It is begun

[Mitchamus]

Re: It is begun

If you want one to heat up for a few pizzas in a reasonable amount of time, I'd stay away from high-mass designs.

Agreed!
IMHO...Insulation and thermal mass are about 10 times more important to the usability of your oven than the actual vault shape.

[dmun]

Re: It is begun

(not to mention a little simpler to build)

Not true. It's different, not easier. Any oven is a lot of work to build. If you want one to heat up for a few pizzas in a reasonable amount of time, I'd stay away from high-mass designs.

[Tscarborough]

Re: It is begun

It is much simpler to build the vault. I built the entire vault in less than 4 hours. There are certain features of the AS oven you want to avoid though.

[Tman1]

Re: It is begun

Well, I like the simplicity of it, either way.

Thanks

[Tscarborough]

Re: It is begun

My oven has nothing to do with an Alan Scott design. IMO his design is very poor. Mine has a barrel vault as does his, but that is the only similarity.

The mass of my oven is similar to a Pompeii, and the insulation is to FB specifications, plus some.

I fire it usually once a week, and only cook pizza as a rule. I like to make bread, but I don't like to eat it, so I do not do much of that.

[Tman1]

Re: It is begun

Ts- I notice that you built a Alan Scott model, yet do a lot of pizza (and baking). I initially thought I'd just do a pompeii style, but now I think I might like an Scott design (not to mention a little simpler to build). Can I surmise that since you cook/bake so often your oven is almost never 'cold'? This would mean a shorter heat up time (is my guess), lending to the ability to make pizza more frequently. I see the longer start-up time as something that would hinder making just 3 pies for the family, which, if I have the oven would be preferable. Comments?

[thamnophis]

Re: It is begun

Mine is a little wider and deeper so I wonder if the offset entry would be helpful. Its 3 feet wide and about 50 inches deep. And we'll be doing bread primarily so no fire while baking.

I'm beginning to wonder how to juggle all the space anyway!

Also, I'm wondering about the advantages of arches for openings. They are aesthetically much more appealing, but are there practical advantages?

I better start a new thread in the design forum for that question -

[Derkp]

Re: It is begun

A couple of things:

I was lucky to have read a previous post by Tscarborough about the offset opening. After I finally understood what that meant, thanks to T, my opening is offset 6 inches on the R side. The left side is flush with the left side of the vault, smooth all the way to the back wall. It does make a difference, we have 6 inches of fire on the right and 4 or so in the back. We have two pieces of 3 1/2 angle iron to keep the coals in check. With the offset you do not have that awkward step to the vault wall on both sides, wasted space. VERY GOOD IDEA !!! Tscarborough !!

Our vault is 24" X 36". We can put in about 2 12 in pizzas and a couple of 8" deep crust pans if we push it. We have not loaded it with loaves yet. I am not that good of a pan juggler to keep everything just right.

[Tscarborough]

Re: It is begun

Re: The lower ceiling. I do not think it matters a whole lot if the ceiling is 6 inches away or twelve, the heat is radiant.

[Tscarborough]

Re: It is begun

Not round loaves.

The sloped front is not needed. I do not like that part of the Alan Scott design.

[thamnophis]

Re: It is begun

Thanks both -

I grew concerned about the height of the oven after reading posts about how important a lower ceiling is (or can be). I'm also concerned that the thick refractory mortar joints might be a problem. I'm using 50 pound buckets of pre-mixed mortar and I know they recommend thin joints for the stuff.

I'm considering renting a better saw to mite the remaining vault bricks and the front arches.

I did not leave enough room for the tilted front end either. So I hope I don't have trouble getting it to draft OK.

Derk - this will be a bread oven so I went with the thicker slabs. I hope it helps. Thankfully, I have as much firewood as I care to cut around here, but most will be soft maple and mulberry.

What size is your oven and how many loaves can you bake at a time?

Tscar - you mentioned 6 per load. Does that fill your oven or could you squeeze in 9?

Thanks again -

[Derkp]

Re: It is begun

Sorry,
I hit reply too soon.

Our oven looses about 200 degrees a day. If we spread the coals out over the floor for the first day then e can retain the heat better.

We have cooked pizzas on sunday afternoon and tuesday I have put in a turkey with no coals for about 10 1/2 hours and it fell apart. The beginning temp was about 250.

I think that the most difficult thing is planning and using the heat to its potential. It is hard to see that oven slowly cooling down when it could be put to good use.

I think that with bread it would be a matter of temperature management and timing.

Derk

[Derkp]

Re: It is begun

I followed Tscarborough,s design. I had access to wedge shaped firebrick for the barrel and used them, no cutting. Tscarborough knows his stuff, both construction and materials. I like your idea of a larger vermiculite slab. My slab is 4" cement, 4" perlite, 4 1/2 inch firebrick floor. After the last raging fire the underside of my slab was hot to the touch. The 7 inches should be good. That much would have made the overall height too high for mine. We have not done much baking yet just a turkey, roast and some chickens. I have found that it takes a little bit more time to heat up to pizza temps and a little TLCto keep it . We did 28 pizzas this last time in about 1 1/2 ours.

[Tscarborough]

Re: It is begun

I just looked at yours, it looks great!

[Tscarborough]

Re: It is begun

I haven't done a great amount of bread, because my family doesn't eat that much bread, but what I have found is that it does not matter side to side, only front to back. The deep in the faster it cooks, so I put bigger loaves in back, smaller ones in front.

I am cooking 3 or 4 batches (of 6 loaves each) for the church week end after next, I will post about them then.

The only thing I would do different is offset the inner arch so that one side is flush with the wall, leaving more room on the other for coals and fire while baking pizzas.