Using lump charcoal or charcoal briquettes

[Ck_b2001]

Is it okay to use oakwood lump charcoal or the BBQ briquettes in your wood fired oven? I have a primavera 60 that I have recently cured using banjo burner. I have avoided heating up the oven to more than 450 F using the propane burner for safety reasons and want to take it further using wood fire. I am having some trouble finding dry seasoned wood. I bought some red oak but could not light it up no matter what i do. I have non toxic fire starters, kindling but i guess my wood is not so dry. I was thinking of using lump charcoal mainly. I remember reading somehwere that you should not use the briquettes.

Any suggestions will be appreciated.

Thanks,
Asif

[Neil2]

Re: Using lump charcoal or charcoal briquettes

"Is it okay to use oakwood lump charcoal or the BBQ briquettes in your wood fired oven? "

Yes, but you will find that this is a fairly expensive source of fuel compared to ordinary firewood.

[SCChris]

Re: Using lump charcoal or charcoal briquettes

Asif, if the oak won't light due to moisture, try drying it out using the heat in your oven from the prior burn. I try to always stack a load of wood in the oven to dry if I'm done cooking.


Chris

[kmrice]

Re: Using lump charcoal or charcoal briquettes

But, if you can get it up to temp once with charcoal, after the pizza or whatever, when it cools down to 400 or a little less, you can load it up with your red oak and crack the door just a bit. A day in the oven like that should dry out the red oak. You can then use the dried, or coked wood the next time, rather than charcoal. Repeat after each firing.

This works very well in my Casa110, which can be loaded with more wood than I need for one firing; not sure if the Primavera 60 would hold enough wood, and have enough thermal mass and insulation, to dry the wood out, but you might give it a try.

Karl

[HeidiL2011]

Re: Using lump charcoal or charcoal briquettes

Asif,

Our ovens are made to only to be used with dry seasoned wood. Using charcoal or the BBQ briquettes would void your warranty.

We do not recommend gas fired ovens for homeowners for three reasons. First, there are some serious safety issues. Pizza ovens are small and enclosed, and even a small leak can leave enough gas in an oven to be unsafe and capable of exploding. Our commercial gas-fired ovens have very sophisticated burners, controls and shut-offs that minimize risk, but they cost $4,000 by themselves. The scope of the safety problem is very large, with the possibility of a life-threatening explosion.



Second, commercial gas-fired ovens are operated in a commercial setting by professionals. We have concerns about a potentially dangerous gas-fired oven being operated by friends, neighbors or even children. Even if a problem were to never occur, the stress of worrying about oven safety would detract from the enjoyment of owning a pizza oven.



Third, a gas fire has much less potential energy than a wood fire, so gas-fired ovens take a long time to heat up from scratch. Gas does a good job of holding a commercial oven at cooking temperature because those ovens never fully cool down. Still, it can take hours for a gas burner to heat up an oven from a cold start -- which is what homeowners do with their ovens. The Forno Bravo wood-fired ovens heat up in 20 to 45 minutes, which is why they are so popular.



Please let me know if we can answer any other questions.


Thanks,
Heidi

[Ck_b2001]

Re: Using lump charcoal or charcoal briquettes

Heidi,

Thank you for the detailed response. The propane burner started with 2-300 F heat but once the oven dried, the same flame was taking the temperature to 400 +, thats when i stopped it. I was not so sure about using propane burner for anything more than curing heat (<300) but a little search last night and your current post makes it clear that it is not worth the risk

I did put some oak to dry in the residual heat and will see how it works.


Thanks

[stonylake]

Re: Using lump charcoal or charcoal briquettes

Good Morning Ck, i built a 36" and have a stucco finish. I use the oven about every other week, but there are occasions when it will sit for a month or so. i keep an old cast pizza pan that i put charcoal in and burn it in the oven just to help it stay dry.. probably about twice a month.. i have not cooked with charcoal.. i've got about 2 full cords of hardwood, a lot of it is oak and 1/3 of it is cherry.. i like the oak to get the oven up to temperature, but i like the smell (and taste) of the cherry much better when cooking..