Record of my 32" Homebrew cast oven, on a brick base - West Midlands, UK

[Mullster]

Nick J C did you say you have fitted a breather valve (or equivalent) as we are talking about on some of the other threads?

[Nick J C]

Mullster Not yet..... will be fitting before render, but still undecided

[Nick J C]

Put the flue extension on, now got some cherry hardwood, and oven is not smoking....... Beginning to clear inside.....nearly there

[Nick J C]

Oven costings for those in UK interested in how big a hole you will burn in your pocket - still have enough materials for render, and still have a reasonable amount of materials left (almost a full bulk bag of sharp sand of which I used about a third for the sand castle, and got it back!). Obviously the brick base is dependent on your chosen design, but you are likely to need similar.

Oven:

• Stainless flue 6" 1m + 0.5m = £58 (ebay)
• Fireclay 25kg bag £30 (inc delivery) valentines clays
• Firebricks x 30 £75 Vitcas
• ceramic blanket 7.3m x 1" £65 Vitcas
• ceramic board 1x1x1.2m £60 Vitcas
• delivery from Vitcas (pallet) £40
• Cement 25kg x 2 £10 Selco
• hydrated lime 25kg x 1 £12 Selco
• Sharp sand (from bulk bag costed in base)
• Stainless needles 3kg £50 Rockbond (inc delivery)
• Polypropylene fibres 900g £11 ebay
• vermiculite 100l £24 ebay
• perlite 100l £24 ebay
• blue quartz glass (arch) £4 ebay

Total Cost Dome £470 sterling or $580 USD

Brick Base (concrete foundation, brick wall and reinforced slab with thermolyte topping):

• Cement 25kg x 10 £40 Selco
• OSB board for formwork £20 Selco
• builders sand (mortar) 6 bags £15 Selco
• Ballast (for concrete) 1xbulk bag £50 Selco
• Sharp sand (for sandcastle/dome casting) £50 Selco - used less than 1/2 and got most back after sand castle
• blue bricks £100
• thermolyte blocks x 10 £12 Selco
• rebar mesh 3.6x2m - £20 Selco

Total Cost for both Dome and Base: £790 or $985 USD

[TonyPizza]

Nick J C thats for the info. Did you use Sharp sand as part of your home-brew mix, or regular builder's sand?.

[Nick J C]

I did.... Figured that it has more strength than builders sand, and of course you would never use builders sand in concrete which needs strength.....was easy to work and hasn't cracked

[mesoiam]

Great Build Nick, and great to see you've got it fired up. I'm currently playing the waiting game myself. I like your temporary roof, may have to build something like that for mine. I have borrowed a friends gazebo, but he might not be impressed if I cut a chimney hole in it.

[Nick J C]

I think he would prefer a hole in his gazebo to the temperatures I put the wood roof through before cutting a hole...... It was rather charred

[Nick J C]

Final curing fire....dome cleared....started with some cheese on toast, as no pizza dough ready, moved on to marshmallow, then cooked the evening meal with the residual heat from the morning fire.......all good

[UtahBeehiver]

Congrats on a nicely executed cast oven. You did your homework and research up front and it shows in the final build. Enjoy the oven, as you can see, it can be used for much more than pizza. If you want to see a broad variety of dishes from a WFO, look at Karangi Dude's thread "What's Karangi Dude Cooking"

[Nick J C]

Some great inspiration for future meals, thanks

[Hattori-Hanzo]

Thats a great thread, thanks for sharing Utah.

[Nick J C]

Graduated to pizza, started small with a micro pizza...... Dough proved nicely on warm gallery, then fired up. Steep learning curve on getting them into oven....plenty of flour on paddle. Tip of using squirty bottle to add pureed tomato sauce sparingly worked well..... Compliments from all who tasted

[Mullster]

Good work Nick J C .

i picked up a tomato sauce recipe a while back that is awesome - can of tomatoes blended with salt, olive oil, oregano, fresh basil and garlic granules/powder. Has taken our pizzas to another level!

[Nick J C]

Ill give it a go.....just using up some posh Italian stuff I got for the themed birthday