You've stopped at the correct site. I had a fair amount of construction skills, but without the guidance, wisdom and experience of this group, my build would have turned out much differently (probably not in a good way). I was all set to build a barrel style using plans from a guy in Aus following...

That looks really good, nice char on the crust and a clean bake especially for fresh oven build. Good job!

If you're using a perlcrete or vermicrete insulation base between the top hearth slab, it contains a lot of water that needs to be driven out. The weep holes will give that moisture another avenue of escape. So, although the weep hole/tile combo is not required when doing your build's base--it does...