Casa 2G users?

[sjdritz]

I am interested in the Casa 2G90. Can somebody tell me how long the heat up time is for pizza making and if it could constantly crank out pizza's. Does the floor lose heat after each pizza? What ever information you have would be great. Thanks,

Scott D.

[fishn4daze]

Re: Casa 2G users?

Hi Scott, last year I installed a casa 2G90 in my backyard. My critical point in the build up was to get the right height for the hearth. A nice working height without having to bend over. The thickness of the base was very important. My contractor reviewed the install directions, but just did not get the fact on how important the base thickness was. He just thought heat rises only.
I use a upside down fire start ( 2 big logs with a criscross of kindling on top), works every time. It takes 1 hr 15 to 1 hr 30 min to get the inside of the dome white. Thats around 900 degrees with the floor around 750. Critical to burn off the carbon black in the dome. No need for a thermometer. If I cook the next couple days, the start up is much quicker. My oven is still around 400-450 degrees 24 hours later. Good luck and do it!!!

Kurt

[sjdritz]

Re: Casa 2G users?

Kurt,
Are you saying that your contractor screwed up on the base and your oven does not heat up quick? I thought the floor would be able to get hotter than 750. How long to cook a pizza at the temperatures you listed?

Thanks,
Scott D.

[fishn4daze]

Re: Casa 2G users?

Scott, as you can see, the concrete thickness in at the minimum. It heats up fine. I just was hoping for a 1 or 2 in thicker in the base. &00 deg is the perfect temp on the floor for pizza. When I move the fire to the side, I wait a bit for the floor to cool a bit. A 10-12" pizza cooks in about 1.5 to 2 min.

Kurt

[sjdritz]

Re: Casa 2G users?

Kurt,

Did you want the extra thickness for height or does it have something to do with the heat retention? Thanks for the pics! That looks awesome! I will have to install mine on a custom metal stand with caster wheels. my yard is to small to have one built in as per the county codes. They have nothing against portables though.

Scott

[kmrice]

Re: Casa 2G users?

I have a Casa2G110, installed on the standard insulation which came with it, on a concrete slab. It is wrapped in the insulation blanket which comes with it. It is enclosed in a brick housing filled with vermiculite.

With that build, it takes about 1:30 to clear the dome and another 15 minutes or so after I move the fire to cool the deck down to 750 or so. I find 800 to be too hot. I try to cook with the deck between 700 and 775. 12" pizzas take 90 to 120 seconds. I can cook pretty steadily without the deck losing too much heat as long as I keep some flames going, which keep the deck hot. After 15 pizzas or so I often move the fire to the other side, but this is as much to burn away any spilled cheese, etc. as to move to a hotter part of the deck.

All this is highly dependent on your build. I would think you would want to have a concrete slab on your stand under the insulation, and I am sure you will want a lot of insulation over the oven to get good performance. The Casa2G has sufficient thermal mass, but you also need insulation if you want to crank out a lot of pizza. If you just use the blanket that comes with the Casa2G you would have a lot less insulation than I do, and might not have enough. If you will not have a housing you can fill with vermiculite or the such, consider getting an extra roll of insulating blanket from FB.

Karl

[sjdritz]

Re: Casa 2G users?

Karl,

Thanks for all the information. I will be building a housing out of steel studs and cement board, so I will be able to fill it with insulation. I keep getting information that it is okay to put the oven and insulation board right down on a metal plate. It does not sound right, but people seem to think it is okay. Maybe I need James to chime in and let me know if there are any adverse affects to the heat retention if I where to do it that way. Thanks again,

Scott D.

[fishn4daze]

Re: Casa 2G users?

Scott, sounds like Karl and I run our ovens the same. I did everything that Karl did. Filled the void with 6 bags of vermiculite over the top of the 3 layers of insulation blanket. I just think that it's important to get the floor of the oven well insulated too. Heat retention is huge..

Kurt

[fishn4daze]

Re: Casa 2G users?

Scott, here is another couple pics of the start of the build.

Kurt

[sjdritz]

Re: Casa 2G users?

Do you guys have any comments on the Premio line? I am curious what you think?

Thanks,
Scott D.

[fishn4daze]

Re: Casa 2G users?

I only studied casa2g ovens.

Kurt

[kmrice]

Re: Casa 2G users?

I'd probably go with the Premio if I were doing it again (the Premio came out after I bought my Casa2G). I bake a lot of bread, so having more thermal mass and insulation would be good. I hired a mason to build my oven, so the $500 increase in the price of the Premio over the Casa2G would have been a pretty small percentage increase in the whole project.

Bottom line - building an oven is a very big project (at least to me). Had the Premio been available, I'd probably have remembered what my grandfather always said, "when you swallow an elephant, don't choke on the tail," and gone for the Premio.

That said, I would still probably go with the Casa2g if I weren't planning to do a lot of bread. I suspect it takes longer to heat up, the laws of physics being what they are, and the Casa2G is certainly an outstanding oven for pizza. Well insulated with vermiculite, mine does a very good job with bread but I'd probably spend a little more for the Premio in hopes of being able to get a few more batches of bread out of a firing. Most of the time, though, the Casa2G exceeds my actual needs, even for bread. It is all I could possibly want for pizza, even in very large quantities.

Karl

[sjdritz]

Re: Casa 2G users?

Karl,
Thanks for the detailed answer. You said the Casa would take longer to heat up then the Premio? I thought an oven with more thermal mass would take longer to heat up and then stay hot longer. The Premio dome is thicker than the Casa. let me know if I am wrong. This stuff can get confusing.

Thanks again,

Scott D.

[kmrice]

Re: Casa 2G users?

Sorry if I was not clear; the Premio2G110, which is about 1" thicker, heavier and has more thermal mass than the Casa2G110, should take longer to heat up. FB says the Casa2g110 takes 50 minutes to heat up and the Premio 110 takes 60 minutes. My Casa2g110 takes nearly an hour and a half to get fully up to temperature, although I could probably cook pizza sooner than that. I generally cook bread after making pizza, so I want the oven to be fully heat loaded. I would expect the Premio to take somewhat longer.

Karl

[sjdritz]

Re: Casa 2G users?

Karl,
Thanks for clarifying. That's what I thought more thermal mass would do. I guess for pizza less mass is better for quick warm up time, but more mass is better for keeping the temperature hotter longer. Which would probably make It better to make more pizza's one after the other.
Scott D.