42" Brick Oven & Grill in Los Angeles.

[Tscarborough]

Re: 42" Brick Oven & Grill in Los Angeles.

It is better to cut the brick to 3/4"-1" if possible. The easy way to tell if you need to is to cut 1 SqFt of brick and weigh them. >14#, no problem.

For example, those brick weigh about 5 pounds ea, and it takes 7 (6.8) per SqFt, cut in half you need 3.5 of them so, 3.5X5=17.5 pounds less the the cut material.

I would have cut them to 3/4" faces. Then you do not have to shim them, they stick, and it is much easier to tuckpoint them.

[Tscarborough]

Re: 42" Brick Oven & Grill in Los Angeles.

ATK, you will need to cut just the face off and get rid of the frogs.

[deejayoh]

Re: 42" Brick Oven & Grill in Los Angeles.

Nice job. I've enjoyed watching your build. Would this technique be OK to use if my bricks are not solids?

I tried a little bit of everything on my housing. I put up a couple veneer pillars and a fake chimney with a mix of cores and solids. I laid them with mortar and the cores worked better than the solids because there was more surface for the mortar to grab on the back of the brick. Cores won't work with thin-set unless you cut the brick down to about 1/3 it's depth to have a smooth surface. That's what I did on my chimney chase and it worked fine.

[deejayoh]

Re: 42" Brick Oven & Grill in Los Angeles.

ATK, you will need to cut just the face off and get rid of the frogs.

Frogs. I love it. I did not know that term

[V-wiz]

Re: 42" Brick Oven & Grill in Los Angeles.

I officially started the curing. I had the propane weed burner in there for about 2 hours, had it on its lowest setting. Stacked a few fire bricks to diffuse the flame/heat. The hottest the top of the dome got was just shy of 200F. The chimney also seems to be drawing pretty well. Hope i can continue some more tomorrow. Do you guys recommend a constant steady heat? For example keep the heat at 300F for a few hours?

[cobblerdave]

Re: 42" Brick Oven & Grill in Los Angeles.

Gudday
I was a bad boy... Built on a ply dome ... Burnt it out 10 days later ... And added more wood and cooked pizza.
No way no known would I ever consider that now . The pics that I have show the walls still half black with soot.! The pizza i cook now is sooo ... much better
No damage done no major cracks thank god!
I slowed down and cured that oven real carefull after that ....
That first real cook was worth the wait.

Hang in there! It is worth the extra
Regards Dave

[V-wiz]

Re: 42" Brick Oven & Grill in Los Angeles.

Thanks Dave, how long do you think i should keep the temps per firing?

[cobblerdave]

Re: 42" Brick Oven & Grill in Los Angeles.

Gudday
Once it reaches that temp for that day you let it cool. Next day 100f more and let it cool and so on
Regards dave

[brickie in oz]

Re: 42" Brick Oven & Grill in Los Angeles.

Pardon my ignorance Dave but why let it cool.

Not having built an oven with copious amounts of water in it I dont know, wouldnt it better to leave it warm all the time to drive out the water?

[david s]

Re: 42" Brick Oven & Grill in Los Angeles.

Gudday
Once it reaches that temp for that day you let it cool. Next day 100f more and let it cool and so on
Regards dave

Because the crown of the dome heats up and dries faster than the sides and the base its temperature begins to climb even more rapidly. By allowing the oven to cool for 24 hrs, so the theory goes, the whole thing can have a chance to even out and return to ambient so the process can begin with equal temperatures again.Likewise the centre of the floor gets drier and way hotter than the perimeter. Also, by leaving it for 24 hrs some of the water will migrate back into the drier parts of the oven, although in only 24 hrs I'd be doubtful if this would occur to any great extent. In any case a big temperature difference should be avoided because temperature and thermal expansion are directly related and you don't want a big difference in expansion which can lead to cracking. using an IR thermometer taking readings from the base of the dome and the crown will reveal the large temp difference as will that persistent ring of black around the base which also indicates it's not properly dry.

This is particularly a problem if using wood flames to dry the oven as wood flames are difficult to control and direct flame impingement at the crown will hasten this kind of drying. If you use a different method, some of which are prohibited for discussion, rather than wood fire, it is easier to do a slow controlled burn, then you don't have to worry so much about uneven heating.

[david s]

Re: 42" Brick Oven & Grill in Los Angeles.

Vwizz,
I notice you have one of those cheap little oven thermometers. I find them really good, quite accurate and cheap to replace. But they are a real pain to move around with a peel. They knock over so easily. I pop rivet a larger SS base to the bottom and they never fall over, they are the best. No need for thermometers at pizza temps, just use the semolina cast into the centre of the floor. 3secs turns it black for the perfect floor temp.

[stonecutter]

Re: 42" Brick Oven & Grill in Los Angeles.

ATK, you will need to cut just the face off and get rid of the frogs.

Do they make cored bricks that are frogged?

[stonecutter]

Re: 42" Brick Oven & Grill in Los Angeles.

Frogs. I love it. I did not know that term

If you like that, you can also Frog a mortar bed..that is, apply a line of mortar and make a depression in the middle of it.

[V-wiz]

Re: 42" Brick Oven & Grill in Los Angeles.

Vwizz,
I notice you have one of those cheap little oven thermometers. I find them really good, quite accurate and cheap to replace. But they are a real pain to move around with a peel. They knock over so easily. I pop rivet a larger SS base to the bottom and they never fall over, they are the best. No need for thermometers at pizza temps, just use the semolina cast into the centre of the floor. 3secs turns it black for the perfect floor temp.

So true, its nice to have but once you start to move it, it wants to fall over, thats a good idea thanks

[V-wiz]

Re: 42" Brick Oven & Grill in Los Angeles.

What do you guys think about having individual heat beads/briquettes spread around the floor, this way its not just in the center of the oven and the lower walls have a chance to heat up all well.