Welcome to the new Forno Bravo Forum

[Bosscrab]

Re: Welcome to the new Forno Bravo Forum

are there any mods for this site?

[smoravec310]

Re: Welcome to the new Forno Bravo Forum

Can someone help me? I built my oven with a 4" concrete base, 4" vermiculite base, but only used split bricks on the oven floor. Do I need to add another set of splits to be adequate or will this be enough? I checked the floor temperature at 900 degrees and the base underneath was 115. Do I need to add another layer? I really only cook pizza and an occasional loaf or two of bread.

[calbert]

Re: Welcome to the new Forno Bravo Forum

I just finished my fire bricks on my oven and I was wondering if I really need to insulate the oven or not. What are the dis advantages of not insulating it? Can I just coat the outside with fire clay/Portland/and sand mixture? I live in South Louisiana.

[Gulf]

Re: Welcome to the new Forno Bravo Forum

I just finished my fire bricks on my oven and I was wondering if I really need to insulate the oven or not. What are the dis advantages of not insulating it? Can I just coat the outside with fire clay/Portland/and sand mixture? I live in South Louisiana.

The disadvantages are waisted time, money and fuel . No matter where you live (I live in south Mississippi) insulation is the key to retained heat. If you are only interested in cooking pizzas and searing steaks, don't insulate. If you would like to fire that oven once on friday evening, and would like to cook through out the weekend and into monday, follow the FB mantra: Insulate, Insulate, Insulate.........
I cleared my dome friday evening and did a couple of pizzas. Saturday afternoon I practiced with sourdough bread. Sunday, a nice roast. And I don't even know how to drive this "thang" yet .

[Laurentius]

Re: Welcome to the new Forno Bravo Forum

If you've finished your fire bricks, it too darn late to ask! You needed to insulate under the hearth first. Start over or you've in for a wild ride.

[david s]

Re: Welcome to the new Forno Bravo Forum

I just finished my fire bricks on my oven and I was wondering if I really need to insulate the oven or not. What are the dis advantages of not insulating it? Can I just coat the outside with fire clay/Portland/and sand mixture? I live in South Louisiana.

Are you talking about your floor or your dome? Either way both the floor and the dome need to be insulated. How much is another question and is subject to the law of diminishing returns, expense and time. At least do some.

[calbert]

Re: Welcome to the new Forno Bravo Forum

Thanks, Gulf
I started this project and it is somewhat differant than what I have seen people build. Not as big as that nice one you have built but to explain what I did here it is. I poured a 12'x4' slab. All around the sides and back I layed concrete blocks for elevation of about 4'. On one side I fire bricked a fire box with a round top. It finished off around 42" wide x 36" deep. On top of this fire box I fire bricked the hearth to bring the sides back flush on top of this fire box. On top of that I laid another level of fire bricks on the flat at an angle for my floor of my brick oven. From there I laid my fire bricks on top for the oven last weekend. I have maybe 2 rows left to fish the top and it is Igloo style for lack of a better term. Hear is where it gets differant. The fire box is for the smoke for my smokehouse that I have bricked on the opposite side. In this fire box I have a 8" pipe that will feed the cold smoke to the smoke house. I have a damper that I will be able to close in this pipe to feed the heat and fir back up to the Pizza oven when I want to use it. In the floor of the pizza oven I have a rectangle opening that I will have a fire brick plug that I will insert to close the floor off when I am not using the oven. Any thoughts or concerns? I will probably coat the exterior with a 1/4" of fire clay/portland/sand and fire it up a few times to get the moisture out then insulate with ceramic fiber and coat with Stucco.

[calbert]

Re: Welcome to the new Forno Bravo Forum

For the highest density material they post specs for (8 lbs/cu. ft), the R factor (1/K) at 500F degress is 2.27. (For context, that's about the same R-factor as a double-pane window.) It reduces quickly as temps rise, at 1000F it is 1.15 .

So when we see this material being used, it is not providing a huge insulating value, but more of a subtle tweak of temperatures. So with this being said I would think my hearth is OK sinse I have double thick fire brick.

[ATK406]

Re: Welcome to the new Forno Bravo Forum

Do you have any pictures of your oven/smoke house? Based on your description it sounds quite unique.

[Laurentius]

Re: Welcome to the new Forno Bravo Forum

Hi Calbert,

Are you implying that the firebox will be used to heat the oven, above it, or will the oven be heated within itself? I'm a bit confused, (this happen to me often, its not your fault.)

[calbert]

Re: Welcome to the new Forno Bravo Forum

I will be able to heat it up below or above. Either way.

[calbert]

Re: Welcome to the new Forno Bravo Forum

I will take some this weekend and Post

[Gulf]

Re: Welcome to the new Forno Bravo Forum

I'm Sorry Calbert,
Maybe the pics will help. I love the smoking idea, but I hope that it is not taking away from the under the floor insulation. I can't for the life of me envision any design that deviates very much from the basic Forno Bravo plans that would not sacrifice heat retention.

[calbert]

Re: Welcome to the new Forno Bravo Forum

I just put some pics that I had on my phone. I am a little more done than this but here is what photos I have so far.

[RealtorEHS]

Re: Welcome to the new Forno Bravo Forum

Hello All! I am a Veteran Green Egg owner that cooks often indirectly on a Stone. I am looking forward to soaking all I can from the Group in order to figure out how I will integrate a Wood Burning Oven into my outdoor kitchen scheme.