Colonial Beehive Oven

[cobblerdave]

Re: Colonial Beehive Oven

Gudday
I agree with Chris a damp oven the heat moves through fast. Even with insulation the outer dome will heat up . Fire it again and again. It take a good 10 firings to really dry things out . Trust me, when it's dry you will notice
Regards Dave

[hodgey1]

Re: Colonial Beehive Oven

Saro

As stated previously I would try drying the oven out which may help. I'm no expert and hopefully someone more knowledgable will weight in but looking at the pictures and your description of the oven tell me that you more than likely have two issues that will be a challenge that you've already touched on. 1: it appears your thermal mass is going to be quit large requiring much longer preheat times and 2:The lack of both dome and under floor insulation causing the quicker dissipation of stored heat.

Try the dry out and after that try firing the oven longer 3-4 hrs and see what your results are. Worst case is you'll have a oven that will bake a load of bread and is one dam good looking asset to your home. If your really interested in pizza and your WFO won't get the floor and dome to Neoploitan temps, Ive had great success with NY style pizza at 550* which I think you'll achieve plus the addition of a live fire you'll turn out some great pizza, I promise you.

[stonecutter]

Re: Colonial Beehive Oven

Chris

I did fire it last weekend. I got the dome and the base at around 850 F over a 2.5 firing. By the time I cleared the floor to bake some bread (ciabatta and semolina loaves, pictures attached) the oven temperature had dropped to 500 at the dome and 450 at he floor. The bread baked for 35-40 minutes and by the time I was done oven temperature was at 350-400F at the dome and 300 F at the base. By the time the bread was out of the oven, the outer temperature of the dome started to creep up reaching an average of 140F, that is very warm/hot to the touch. Of course there is no much you can do after one load of bread baking. Not even good to slow roast vegetable with residual heat. That is what I mean for more efficient.So I have concluded that the lack of insulation to the dome must be causing this including the cracks I see to the outer shell. Of course I do not know what is at the base of the oven (that is the large square stone box on which the dome rests). I am not sure if the support base is all filled with stone (huge thermal mass?) or empty.

I think your oven is built true to early colonial ovens, and like I said, I don't think your oven is holding much moisture...at least not enough to effect the expected performance of an oven like this. Don't forget, insulation is not only a more modern improvement, but it wasn't necessary back then, because these ovens were used daily, and would rarely be allowed to reach ambient temperature.

If it were holding a lot of moisture though, you would see dampness around the cracks of your cladding. Did you see that? Also, I would think your stand is filled with rubble and portland, again, not ideal but true to form.

You have a true treasure...something people like me value and would love to have in their home. And by the numbers you posted, while not ideal, this oven is certainly usable.

[stonecutter]

Re: Colonial Beehive Oven

One thing is bothering me though. It looks like Lime mortar was used on the joint work outside, but the fireplace looks like it was pointed with a portland based mortar.

[Saro]

Re: Colonial Beehive Oven

Hello Guys. Thank you all for your help and suggestions. very much appreciated.

Stonecutter:

1) You are correct I have not noticed dampness or moisture at the outer cracks.

2) You have a great attention for details. It is true that the stone work on the house is pointed in white. It is very difficult to understand what was on those stone walls originally. In some sections one can still see remains of a whitewashing on the stone walls. The previous owner had the house cleaned of a lime/cement coating circa 30 years ago and repointed with white lime/cement. It is NOT pure lime and sand. It does have some cement binder into it.

3) The fireplace pointing is uncolored fire-resistant cement. A guess a functional choice of the architect who redid the fireplace pointing and beehive oven. Consider that with the exception of the beehive oven the previous owner loved to use all seven fireplaces in the house. And another fireplace is also of the same size of the one I showed with evidence of another beehive oven similar to the one showed.

Anyway I will keep using the oven until needs to be redone, which I am sure it will happen at one point in time. At that time I can consider a better insulation on the unit while maintaining the overall shape and appearance.

By the way I did some additional measurements yesterday and from my estimates the igloo sides are 6" thick and the dome highest point is about 8 inches thick. This considering the difference between inside/outside diameter/height. Obviously they must have put a lot of cladding even in the absence of insulation to reach this thickness. It is bizarre because the oven stay cold to the touch for up to 2.5 hours during the firing and even after has cleared the dome. Then all of a sudden it starts to become warmer and warmer until reaches approximatively 140 to 150 F, on different spots. The dome peak stays the coolest of all.


Thanks again for your nice comments and appreciation of the old house.