Can a fireplace and pizza oven be friends?

[annieaa]

We are in the design stages of our outdoor fireplace and pizza oven. We had gone back and forth and really like the *idea* of a wood burning fireplace on the bottom with a pizza oven on the top. According to the hubbers, we're required to have a flue for the fireplace which would go directly THROUGH the anticipated pizza oven above. How is this managed? I know the flue for the pizza oven has to be in the front - but where do we put the flue for the fireplace?

[JRPizza]

Have you done a forum search for this yet? Lots have wanted to go down this path, and I believe a few have succeeded but there have been some notable failures too. See what you can find just doing a search for "fireplace" I believe most that want both end up going with a side-by-side.

[Gulf]

Social distancing rules should be applied in the design lol

[annieaa]

Thank you for the quick responses - I actually have convinced the hubby to make a separate, freestanding, smoker/pizza oven out from underneath our entertainment pavilion. that will be my next search to find the BEST design/execution of said freestanding cooking center. SUPER excited....

[Chach]

I think separating the 2 is better anyway not only does it simplify your flue design but also lets you use both features at the same time. Standing in front of a operative fireplace while making pizza sounds very hot.

Ricky

[Gulf]

....I actually have convinced the hubby to make a separate, freestanding, smoker/pizza oven....

I would advise against that also. A pizza oven/wood fired oven is a simple time proven design. When built properly they perform extremely well . A well designed smoker/bbq will also perform extremely well. Don't complicate things with iffy add ons to mull the two together that some may say will work. We get very little continuous feed back from those who have tried this.

just sayin'

[Gulf]

Let me revise my statement about smoker/ovens. There are some builders who have done some things with special doors to accomodate some oven smoking. That is ok imo. I don't know how well that works. It may work fine. I just don't agree with altering the basic oven design. I was in the same mindset as you when I built my oven. I even included a damper in my build. Though, I have done several smokes in my oven using the retained heat, I have not achieved anything as good as what I can do in a stand alone smoker. Now, there are several low and slow smoked dishes for which I do use the oven's retained heat. What I found was that many people did in low and slow smoking is to smoke for the first 2 to 3 hours and then revert to just maintaining the heat. Most meats will only accept smoke flavor for about that time. By then the smoke ring has formed and it will not accept any more good smoke flavor. However, it can take on some bad smoke flavor if the smoke is green and it does not circulate properly. If that happens, creosotes can settle on the meat. Creosote doesn't taiste good nor is it good for human consumption. The point that I am trying to make is that a wood fired oven performs fine for what it is designed. A smoker will also. But, the circulation has to be right for a smoker to perform correctly. i just don't think that the two can be used for the same purpose.

What I do on low and slow cooks is to have my oven's temp pre-timed at around 250F. If I miss it on the decline I have a lump charcoaI device that I use to bring it back up to temp. I like using my smoker/grill for the first couple or three hours. I then place the brisket, ribs. etc. in the oven for the remainder of the cook time which can be for many more hours. I get some great results that way.