The "Redgum Roarer" - brick dome oven

[PeterC]

Re: The "Redgum Roarer" - brick dome oven

From an old post but... Insulation between slab and oven floor defintely a very good idea!! I wish I had but it's no great drama. The heat that gets through to the underside on mine through 110 mm pavers on edge and ~150mm slab is not too hot to touch and takes a few hours to get there.

[Pompeysie]

Re: The "Redgum Roarer" - brick dome oven

If you want to look at building an alternative type of oven you might want to look at my blog which contains step-by-step instructions.

The Clay Oven

All the best

Simon

[billrd]

Re: The "Redgum Roarer" - brick dome oven

Well done Damon. Since I installed my oven (Xmas) I have only been game to cook for 6 at a time. I shall have to become a bit more adventurous. I find when cooking pizzas you can't afford to get distracted for a second or your serving up charcoal.
Cheers
Bill

[Bacterium]

Re: The "Redgum Roarer" - brick dome oven

James
thanks for the tip. Next time I'll make sure I have the camera out and get some stuff for the cooking section.

On Saturday night I was surprised how much people want to help. I was up to speed with it all but people just jumped in, wanting to have a go. It was great as I had it all done in half the time.

I'll report back here once I get some insulation material happening on the dome, yeah I'm quietly hoping heat up time will halve.

[james]

Re: The "Redgum Roarer" - brick dome oven

Damon,

One more small thing -- you should post your cooking threads in the various cooking sections, and then keep the photos of finishing you oven here. That way it will be easier for us to find the various postings.
Thanks!
James

[james]

Re: The "Redgum Roarer" - brick dome oven

Excellente Damon,

Sounds like fun. Take photos! :-)

If you keep your fire going the whole time you are cooking pizzas, you can cook indefinitely -- you are relacing the heat that the cooking takes out with your fire; so you can go on forever.

I am guess that your oven will cure and dry out, and that you will see a faster heat up time -- hopefully closer to an hour.

Keep cooking.
James

[Bacterium]

Re: The "Redgum Roarer" - brick dome oven

A quick update.... had a big cook up on the weekend for 12 people
- 40(approx) Greek style meatballs (some with cubed haloumi cheese in the middle).
- 2 garlic breads
- 8 pizzas
- 1 large olive and haloumi calzone/roll kind of thing
- 3 bread rolls

It was great, really learning my ovens behaviour now. I can start a fire with paper and wood on a mesh grate, nothing else ? no bellows or fire starters etc.- just nice thin strips of wood to start. It heats up in just under 3hours and that gives me a good 1.5hours time of cooking pizzas in less than 3 minutes. I keep ashes to one side which helps put a nice crisp to the side of the pizza crusts.

It does get hot on the outside of the dome so I?m looking at some insulating blanket this week. Maybe a 2inch layer of that and then maybe fire mortar and then stucco(render).

Sorry I forgot to take pics?. had too much fun and food

[Bacterium]

Re: The "Redgum Roarer" - brick dome oven

I got a bit delayed with work commitments but I'm now back on track. After gradually ramping up the fires the oven seems all cured and there is no more moisture coming out when it’s fired. It’s amazing how long it takes. There was some cracking (as Russell mentions) of the outer mortar layer but nothing of the actual dome (brick layer) itself. Once it all settles down I will “cap” it all with some sort of weatherproof refractory layer (still in reasearch mode on that one).

Yeeeehaaaa....I've cooked my first pizzas and they have progressed from "burnt offerings" to tasty "caramelised" pizzas......even my fussy 4year old devoured his lot and came back for more.

Down to the technical...
My oven takes up to 3 hours to heat (to the point where all soot burns off the inner dome and its white hot looking). So far I've cooked for at least 45mins with an average of 2- 3 minutes per pizza (cooking time). The oven puts out a fair amount of heat forwards so it’s great to stand around in the cold evenings......this creates a great atmosphere as I've designed it so the mouth of the oven is just inside my pergola area.

I'm sure once I cap the dome (insulating material) it will heat even quicker. For the last 2 fires I made a small mesh grate that holds the wood off the floor(about an inch or 2). This proved to be great as it got the timber burning quicker and it took half the time to get a decent flaming fire across the oven floor.

I've used the red gum timber and its works very well. Not fussed about soot build up as my stainless steel flue is quite easy to access/clean.

So far, no spalling at all with the bricks (have had 3 "raging" fires). Mind you there are only "fired" ends of the bricks exposed and I think this is the key with our local clay bricks.
The areas where I have the clay bricks up against the fire tiles (on the oven floor) seem to work well together as no cracking/movement there. I bought a cotton mop to clean the floor (for cooking on) after I have swept the ash away. I moisten it down and then sweep it across the floor a few times (pushing aside the ash). It’s amazing how well it works and how good a pizza base can be achieved by cooking directly on the hearth floor....yumm

You guys are right how the reflected heat of the dome cooks the top of the pizza. It great to stand there and watch exposed parts of the dough literally rise up......most people seems to say they though a pizza takes around 10minutes....not so.

Ahhh such a great thing......I'm so glad I persisted with the oven.....its very rewarding…..now for all the trappings to take it from an “agricultural” look to something that fits more in line with the area.

[Bacterium]

Re: The "Redgum Roarer" - brick dome oven

The dome (with outside mortar coating) has been curing for over 7 days and it all looks pretty dried out. I kept a couple tarps over it as we have been having a lot or rain (over 100mm/4inches).

So I built my first curing fire last night(paper) and what a great feeling. I couldn't resist and had to throw some rosemary in. It put an aroma across the whole yard...cool
The fire ran for about 10-15mins and the smoke found is way straight up the flue.

Here's some pics of the front arch area and the dome.

I just put the flue (7 inch - stainless steel) up temporarily until I get the mounts finished....which is why its not in these pics.

one is a bit blurry
and ignore the white bucket(inside top of arch) and my arch guage.

[Bacterium]

Re: The "Redgum Roarer" - brick dome oven

ok billrd.....heres one for Cheese CHat

http://www.fornobravo.com/forum/f30/all-things-cheese-1892.html#post9943

[Bacterium]

Re: The "Redgum Roarer" - brick dome oven

dmun and jengineer
....that is a possibility, heavy tiles - 30kg ....but possible
maybe I'll apply some Coopers and think- the wife is now used to me standing out there staring over it

KISS4me...yes its slightly varied. I was actually going to build it with an all red brick base. For what it was going to cost me to hire a brick saw and the available time (have a young family of 3)......... I figured I could achieve a better/quicker result by adding these 2 tiles.....taking into account my situation



Will be intersting to see how it all goes for the first few uses.....and what "adjustments" I have to make.

Yesterday I go most of the front arch/door area up, just need to cut the bricks where the flue fits in.

I think I will just cap the dome with a mortar layer for now (tarps to keep it dry if rain sets in). Then I can see how much heat is lost.

I have put a layer of chicken wire over the dome so that it helps reduce cracking..

Maybe I should call this oven "The Experiment"

[jengineer]

Re: The "Redgum Roarer" - brick dome oven

I'm just wondering - those cal-sil insulation boards come in one inch instead of two inch thickness. Could you lift those two refractory tiles, shop-vac out the sand, and put in a chunk of insulation under that part of the floor? That's the area that really counts.

Could be done but may require a bit of demo. It looks like there are 4 bricks in the entrance that could be pulled out. The large floor tiles would come next, however in one of the pics it looks like the corners are under the dome by a few inches. Would it be possible to sawsall this corner out from te inside or do you think he could score and break it out. The other possibility would be to cut out the one or two bricks that are holdiong the corners down.

The other thing to consider is that the floor heght to dome would be decreased by 1 to 2 inches. Depending on the type of cooking i.e.retained heat in a pot, this may or may not add a challenge to the doorway.

hindsight.

[KISS4me]

Re: The "Redgum Roarer" - brick dome oven

A visit to Russell's at Willunga is a must. Dont expect a quick pizza but do expect good night out with good food.

Damon's experience underlines the fact that there are many ways to skin a cat. Afterall the end point of all this fun is to produce special pizzas athat we can share with friends time and time again.

Apart from the hearth insulation layer I wonder if anyone can forsee issues using a combo of fire and redbrick as base? i.e. indifferential expansion

Cheers and keep using Coopers wih your oven Damon and all will be fine!
Steve

[DaveHI]

Re: The "Redgum Roarer" - brick dome oven

Dmun --"I'm just wondering - those cal-sil insulation boards come in one inch instead of two inch thickness. Could you lift those two refractory tiles, shop-vac out the sand, and put in a chunk of insulation under that part of the floor? That's the area that really counts."

yep --

eBay: Kaowool "M" Board 2300 Degree F. 1"thick x 24" x 36" (item 7618156143 end time May-04-07 10:24:50 PDT)

obviously 1/2 the R as 2" but better than going under the slab.

[billrd]

Re: The "Redgum Roarer" - brick dome oven

Damon
I reckon your cheesemaking skills would make another very interesting thread.

Bill