Tray to keep fires wood

[Mangaloredude]

hello all,

Recently we built an outdoor wood fired pizza oven. It is a small one. To keep the oven clean and easy to clean, I want to to keep the fires wood in a tray that I can remove and dispose the burnt wood. I looked up online for such a tray but I did not find any. Any suggestion for that is much appreciated.

thanx

[Gulf]

Hi Mangaloredude,

Welcome to the forum. I like your forum name. It reminds me of a great friend and mentor. I think that you need to experiment with your new oven a little more. This forum has plenty of resources on firing the oven, clearing the dome, etc. If you read and practice this you will find that the high temperatures that your oven reaches make it self cleaning. The oven walls will be spotless of soot. The small amount of ash that is left is very easy to remove from the floor.

[UtahBeehiver]

With cooking pizza, you need a live fire sometimes to help with cooking. I accomplish this by pushing the coals over to the side and place a stick or two of wood on top. Also, food spills happen on the cooking surface and the "best" way to remove is to spread the coals over the oven surface and they burn right off. You also will need to recharge the oven floor on large number of pizzas and again you spread the coals out to recharge the floor.

[Gulf]

This method is not for bringing an oven up to pizza cooking temps. However, It does work for adding a little more temp to an oven on the decline. I use hardwood lump charcoal (not charcoal briquettes) both the commercially made and that which I have recovered from my oven left over from partial burns. Lump charcoal burns with very little ash since it has already been reduced by heat to almost pure carbon. I use a more compact charcoal starter chimney which slides right under my oven opening for easy placement and removal. The one I use is commercially made but, they can be easily made from a large bean can. I place a 12" dollar store pizza pan under the chimney. The pan is not so much used for catching the very small amount of ash as it is to help slide the starter chimney in and out. Placing the insulated door just a little backed off from the lip provides just enough oxygen for the lump to burn slowly and also helps conserve the heat. I am sure that it would also work as a method for the milder temps needed for drying a new or wet oven.

Note: Most charcoal starter chimneys are either galvanized or aluminized. You don't won't either of those gassing off inside your oven. However, those coatings are easily removed by high heat. Just burn the starter chimney a full firing outside before using inside the oven. It will get cherry red and neither of the mentioned coatings will survive those temps.