steel liner question

[Gulf]

......... the oven is not just for making pizza...

Dat's what I'm talkin' about

[rjnanney52@gmail.com]

Cam I use a three quarter inch plate steel in the bottom of a wood fired pizza oven that is made of brick

[rjnanney52@gmail.com]

Can I use a three quarter inch plate steel for the bottom of the wood fired pizza oven

[david s]

Can I use a three quarter inch plate steel for the bottom of the wood fired pizza oven

Do you mean a steel plate as the cooking floor and brick for the dome? If so then the two materials are somewhat incompatible because of their different thermal conductivity. Steel is an order of magnitude higher than brick which means faster to heat, but also faster to cool. This leads to a big fluctuation of floor temperature and difficulty maintaining an even and workable floor temperatuerf with the equivalent rate of difference in thermal expansion.

The amount of heat that can be stored in the steel or firebrick floor is related to its density, so as the steel is around four times the density of firebrick, a 3/4" steel floor would hold the equivalent amount of heat to 3" firebrick floor. Most ovens have floors between 2-4", so you're in the ball park. Another consideration would be the degree to which the steel might warp. Generally the thinner the steel the greater the tendency to warp. I've seen many warped BBQ plates (but none as thick as 3/4" so have no idea how you'd fare.

Meanwhile the firebrick or refractory dome with a much lower thermal conductivity retains a much more even temperature. The other problem is that steel is not porous like firebrick and this leads to moisture being trapped between the base and the steel which leads to a soggy base. This same problem occurs when people cook pizzas on trays rather than directly on the firebrick floor. They usually end up removing the pizza from the tray and replacing it on the firebrick in an effort to crisp up the base.most cooks quickly learn to abandon this double handling which also pulls more heat out of the firebrick floor to heat the metal trays.

[rjnanney52@gmail.com]

What type of mortar do you use in a pizza dome with the high temperatures?

[Sixto]

Do a search on the forum for "Homebrew recipe" I used 3 parts sand, to 1 part cement, 1 part hydrated lime and 1 part powdered fire clay.

[UtahBeehiver]

If you have not already done so I suggest you download the free Eplans from Forno Bravo study and review. They are a little dated but give a good baseline and answer most questions.