36" in Seattle

[bbell]

Re: 36" in Seattle

Here's their actual retail outlet location: Find Us

[kebwi]

Re: 36" in Seattle

Hey Keb,
You should try putting some wood in those heavy (contractor) garbage bags.. If you keep enough wood in it for one fire and seal it,, the black should absorb the heat/sun and help dry the wood.... Right ?????
congrats on the fires
Mark

Really? Seems like any moisture in the bag would be sealed in. I admit, the bag would heat up, but it would just be sopping wet when I opened it...I think. It's an idea worth considering.

[kebwi]

Re: 36" in Seattle

Here's their actual retail outlet location: Find Us

Thanks, I'll check them out.

[kebwi]

Re: 36" in Seattle

Keb, Pacific Food Importers (PFI) carries the 50lb bags of caputo as well as selling it by the pound. Great source for all things Italian. Fresh mozzarella as well. https://www.pacificfoodimporters.com/

I called them. You're right, they sell bulk by the pound ($1.00/lb as of this writing) and 50lb bags ($38.50)...so Merlino is cheaper at $33. I just don't know why I found a reference online stating $15 per 50lb bag. Got my hope's up. Oh well.

PFI, on the other hand, is open on Saturdays, so that's practically worth the extra $5 right there.

[bbell]

Re: 36" in Seattle

I can guarantee that you'll be spending more than that by the time you walk out. Enjoy.

[kebwi]

Re: 36" in Seattle

Seventh curing fire, apex of the dome fluttering upwards of 530F very briefly. It wouldn't stay that hot if I didn't blow on the coals constantly. I wrapped the arch form which has been serving as a door in foil, just to make sure it would be safe when I seal it up for the night. I always put the "door" in after the curing fires because I put the next day's wood in to dry out and I want to keep the heat in (and the condensation out).

I had the idea of putting some chicken-pot pies in the oven, thinking they would cook as the oven came down in temperature but it lost its heat extremely rapidly. Down to 100F within a few minutes of spreading the fire out and closing the door. I guess ovens don't work this way. You can't heat them up to a target temperature, you just have to heat them all the way up and use the lower temperatures on the way back down...I guess, I'm not entirely sure. Anyway, I expect better results as the curing process proceeds. It's just too early, needs more time to cure and drive residual moisture out.

Cheers!

[EDIT: I never posted a photo of my eighth curing fire. To preserve the chronology of this thread, I have attached it to this post well after the original post-date.]

[vintagemx0]

Re: 36" in Seattle

I think you have the right idea Kebwi - it WILL work much better. As you know, there's a difference between heat and temperature. You lost temperature simply because there wasn't much heat stored in the bricks.

When I cured my oven, I thought "why not do each curing fire for a long period of time?" I would constantly feed the small fires for two or three hours. I just maintained a small fire for a long period of time (more heat, not higher temperatures). I didn't have any problems, but I wouldn't know if it helped either. I did notice the bricks were still warm (not hot) the next day.

The last time I used my oven, we cooked 4 pizzas and then put the door on after the flames died down. The next morning, it was 250 F in there, and we lit a small fire and got it over 500 F in less than an hour. We waited for it to cool to 375 and baked some bread, then we put in a whole chicken at and put the door back on. The chicken was done in about an hour. We put the door on, and I checked the next morning and it was 250 F in there. The next morning it was still 150 F in there!

So, I guess what I'm trying to say is that there is a learning curve involved with the heat management, but the heat holding potential is nothing you should worry about given the amount of insulation you used.

Glad to see you're about ready to start cooking!

Ken

[kebwi]

Re: 36" in Seattle

"Poured" the second terrace (of three). This one is 50/50 vermiculite/perlite. I wasn't convinced I had enough vermiculite for the whole job (after completion, I am now sure that I did have enough, but whatever) so I went shopping, intending to buy more, but I was able to get medium grade perlite for half the price. The perlite was sketchy. Some of it was ground to dust, but the largest particles were easily half an inch. Just kind of a "mixed bag" (pun intended).

Anyway, this is 8:1, just like the first terrace, 140 quarts of 50/50 vermiculite/perlite (about 4.7 cubic feet), 17.5 quarts of portland, hydrated approximately 3:1. The hardibacker will, of course, be left in place, whole thing eventually to be covered in surface bonding cement, waterproofed as effectively as possible, and each terrace transformed into a planter bed.

It's a good thing I'm putting those "T-bolts" (bolt-and-fender-washer combo) through the hardibacker; they aren't adhering at all, not even a little bit. On the first terrace, there were a few small sections around the vent that I didn't bother to lock on with T-bolts and after letting it set and cure for several days, I took off the rope that had been holding the form tightly in place and those small pieces of hardibacker fell right off. I'll have to mortar them back on. I have been slightly dampening the inside the hardibacker before filling in the vermicrete, but it doesn't matter, the vermicrete just didn't stick to it at all.

I sure hope to hell that the surface bonding cement holds on to those tall vertical hardibacker walls. If not, I'm really screwed.

Cheers!

[kebwi]

Re: 36" in Seattle

Ninth curing fire. I was shooting for 700F, but it reached 750F and then very briefly registered 800F. I spread the fire out asap when that happened.

I cooked my first "food". Actually, this represents a second attempt at this cuisine. Cinnamon toast on the dispersed coals.

BTW, here's a video showing how my vent/flue/stove-pipe/chimney draws. It is an absolute dream to watch. I am, admittedly, a little confused. You can see from the video that I am getting a superb draw with virtually no escape out the entrance. Yet, it is obvious in the photo that I am getting some sort of white residue on the external face of the arch. It isn't black anyway, like the inside of the vent, it's white. I'm not quite sure what to make of it. Any ideas?

Cheers!

YouTube - ninthCuringFireChimneyDraw4.mp4

[Les]

Re: 36" in Seattle

Yet, it is obvious in the photo that I am getting some sort of white residue on the external face of the arch. It isn't black anyway, like the inside of the vent, it's white. I'm not quite sure what to make of it. Any ideas?

It's called Efflorescence. It's caused by the salts in your brick/mortar - very common and does no harm. It happens with moister. Sealing will help a bit but not 100%.

Les...

[Tscarborough]

Re: 36" in Seattle

All that water you used to clean them. It will go away.

[matty]

Re: 36" in Seattle

i live in seattle too. check out pics of my oven

[kebwi]

Re: 36" in Seattle

i live in seattle too. check out pics of my oven

Didn't see an album or a thread with photos on your profile. Where are they?

[Dino_Pizza]

Re: 36" in Seattle

Kieth, you've hit WFO home-run: no cracks AND your oven vents properly! I was a tad worried at first when I saw the size of the final square opening against your round flu pipe (it's hard see the size in those photos) but was glad to see your 3 brick high vent transition at such a beautiful angle,sloping smoothly to your opening that it just had to work well and it does . Having the tall vent transition chamber adds to the volume of air that starts the draw upward. Cool utube video you posted too.

[kebwi]

Re: 36" in Seattle

Agreed. I was worried about that too. The mouth of the vent is a rectangle measuring about six inches front-back and eight inches across, forty-eight inches square, which is almost identical to an eight-inch pipe (fifty square inches). However, when you place an eight-inch pipe on top of that six-by-eight opening, the transition is pretty sloppy, lots of edge-overlap. I wasn't sure it would work too well (I should take a photo up the vent to show how roughly that transition fits). The fact that I went four feet instead of my originally intended two feet probably helped a lot too.

My opinion, if I may be frank without sounding cocky, is that having looked at lots of photos on FB, I believe the thing that really makes my vent work well is the tapered sides, the fact that it is a true inverted funnel. A lot of vents on FB are basically a hole cut in the top of an otherwise approximately flat roof, the roof of the arch...and most FB arches are much flatter than mine since they aren't a full hemisphere. I suspect a lot of Pompeii ovens which leak smoke are doing so because of the vent shape more than any other factor (flu diameter or length for example).

I'm not saying that to show off, I'm saying it so that whatever nugget of wisdom is contained within such a description may be captured by future readers/designers/builders.

Thanks as always for the compliments and positive encouragement.

Cheers!