need to keep track of the pellet line, check the fire, check your stone temperatures and keep topping up. Sometimes, making and cooking the pizza takes a lot of concentration as well which can cause you to forget about the pellets and that leads to a temperature drop. The best way I have found to avoid this is to buy a Jam Funnel, add it on the pellet funnel and fill it with pellets. It keeps the fire roaring and you can see at a glance if it needs topping up or not. The beauty is it holds so many more pellets you don’t need to top up so often.
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Using the Jam Funnel and the Looftlighter allows you to get up to temperature in record time. From lighting the flamer to having the stone at 550c is under 10 minutes.
The Fan:
Quite a few people on the Ooni community page are using fans to add a bit of oomph to their fire. I have been using my Looftlighter but they come with a fairly hefty outlay which can be justified if you are cooking on a number of different bits of kit but most folk might not want to lay out £50 for one. The fan I picked is rechargeable over USB, had good reviews and was only £10 on Amazon. When it arrived it was fully charged ready to go. On and Off buttons plus a power button with 3 speed settings.
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The fire was lit in my usual way, tray full of pellets, 1 lit “flamer“, tray back in and left for 5 minutes. The fan was lurking, waiting to be called upon!
A quick blast of the fan (30 seconds) before putting the Jam Funnel on.
With the Jam Funnel filled with pellets it was time to set the fan on full power for a couple of minutes.
I had a quick look through the door. It looked pretty hot in there!
How hot exactly? I think this video explains it quite well!
You don’t need a jam funnel, fan or looftlighter to start cooking awesome pizzas but the jam funnel and fan certainly make things a lot easier and allow you to concentrate on making/cooking the pizzas rather than managing the fire.
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