Stainless Steel Pizza Oven Build

[acfbob]

I own a fabrication shop in New Jersey and also have a love for pizza. We were a little slow a few months back and I began to think about making a wood fired oven out of stainless steel. It is now a finished build and the thing rocks. I have cooked everything from pizza to steak in it and I am very happy with it. Figured I would show it off here.

[scarbo]

Re: Stainless Steel Pizza Oven Build

Nice work! What is your heat-up time and have you measured floor and dome temperatures? What is between the dome steel sheets? What did you use for the floor and below-floor material?

[acfbob]

Re: Stainless Steel Pizza Oven Build

The entire oven is double walled with 2" HF10 Fire blanket between walls. The floor is stainless sheet under a steel angle frame with a 1/2" steel plate covering the entire inside base of the oven. The fire brick is placed on top of the steel. So basically from the bottom up it goes stainless sheet, angle frame, steel plate laying in angle frame, firebrick. Thing weigh a lot. (theft deterrent)

I usually start a fire well before I want to cook more out of fun then necessity. I have cooked a pie in as little as 45 minutes after lighting. I use a little natural wood charcoal along with the wood when I want to get going quick.

I have a digital thermometer that will read to 1200 and there are times after a good fire that the floor has read "HI". If I get a good enough fire going I have to let things cool down before starting to cook.

[V-wiz]

Re: Stainless Steel Pizza Oven Build

Nice work thanks for sharing

[david s]

Re: Stainless Steel Pizza Oven Build

There is an oven from China on sale here that is exactly the same. Should work really well for pizza, so long as you maintain a fire while cooking, but I doubt there is enough thermal mass for retained heat cooking. Nice job

[Laurentius]

Re: Stainless Steel Pizza Oven Build

How do you keep the heat from going directly out of the chimney?

[acfbob]

Re: Stainless Steel Pizza Oven Build

How do you keep the heat from going directly out of the chimney?

I made a plate with a handle that I use as a damper at the outlet of the chimney in the chimney cap, but to tell you the truth that has not been a problem. I deal with too much heat more often then too little heat.

[pizza the action]

Re: Stainless Steel Pizza Oven Build

Sorry for my ignorance but do you not loose a lot of heat thru the front? Or do you have some sort of door? How much would you charge to make this sort of thing as a fabricator. Thanks cliff

[moderator]

Re: Stainless Steel Pizza Oven Build

Cliff,

Different manufacturers use different techniques regarding door and chimney location. The Bella line does have a door, it helps keep the wind from impeding building a fire. The door would rest on the front landing, partially open allowing air to feed the fire.

There is more heat loss with a Metal oven compared with a Refractory oven. The max rating for Metal ovens runs about 750 degrees, where a refractory oven will exceed 900 degrees if sealed and insulated properly.

We do not provide custom fabrication for the Metal ovens. You can check out the product line at Bella Outdoor Living's website.

[acfbob]

Re: Stainless Steel Pizza Oven Build

Sorry for my ignorance but do you not loose a lot of heat thru the front? Or do you have some sort of door? How much would you charge to make this sort of thing as a fabricator. Thanks cliff

I have a door as you can see in one of the pictures above. With using the 1/2" steel plate under the brick too little heat is never a problem. This thing gets hotter than any refractory oven around. I really never thought about building them to sell but if you were interested in getting one email me. acfbob at comcast dot net or PM me.

[v12spirit]

Re: Stainless Steel Pizza Oven Build

Cliff,

Different manufacturers use different techniques regarding door and chimney location. The Bella line does have a door, it helps keep the wind from impeding building a fire. The door would rest on the front landing, partially open allowing air to feed the fire.

There is more heat loss with a Metal oven compared with a Refractory oven. The max rating for Metal ovens runs about 750 degrees, where a refractory oven will exceed 900 degrees if sealed and insulated properly.

We do not provide custom fabrication for the Metal ovens. You can check out the product line at Bella Outdoor Living's website.

Regarding the Bella (and the thread starter's oven), do they not violate the rule of thumb of 62.5% height and 50% width of the opening compared to the oven internal dimensions? I mean could they not reserve more heat and consequently run on over 750 degrees if that rule was considered?
Why did the Forno Bravo choose to make the opening that wide?

[v12spirit]

Re: Stainless Steel Pizza Oven Build

The entire oven is double walled with 2" HF10 Fire blanket between walls. The floor is stainless sheet under a steel angle frame with a 1/2" steel plate covering the entire inside base of the oven. The fire brick is placed on top of the steel. So basically from the bottom up it goes stainless sheet, angle frame, steel plate laying in angle frame, firebrick. Thing weigh a lot. (theft deterrent)

I usually start a fire well before I want to cook more out of fun then necessity. I have cooked a pie in as little as 45 minutes after lighting. I use a little natural wood charcoal along with the wood when I want to get going quick.

I have a digital thermometer that will read to 1200 and there are times after a good fire that the floor has read "HI". If I get a good enough fire going I have to let things cool down before starting to cook.

Nice job acfbob. Happy to find one steel extremist like me on the forum! I've just built a steel oven not the stainless type that was criticized by the forum...
Regarding your build, what is the thickness of the inner walls?

[acfbob]

Re: Stainless Steel Pizza Oven Build

Nice job acfbob. Happy to find one steel extremist like me on the forum! I've just built a steel oven not the stainless type that was criticized by the forum...
Regarding your build, what is the thickness of the inner walls?

I used 16 gauge for the dome. There is basically two domes spaced with a 2" pocket between them. The pocket has the HF10 insulator blanket.

I am no scientist or engineer but my oven surpasses 900 degrees with ease. I have had readings as high as "hi" on my infrared thermometer which reads to 1200. There are many times when I have to wait quite a while to begin cooking in order to allow the oven to cool to the sweet spot. The 1/2" steel floor really holds the heat well.

[v12spirit]

Re: Stainless Steel Pizza Oven Build

Fine! Steel IS further than my expectations. Was sure it wouldn't disappoint me. Still making some finishing touches before I can run my first fire in it.