Homebrew NE England. Help needed please.

[TonyPizza]

Hi, can anyone point me in the direction of the firing process please? I can’t find it!
thanks in advance.

[TonyPizza]

Things have progressed and I am now at the firing stage.
Can anyone advise a little guidance on fires please:
I have read the 'seven fires seven days' thread and I lit the first paper fire last night.
I understand that I now increase by 100f each day for a week... all straightforward, but I am unsure for how long to let the fire burn at the required temp or do I literally let it get to that daily temperature, then put it out straightaway? I am confused as to how a fire can do any good if it's only been burning for a minute or so.
Also, whereabouts should I aim my laser thermometer? At the dome top / middle of the fire itself / do I take an average around the dome?
Finally, I have seen various suggestions to use charcoal briquettes, but in my experience, they take a while to get up to temperature, so how does this work if the fire is only lit for a couple of minutes?
Thanks in advance, but maybe I am overthinking it a little?

[TonyPizza]

OK then... I have been through the curing stage (I hope I have got it right anyway!) and ended up cooking a couple of pizzas in her at the weekend.
I have a couple of questions that, once again, I would be very grateful to receive answers to, so any help appreciated:

Firstly, I had the oven running for approx 2 hours, but I am not entirely satisfied with my choice of wood (I'm not that convinced it was as dry as it could be, but I will work on that for next time). My question, is will the oven gradually get hotter and more efficient as time goes on? The reason I am asking is that it averaged between 320 - 450 Celsius when I used a laser thermometer across various surfaces. When I cooked my first pizza, it took roughly three minutes, which is longer than I was expecting. Should I have made the fire for longer and waited for more of the surfaces to reach 500 degrees, or will this happen over time as the oven 'settles in'?

Please note that there is still some sooting on parts of the dome. Is this an indication that it hasn't yet been hot enough and that I need to generate more heat?

I am also not entirely convinced about my technique with regard to the fire itself, wo any help in this direction will be very useful.

Finally, there seems to be just one very small hairline crack, right at the back. It is about 0.25 - 0.50 mm wide (yes - proper hairline) and about 100mm long. Should I worry? I can't even imagine filling it, given it's so narrow, so I am hoping the someone tells me that it's no problem.

Finally,

Nick J C david s Mullster and all the others who have provided help and guidance, you have really been instrumental in helping me to make this thing. Without this forum and the incredible effort people take in replying and assisting, who knows what I might have ended up with! Thank you!

Tony.

[Nick J C]

Hi Tony, looks great
my dome took quite a while to heat efficiently, and was also quite smokey. Once it was bone dry after 4 or 5 full heat fires the dome cleared quickly after less than an hour, and also the fire burned with barely any smoke fairly quickly. You just need to keep going....it will get hotter as it loses the last of the moisture

The crack will be fine

[SableSprings]

Hey Tony! By the looks of your dome, its not fully cured yet. As Nick pointed out, it does take a while to drive all the moisture out depending on the build & insulation. Those black spots are indications of areas that have not yet come up to temp because of remaining moisture. Earlier you had asked about where to point your laser thermometer...on the cooking surface that has been cleared off. If you simply sweep coals off the floor and then take a reading, it will indicate a higher temp than it actually is. You need to clear an area and wait 5-10 minutes to get a good idea of the actual temp. Also, it's important that you point your laser thermometer at the cooking floor from a distance of 10-15 cm...the farther away you are, the less accurate the reading. Taking a temp reading of the fire or the dome (with an active fire going) is really useless...it's the cooking and dome surfaces that are significant. (Incidentally, the wide temp range you noted of 320-450 is another indication that the oven has not completely dried out.)

Also as Nick pointed out, the crack you have noted is a fairly common result in all ovens...brick or cast. Cooking floor temps between 315-370°C for pizza are the norm...I don't think you should be trying for temps above that (you mentioned 500°C ... ). Cooking time and resulting quality of pizza also depends on which style you're making and how much topping you've used. The pictures you posted look like the temperature on the cooking floor is low, but commercial pizza ovens (in US restaurants) seldom cook above 300°C since they generally are multi-tasking in the prep area and oven (and want a little time "buffer").

Relax! Your pizza at this stage is far better than at a restaurant and will improve with experience and oven use.

[Mullster]

Looking fantastic TonyPizza - I bet that first pizza tasted great didn’t it?
The guys have covered all your questions I think, perhaps with the exception of the fire technique. Do you mean how you are building, starting and managing the fire itself? If so, in my first week of fires I tried multiple approaches - happy to share some details?

[TonyPizza]

SableSprings thanks a lot for all that... mostly new info for me and it all makes sense. I thought 500 was the optimum temp.. always learning! Mullster any firing advice will be gratefully received so please go for it.

Tony.

[Mullster]

So I really struggled a couple of times getting the fire to get going. I was using the two by two method I’d read about - think Jenga without the middle pieces in! I used kindling on the top and then some wooden firelighters but at least a couple of times the firelighters didn’t ‘catch’ the pile. From tweaking different things I came to the conclusion a few things were at play - wood that could have benefitted from being drier, a dome that still had a lot of moisture and sometimes too tight a pile (not enough oxygen).

I then came back to the forum and read again through the firing section. A lot of advice on there about just using newspaper - both crumpled and also strips tied into a pretzel shape! So I made a pile of this with kindling and small pieces of wood which lit really well. I laid this on top of the larger logs two by two - the photo shows it near the start once the paper has caught.

I get the feeling it’s going to be easier to get the fire going the drier the oven becomes.

[SableSprings]

Another handy fire starter that I use pretty regularly is an empty toilet paper tube. I stuff it with paper towels that I've used to wipe out greasy pans (or just give a shot of cooking oil). I take the "loaded" tubes and put them in a sealed plastic container. I simply slip one of those tubes under my wood pile and light it. They burn long enough to start almost any wood stack. The other thing I use when I can find them are small sticks labeled Fatwood. They are from tree stumps that have continued to push out sap after being cut down. The pitch/sap saturated wood is cut into small sticks 6"-8" long and really burn a long time...again a terrific product. But as Mullster noted, a wet oven doesn't draw or burn very well...and neither does wood that hasn't been properly cured

[TonyPizza]

Thanks again all. I have a good supply of oak and it’s currently at about 15% but it’s currently in the over at 100c to try and get it down to about 10%.

[Nick J C]

I use a butane ‘weed burner’ to start it off. Cheating I know but quick

[Chach]

Another handy fire starter that I use pretty regularly is an empty toilet paper tube. I stuff it with paper towels that I've used to wipe out greasy pans (or just give a shot of cooking oil). I take the "loaded" tubes and put them in a sealed plastic container. I simply slip one of those tubes under my wood pile and light it. They burn long enough to start almost any wood stack. The other thing I use when I can find them are small sticks labeled Fatwood. They are from tree stumps that have continued to push out sap after being cut down. The pitch/sap saturated wood is cut into small sticks 6"-8" long and really burn a long time...again a terrific product. But as Mullster noted, a wet oven doesn't draw or burn very well...and neither does wood that hasn't been properly cured

Same thing Mike. I have started using toliet paper tubes stuffed with dryer lint. Put that disintegrated fabric you paid for to good use and start a fire. Lights up very well and it's free and I always get a ton of it. We also have a ton of toilet paper tubes...im.not sure if its the food we eat but we have a ton of them..LOL

Ricky

[TonyPizza]

Thanks for the advice on firing. I have dried my logs a little more and the whole thing seems to get better every light.
There are still two areas I would be grateful for advice on:

Tools - I already have a peel, but what else do I need? Im
planning on buying a scraper to move the ash and logs around. Is there anything else that folk would recommend?

The second unknown is my render coat. I am hoping to render the oven and in the particularly harsh months (I.e the UK bloody summer ) I am planning on making a thick cover for the dome and gallery. Mainly though, the render will provide protection most of the year.
So what do I need to know? I am planning on using plasterer’s sand and hopefully adding a dye to make it a dark grey (is this possible?). Also, can I add a waterproofing agent to help with weather protection? Finally, anyone got any idea of the quantities I will need to do. 2-3cm later over my dome?
Thanks in advance for any help.

Tony.

[SableSprings]

I posted a pdf on the forum quite awhile back that listed and described my favorite tools for the oven. I also have it listed (right hand side) of my blog...link is in my signature closing at the bottom of my posts. I don't have the exact forum post in my memory cells right now, but I believe it was in the "Tools" area - if you don't want to wander off into blogger land.

Additives to color and make the outside render somewhat water resistant are available. Be aware that water is amazing at getting through almost anything over time. Even just high humidity will be absorbed and require some extra firing time (or even a partial re-curing) if unfired for a long time. Seriously consider an exterior cover of you want to keep your oven dry.

There are several builders in England who have posted on the forum...do a search or just browse in the Pompeii build area of the forum. Good luck & keep posting your progress & experiences.

[TonyPizza]

I’ve had a few days messing around with other dishes. I see it as a time to practice the my firing and a chance to understand more about what works best with the oven.
last night I cooked some hanger steaks with garden potatoes and tomatoes.
steak tasted good, but I’m a little worried about all the cracks I have.