Beer Keg Oven

[nordik]

Re: Beer Keg Oven


the oven finished i had to put a handle on the lid so you can hold it bare handed. great thing about stainless (in this case) the heat transfer is poor so the handle is only just warm with the oven at temp.

[nordik]

Re: Beer Keg Oven

thank you all.
here are some more photos let me know if there is anything i'm leaving out for you.


i've now found i dont need the different stages of opening if i were doing it again i'd just have one locking position


you can see here i put a vent in the back of the keg about 7mm wide by 100mm (or there abouts) you can also see the bricks on the bars.


here the keg open. you can see the bricks on the bars. although i haven't yet i may drill extra holes/positions for the bars to be able to adjust the brick height, lowering them an inch or two would be good to get a roast chicken in there. At this height i can cook a small loaf of bread though. (and pizza of course)


here the lid with flue (150mm) i have made a butterfly valve inside it to control flow.
sliding a bit of tin ontop of a square flue would work just aswell though. if i didn't have the scrap tube (and a welder) lying around i'd just cut a 150mm hole and control the flow with a bit of tin by blocking the hole.

[ritchie UK]

Re: Beer Keg Oven

Nice job, I like the improvements that you have made, I have been watching this project with some interest, Please send more pictures as I have said in the past, this may be the very thing we are looking for.

[Jed]

Re: Beer Keg Oven

Hey Nordik,

What a fun looking oven!

Can you send along a few more photo's to show some of the construction details; where are you cooking the pizza in the thing? That kind of stuff,

Pictures and thousands of words.... or hold off on the thousands of words and just send pictures!

Thanks,

JED

[nordik]

Re: Beer Keg Oven

thanks james,

well the little keg that could is finished and i have to say it works brilliantly!

i ended up removing the flue and going alot larger (think it's 150mm) i made a butterfly valve in it to control air flow. this improved the oven to no end, i can fire it and get it to temp in about 10mins and i can now keep it going at temp with the door closed (there is a slot at the back of the keg along with the gap around the door to allow air in). typically i can keep it burning fairly slow and cook 4-5 pizza's with a 12inch long 2inch dia piece of timber.

initially i was worried about it's small size but i had it fired up last night and was cooking for 4 and it felt like it was empty all of the time, i think a party of 10 would be about it's limit (unless of course you wanted them all to come out at the same time) i'm sure many wouldn't like being only able to cook a dinner plate size pizza but it's a great size for a "make your own night"

the finished keg

[james]

Re: Beer Keg Oven

Here is the Beer Keg oven thread. Folks will be able to find it more easily here.
James

[david s]

Re: Beer Keg Oven

Potters control the airflow in their kilns by placing a piece of pottery shelf over the top of the flue and can adjust the flow of air, going out and therefore in. A piece of sheet metal would also work. When you want to shut it down completely block it off at the top altogether.

[nordik]

Re: Beer Keg Oven

G'day ritchie

although i haven't been camping in ages what your planning would be fantastic! great pizza camping out whith a bunch of mates sounds pretty good to me.

i've pretty much got the keg down pat now. getting to temp is no problem and staying there is no problem either now. i found that my flue is too small. i need a way of controling the flue flow on the go (plan to put a adjustable flap ontop). i found this out by proping the lid open a little or alot by wedging timber in the gap (rough but it worked) this way i could control heat and flow over the top of the bricks. i've even cooked some breads now with sucsess!

if i were going camping i wouldn't be too keen on draging around a conctreted beer keg! just a thaught but why don't you just get a cooking rack (like a grate on a stand) and put that ontop your fire with a couple of housebricks on it and rest a webber lid over the top on the grate? if you wat to go really cheap and easy (if you dont have a webber lid)get a 20litre oil container from your fish and chip store and cut it in half. use the top half and remove the lid (instant vent) it gives you a handle to hook a stick into to remove the lid. this would be as easy as pie as you could rake coals under the grate or away from to control your temp the smoke would enter and flow around the top of the pizza and the whole lot wouldn't take up much space or weigh that much.

only downfall of the keg not being insulated is i need a fire going constantly (not a problem as i have plenty of timber) i'm staying uninsulated to keep it portable for now.

the keg is getting better- or rather i am at controling it.


last nights effort (or one of)

[ritchie UK]

Re: Beer Keg Oven

Hi,

I am with a group of friends who regularly go camping (around a camp fire) and I wanted to try to build a (Pizza, fire oven) I totally understand that it is not going to look perfect or reach optimum temperature, (but isn’t that fun about trying) Your Threads have given me some direction but we were more looking towards a dismountable stone base detachable oven with a shell over the top lined and covered with thermal blankets. The idea is (in short) to place the stone slab onto the fire embers to retain bottom heat and then place a cover on top of the slab. Light a fire inside and wait till it Gets (HOT) and then try to cook a pizza. Any tips. But may try the KEG idea first. I like the idea of the external lagging and concrete out case.

[brokencookie]

Re: Beer Keg Oven

These little ovens can be an exercize in frustration. They are just too small to have a working thermal mass, and getting enough insulation to make a difference means your oven ends up looking like a doughnut hole.
With these problems you need to contiually fire the oven to maintain temperature. This is why I went with a propane burner. You can adjust and maintain a temperature fairly easily with the burner. If you want the woodsmoke, install a small grate above the burner and throw in a few chips while cooking.
The largerest drawback is that it is difficult to reach 850 degrees when the outside temperature is below 45 degrees No snow pizzas...)

[david s]

Re: Beer Keg Oven

I was thinking more along the lines of insulating with blanket or vermiculite on the outside, then chicken wire and cement render over that. You would of course lose that beer keg look then.

[nordik]

Re: Beer Keg Oven

thanks everyone
70 chevy the dia is about 14.5" so bit small for that setter but i see they have a 15". would the house bricks be doing the same job or do you mean i should have distance between the ceramic (or thermal mass) and the pizza stone?

david s i would love to insulate it but have been racking my brains on how to do it. i'd like to keep the external apearance the same so that leaves internal insulation but space is a bit tight there. perhaps bbq heat rocks on a grill or stuck to the walls and roof somehow? is that what you were thinking? if i could get a clay i could stick to the walls and roof it would be ideal but usure of cracking and fastening. i found it very difficult to control temp for baking bread so i assume something like this may help.

[david s]

Re: Beer Keg Oven

If you insulated the oven you'd get a lot more performance out of it.

[70chevelle]

Re: Beer Keg Oven

What is the diameter of the keg (I guess I could run downstairs & measure mine!) From memory, you may want to look into a Big Green Egg Platesetter. CERAMIC PLATE SETTER FOR LARGE CERAMIC GRILL (18" Diameter)
It is a good heat deflector that will last a lifetime and it will add some thermal mass. You can put a grate then pizza stone on top of the platesetter with the feet up.

[nordik]

Re: Beer Keg Oven

cheers brokencookie,
i was planing on putting a shield i could close ontop the chimney.
unsure about the airflow in the keg at the moment i'd imagine air is flowing over the top and exiting from the centre.

the only way i control air at the moment is how far ajar the door is (3 stages) there is a 1.5mm slit on the oppisitye side to the door aswell. not sure if i need more venting and or a larger flue.