Oven Curing

[miles_hot]

Re: Oven Curing

I have seen on this thread (read it all!!) some reference to using a gas burner to heat the oven however there were also a couple of comments that such use of gas is dangerous / should not be discussed on the board.
Can anyone throw any light on this as obviously doing something dangerous isn't always a great idea
Thanks
Miles

[V-wiz]

Re: Oven Curing

I think as long as there is air flow so the gas vents out it should be okay.

[V-wiz]

Re: Oven Curing

I officially started the curing. I had the propane weed burner in there for about 2 hours, had it on its lowest setting. Stacked a few fire bricks to diffuse the flame/heat. The hottest the top of the dome got was just shy of 200F. The chimney also seems to be drawing pretty well. Hope i can continue some more tomorrow. Do you guys recommend a constant steady heat? For example keep the heat at 300F for a few hours?

[K79]

Re: Oven Curing

Hey guys I'm at post 130 in this thread and was reading about using charcoal briquettes because it's less direct heat on the dome. Could I burn a nice fire in my firepit and transfer these coals into the oven and essentially never start a fire in the oven for the curing process.... for the first few hundred degrees anyways. Also what about a few canned heat containers?

[cobblerdave]

Re: Oven Curing

Gudday
The bricketts work well because it is hard to maintain and feed a small fire over a period of time. Not used canned heat so I will not comment.
Regards dave

[UtahBeehiver]

Re: Oven Curing

I used heat beads (AU) aka bricketts (USA) for several of my cures, just started in a brickett chimney and then poured on floor. Started out with halogen lights, ovenhight a few days (abt 175 degrees) tried canned heat, expensive and only reached about 200 degrees (so not worth the effort IMHO), went to bricketts for 3-4 cures hit the mid 300s, then to wood 3-4 times gradually getting larger fires.

[V-wiz]

Re: Oven Curing

You will soon find out that charcoal doesnt provide enough heat unless you like wasting money. Just burn old 2x4 lumber as i did. I only used charcoal up to 250f

[I love fire]

Re: Oven Curing

Hello all,

I'm new to the forum, I just received my forno bravo Strada series yesterday, July 26th. I was reading the directions about curing and it said that i would need to wait five days before starting the fires. I ordered the oven on July 10 and it didn't ship until the 21st (delay in shipping). Like I said it came yesterday and my question is, do I really need to wait five days before curing with fire? I live in Kentucky and it shipped from California, so while it was in transit for five days, does that count for anything? Does it have anything to do with the specific climate the oven will be in? Thanks so much for any help!

[dimitrisbizakis]

Re: Oven Curing

Hi guys I am on my 15nth fire and my oven is about 50c on the outside and the temp is 38 c (Greek summer), is this ok?
I have 2 layers of ceramic blanket to the sides and 3 on the top.
From total cool oven i start a fire, after an hour and half the soot is gone bad if I remove the coals and mop the floor I can barely bake 4 breads and the temp drops to 180 and lower.

I fired the oven three days in a row and I can say I hold better heat but this time I did try to remove the coals.
I just don't burn the oven enough or it's a moister factor?
I hear some guys here baking 3-4 batches of bread with one fire and it makes my wonder what did I do wrong.

[thickstrings]

Re: Oven Curing

If its going in the right direction then, it may be moisture...Is there insulation on the bottom? Have you spread your coals out and shut the door?This is called "soaking " you oven.... Do you have a door?

[Laurentius]

Re: Oven Curing

Hi guys I am on my 15nth fire and my oven is about 50c on the outside and the temp is 38 c (Greek summer), is this ok?
I have 2 layers of ceramic blanket to the sides and 3 on the top.
From total cool oven i start a fire, after an hour and half the soot is gone bad if I remove the coals and mop the floor I can barely bake 4 breads and the temp drops to 180 and lower.

I fired the oven three days in a row and I can say I hold better heat but this time I did try to remove the coals.
I just don't burn the oven enough or it's a moister factor?
I hear some guys here baking 3-4 batches of bread with one fire and it makes my wonder what did I do wrong.

Hi Di,

Is there insulation under the floor of your oven? Does the walls of your oven sit on the insulation or on the slab itself? How is it finished? Stucco, waterproofed paint, enclosed? The outside shouldn't be higher than ambient temperature, unless its painted a dark heat absorbing color. After 15 firing there shouldn't be a moisture problem, unless its sitting in the rain all the time. I would guess that its an insulation problem. If your floor area is insulated, I think that the insulation material is wet and it will take a long time to dry. So, keep her Hot, and see what happen. If you don't have insulation under your floor, then you have a heat sink.

[dimitrisbizakis]

Re: Oven Curing

Hi Di,

Is there insulation under the floor of your oven? Does the walls of your oven sit on the insulation or on the slab itself? How is it finished? Stucco, waterproofed paint, enclosed? The outside shouldn't be higher than ambient temperature, unless its painted a dark heat absorbing color. After 15 firing there shouldn't be a moisture problem, unless its sitting in the rain all the time. I would guess that its an insulation problem. If your floor area is insulated, I think that the insulation material is wet and it will take a long time to dry. So, keep her Hot, and see what happen. If you don't have insulation under your floor, then you have a heat sink.

I got about 25 cm of percrete under the hearth and the dome insulation, that is tree layers of 2,5 cm ceramic blanket, is finishing on the percrete.
I got lime stucco render and plastic paint on top, the oven is well protected from rain.It is outdoors off course.

[dimitrisbizakis]

Re: Oven Curing

If its going in the right direction then, it may be moisture...Is there insulation on the bottom? Have you spread your coals out and shut the door?This is called "soaking " you oven.... Do you have a door?

Is closing the door with live coals in the oven a good idea?
The lack of air wouldn't put out the coals?
I have got a three CB layer sandwich door.
How long should i Soak the oven after the fire is out?
I mean that the soot is gone after an hour and a half but I think the dome needs more soaking.

What is the right temp dropping times when you bake with the coals removed?
And something else, I got a door gauge, an internal oven gauge that sits on the hearth in the center of the dome and a ir thermometer.
The door says 220 because most of probe is in the door and its in the coolest place of the oven, the center say 270, the ir at same time shows the bottom at 320 and the top 430 approximately(celcius). What is the right reading?

[david s]

Re: Oven Curing

25 cm of perlite under the floor is a huge amount. So you have a huge amount of water to eliminate. For every 100 L of perlite you have added around 30L water, that is a lot of water.My bet is that because it is so thick that it is nowhere near dry yet. The remedy is to keep firing the oven and it will eventually dry. You should start noticing an improvement in retained heat the more you use it. A new ( wet) oven will show quite large temperature differences as you have reported. Keep firing.

[dimitrisbizakis]

Re: Oven Curing

25 cm of perlite under the floor is a huge amount. So you have a huge amount of water to eliminate. For every 100 L of perlite you have added around 30L water, that is a lot of water.My bet is that because it is so thick that it is nowhere near dry yet. The remedy is to keep firing the oven and it will eventually dry. You should start noticing an improvement in retained heat the more you use it. A new ( wet) oven will show quite large temperature differences as you have reported. Keep firing.

I got mixed the perlite with very little water, but the first 15 cm are from an last year casting when i used the same base for an Cob Oven, the second 15 cm layer was poured at 3/2013.
I sure have moisture in there...
Today i'll remove on brick from the floor to see whats going on!