Barrel Vault in So. Cal.

[WJW]

Re: Barrel Vault in So. Cal.

Latest Progress...working on the chimney base, transition.

[Gary Mots]

Re: Barrel Vault in So. Cal.

Looking good Bill

[WJW]

Re: Barrel Vault in So. Cal.

Thanks Gary.

I don't know if I'd go so far as to say it looks good, but I'm pretty sure it'll cook a pizza or two and I'm hopeful it's not going to fall over.

Bill

[WJW]

First Fire!!

Well...it was definitely bigger than it should have been... but since the vault roof was completed months ago, and since we've had nothing but nice hot weather over the past few months....and since there is no cladding around the oven to hold moisture....I'm hopeful the too big fire is no big deal. When the oven was hot there was one crack that appeared in the vault roof/arch that followed along a couple of joints near the back wall.

Getting ready to light her up. Probably should have passed on the margarita....for sure I should have passed on the second one ;-)






The crack.


The chimney worked like a champ. No smoke at all on the front.


The oven got hot enough for the roof to actually start clearing of soot in a couple of small areas. I cooled things down when that happened by moving the fire forward and spreading it out. Other than the one crack, everything seemed fine. No steam, no scary popping noises, etc.

I think (hope) a few cracks are unavoidable and the one I ended up with won't be a big deal.?? Anyone thinkl I should put a bit of cladding and chicken wire on that roof arch or do you think I'm ok?

Bill

[Tscarborough]

Re: Barrel Vault in So. Cal.

The cracks are not an issue, but you could use more buttressing on the front arch.

[couchpotatoe]

Re: Barrel Vault in So. Cal.

Hey, looking good. I can almost taste the pizzas. When is the party?
-Russ

[WJW]

Re: Barrel Vault in So. Cal.

I agree and have been planning on dealing with that asap...especially on the left side when facing the oven.

I was careless about the heat last night. I was probablly a bit over confident in the first place because of the lack of cladding or vermicrete anywhere on the build, the recent weather, and length of time the dome has been done. I figured that sinc ethe only moisture would be in joints, and since antything that was going to get hot had been done for at least three weeks...and the structural stuff had been done for over a month or longer.

But when I looked in and saw the roof starting to clear of soot I got pretty worried. I put the IR thermometer on it and the roof was between 700 and 875 degrees F over the area of the fire. (the areas above 835 were clear of soot.) The sidewalls were around 350. The interior arch (where the smoke marks are) was about 400. The front arch was only 125 degrees.

I spread the fire out and let it burn itself out over the course of a couple of hours. With no insulation on the roof and no door it was still right at two hundred degrees in there sixteen hours later.

It's a good thing that oven was already pretty dry or I might have had some real problems aside from that one crack.

[WJW]

Re: Barrel Vault in So. Cal.

Well Russ...I'm going to do moderate sized curing fires every night between now and Saturday and maybe cook the first pizzas then. We'll see.

[WJW]

Updated pics...

OK...haven't posted in a couple of months here as I've been cooking like crazy. Probablly had nearly two dozen full sized, pizza cooking fires. I will finally get around to putting stucco on the outside of the oven and stand this weekend. I have two inches of ceramic blanket insulation on top but will add approximately two more inches of loose vermiculite between the blanket and chicken wire which will go under the stucco.

Here are some pics as the oven looks now. (The red pavers are all just temporary and not motared in place. We were have a party and I wanted to cover up all the insulation/concrete slab. I plan on covering everything but the front firebrick arch with stucco, and will use some type of nice tile for the counter top.)



The photo below shows the only significant crack so far as I can tell. This showed up after the third big fire. (About two months ago.) I have had bunch of fires since then and the has been no change. Because the crack goes right through three bricks (rather than simply joints) I think this was caused by expansion of the floor against the back wall. When I laid that floor out it was tighter than ideal but I figured it wouldn't matter much. Whoops. I was going to make some attempt to patch it or fill it but I've decided not to worry about it. The entire oven is encased in concrete block reinforced with rebar on all sides so there is nowhere for anything to go. As such, I can't see how this crack will be a problem. But if anyone has any other thoughts I'd love to hear them.




Here are a couple of shots of my homade door I use for baking bread, and retained heat cooking on days two, three, and (jerky-making, tomato-drying on day four). Construction is 3/4 plywood on the outside, concrete hardi-board on the inside with shop towels stapled in place. Sandwiched in the middle is one inch-thick Insblock 19. It's not pretty but works great. I wet the shop towels down before putting it in place. That saves the towels from charing too bad and adds steam for bread baking. It really makes a great seal. I've been using it for two months now and once the shop towels got sufficiently charred (after about a month) I ripped them off and stapled new ones in place.





As you can see, I get a little smoke out the front when first starting the fire, but once the flue gets hot it draws great. The oven works great. Looking forward to finishing the outside this weekend and making it look a little prettier.

[WJW]

Couple more pics

Here's the oven in action fire roasting a bunch of garlic cloves to put on pizza. You can also see where I cut the bottom half of the entry slightly wider with my angle grinder. I had a very large round (22 inch diameter) roasting pan which would be perfect for braising a huge amunt of lamb, osso bucco, whatever. So I made it fit. The door still seals perfectly.





Two pizzas...On the left, carmalized onion with goat cheese. On the right, spicy italian sausage and mozzerella.


A bunch of sour dough



Getting ready for some day 3 cooking. At about 48-50 hours after the fire goes out (and after baking bread on day two) the oven temp is right around 300 degrees. Perfect for carmelizing garlic cloves and onions for the next pizza bake. After they're done I freeze them in several ziplock quart freezer bags and I'm good to go next time.

[WJW]

Re: Barrel Vault in So. Cal.

Finally...


Calzones on day 2.5, after baking two batches of bread.

[couchpotatoe]

Re: Barrel Vault in So. Cal.

Wow, you've been cooking up a storm! The results look great - and I'm sure it all tastes great as well. My own motivation for building an oven is to bake bread, and occasionally pizza. But as the daily temps here in Mesa, AZ have risen above what I can comfortably handle, I've "put a tarp over it" until fall. I've got the oven itself finished and the vent arch, but still have to build the front part of the chimney arch and the decorative arch. I like your 45 degree angle in the vent area - should make it easy to access all of the oven. I'm doing something similar. Looking forward to seeing how you enclose your oven. Are you going to do your own stuccoing or hire it out? If you do your own, there are some really good You Tube videos showing technique. If you go for a lace pattern, be sure to get really fine sand - 60 grit or so.
-Russ

[WJW]

Re: Barrel Vault in So. Cal.

I'm going to hire out the stucco. A buddy of minehas a construction company and I can pay one of his guys twenty bucks an hour plus materials. I was interested in learning how to do the masonry so I did it myself....the stucco, not so much.

Bill

[Tscarborough]

Re: Barrel Vault in So. Cal.

Stucco is basically throwing mud against the wall. Nothing to it.

[WJW]

Re: Barrel Vault in So. Cal.

Yeah...I've watched guys do it, and I'm sure I could pull it off...it's just that I'm tired of having an unfinished oven, and the white seabass are bitting just offshore, and I'm going fishing Sunday. So someone else is doing the stucco.

Bill