Neill's Pompeii #10

[nissanneill]

Re: Neill's Pompeii #10

Paul,
looks OK and if you don't really want a flue, then don't put one on.
It really won't effect the oven performance, only smoke stain the front top section of your arch.
Looking at your picture, the red gum in the pic seem to me too big to burn quickly and without smoke. Cut it down to around the size of the smallest piece as it will catch fire quickly and burn more fiercely than big thick lumps.
Any wood, even green timber will burn fiercely if the fire is hot enough. I even burn eucalypt which was only 6 months from a growing tree and that burned better than the so called dry red gum at $300/ton from the wood yard, but I get the fire really hot with pine offcuts/pallet pieces and then put in the eucalypt. I also use to 3 legged wood supports to hold up the kindling and firewood so that the air can easily get into and under the fire to get it really going and use the pizza turner/lifter to remove them when I push the fire to the side and back, sweep the hearth, chuck in a few new logs and cook pizzas.
You are welcome to come up and have a look if you want to come to Flagstaff Hill.

Cheers.

Neill

[tallman72]

Re: Neill's Pompeii #10

hi Neil thanks here is a photo of the smoker i really dont want to put a flue on it if i can help it.

[tallman72]

Re: Neill's Pompeii #10

i live in Parkside, i am using redgum is that wood too dense and therefore causing the smoke. my forno is basically egloo shaped i will upload pic as soon as i can reduce file size.

[nissanneill]

Re: Neill's Pompeii #10

Hi Paul and welcome aboard,
everything is possible, it may be complex but with a little work, an angle grinder with a diamond blade, you can add a flue similar to mine to catch the smoke (which incidentally should be on initial light up for no more than a couple of minutes) and channel it up the chimney. Have a look through my build as I explain and show pics of the chamber which without seeing your set-up could dynabolt directly onto the front of your oven front.
Post a couple of pictures to show your oven and we can take it from there.
Cheers.

Neill
PS where abouts in Adelaide do you reside?

[tallman72]

Re: Neill's Pompeii #10

HI Neil,
I too am also from Adelaide and i have built a brick oven using russell jevons design, my brick work was a bit rough on the inside of the oven but it works really well and the pizzas taste great, i did not build it with a chimney and now i regret it as one of my neighbours did complain to me about the smoke when i lit it i have eased that by using charcoal and only putting small bits of timber on only once the coal a roaring, but this is very expensive as charcoal is 30 bucks a bag and i use one bag per firing. so my question to you is do u think it would be possible to build a flue into the front of it now and what size dia and height of the flue would i need the opening is 550 at the front.
this way i can use wood to light it and the smoke would just go . i could send u a photo of the oven. i am in parkside near fullarton road and it would be great to have your expertise

cheers Paul

[Knackers]

Re: Neill's Pompeii #10

To form pizza crust from balls roll them out one direction then dust with flour and let rest about 5min. This let's the gluten relax before rolling the other direction. If you want it thinner let rest and repeat. I dust with enough flour that I can stack them on top of each other to save space.
Doug

(In a Dr Evil voice) Rrrrrrrrriiiiigggghhhhhttttt!

[dlgeis]

Re: Neill's Pompeii #10

To form pizza crust from balls roll them out one direction then dust with flour and let rest about 5min. This let's the gluten relax before rolling the other direction. If you want it thinner let rest and repeat. I dust with enough flour that I can stack them on top of each other to save space.
Doug

[nissanneill]

Re: Neill's Pompeii #10

Littlehampton have fire bricks but they can't/won't tell you their content but are really only made for the open fireplace lining. They were $5 each when I enquired some 18 months ago but I believe that they also get seconds at a much reduced price.
You should use their fired clay 4" pavers for around $0.80c each and they have been fired at 1200˚C so will be fine for a 500˚C oven temp. I plan on using these for my next build.

Neill

[acdc]

Re: Neill's Pompeii #10

thanks Neil, thats a great price... I heard a friend mention that bricks were available at littlehampton, but these were 6 bucks each... Need to find some second hand ones like you did somehow !....

PS your oven looks a treat and has certainly inspired me

[nissanneill]

Re: Neill's Pompeii #10

Hi ACDC and welcome aboard.
There are a few of us from sunny Adelaide so you help to boost the numbers.
I purchased my firebricks for a $1 each from the demolishers of the old Gepps Cross Abertois boiler.
I bought 200 of them and have about 55 left over so I used close to 150 all up plus the house bricks and tapered pavers for the front arch and void.

Neill

[acdc]

Re: Neill's Pompeii #10

Hey Neil, fantastic work on the oven
Im from Adelaide and keen to know where you got your fire bricks from, how much, and how many did you use !

[david s]

Re: Neill's Pompeii #10

I find the maintenance of a little fire on the side producing flame also gives you enough light in the oven, when cooking pizzas, although it's always dark when locking the heat in for a roast.

[nissanneill]

Re: Neill's Pompeii #10

The continuing link.
To continue with the spark arrester [ics and discussion, go to:

http://www.fornobravo.com/forum/f21/...ster-2333.html

It got put into a new thread but really continues on from here.


Neill

[janprimus]

Re: Neill's Pompeii #10

Top work there Neil! Your oven is grand looking. Everything is well planned and quite tiddley.
Congratulations.
Chad

[nissanneill]

Re: Neill's Pompeii #14

Another Sunday gone and another family cook-up. We ended up with 16 adults and my first 4 day old grand daughter Annbelle (Belle to her friends) here for home made soup, pizza and sticky date pudding.
I put the other 2 sections of 8" flue on the chimney and dyna bolted the vent into the dome and facia brick arch. Added the brass latch to the doors and replaced the waterlogged insulation from around the down lights (from not having the vent sealed until finishing the welding/fitting).
Went to make the vermiculite cement only to realize that I gave all of my portland cement to my son when we concreted his garage floor for topping, so will do it later in the week and grout the vent floor tiles once the oven has cooled down.
Lit the fire at 3pm and connected the thermocouple sensor wires through my 10 position switch and into my digital display whilst getting the fire going. However, problems when compared to the infra red digital temp readings. Need to problem solve that one!
Had a great fire, no smoke after the first few minutes and got the dome to over 500°C. The hearth got to 475°C and consequently cooked 24 pizzas in just over an hour. The flue is 3 extensions high (approx 10') and draws exceptionally well, no smoke at all out the front arch what so ever. The picture attached was taken 5 minutes after lighting the fire.
Got the message tonight that I have two other oven to build, one for one son in law and another for his mate. They will also be Pompeii ovens but will have to put them on a base. A little more time and expense, but not my problem! At least I have around 80 fire bricks leftover from my oven build so that will reduce the son in laws costs a little.

Neill