Countryboy build in SC, US

[countryboy]

Re: Countryboy build in SC, US

Not quite finished. I still plan to stain and seal the concrete counters and pad as well as put a little brickwork around the top of the walls behind the counters, but here are a few 'moneyshots' of the patio.

It has all changed significantly in the last year!! We've been enjoying it some this summer, but the weather has been so stinkin' HOT!! Hoping to spend a lot more time hanging out on the patio as soon as the Fall weather moves in.

[asudavew]

Re: Countryboy build in SC, US

Nice read Countyboy. I haven't been on the site in awhile, but I enjoyed your thread.

Prime Rib.. makes me hungry.

Sadly, we have had burn ban in my part of the world for a few months. And it doesnt look like it will be lifted any time soon. So no WFO cooking for awhile.

[countryboy]

Re: Countryboy build in SC, US

So.... just how does your Mom feel about you taking bricks right off the face of her house? Did it leave a really big patch of mortar underneath?

Hey, I knew she wouldn't send me to jail...

Actually, they were off a pile of brick that have sat in the tree line out back for my whole life!

[GianniFocaccia]

Re: Countryboy build in SC, US

So.... just how does your Mom feel about you taking bricks right off the face of her house? Did it leave a really big patch of mortar underneath?

[countryboy]

Re: Countryboy build in SC, US

Lastly, I was able to pick up another 140 free brick from my mom's house. These are over 60 years old as they date to the original building of her home...

Just feels cool to use all these reclaimed or old unused brick on this project.

So, not quite ready for the 'money shots'... but getting close.

We have been enjoying the oven and the fireplace. Just dressing it up now so it looks finished and the area can stop looking like a construction zone!!

[countryboy]

Re: Countryboy build in SC, US

A quick update on the latest work on the patio and outdoor fireplace...

Have finally gotten in the mood to continue on the fireplace and try to wrap this project up. Started the whole thing about a year ago... +/- a week!!

Anyway, we've had a makeshift chimney of loosely stacked cement blocks and brick, but that has been taken down.

I was figuring out how many brick I would need for a chimney proper, when my sons and I spotted a pile of brick in a dumpster at the recycling center... so, we fished them out and recycled them!! Over a 100 of them.

Next, I saw a few stray brick at the local builder's supply store and asked... left over bullnose decoratives that they had no use for... bought all 22 for 57? each... those wound up on the top of the front... Still have one more to put in on the right side, but ran out of mortar at the end of the day, so it goes in tomorrow or Thursday.

Decided on some decorative tool hangers you see here embedded in the core filled cement blocks.. Simply railroad spikes.... rusty for character!!

The chimney is halfway there. I have more brick on the ground and have put the base coat of stucco on... Hopefully finish coat this week and then stain/seal the counters and floor in the next month and be DONE with this thing!!!

A question for the masons out there: The bricks are different colors and even some very old of slightly different sizes, etc. I want to really show that off (as well as my rotten bricklaying ability ). Is there and acid wash or something that will remove that grey hue left by the lime in the mortar? I have wiped and wirebrushed them. they are clear of mortar, but just do not have the true colors showing through.

Couple more pics in the next post...

[countryboy]

Re: Countryboy build in SC, US

Oh, I knew as soon as I started typing my previous post I would be in trouble without photographic evidence!! (Now I have an excuse to do it again, right? )

The meat was really good...

As far as the other meals, they were mostly marinated meats that otherwise would have ended up on the grill. I've taken to using a cookie cooling rack over a sheet pan to catch drippings as the best way for chicken or fish...

The lunches are total cheats... I'm not always here and my wife homeschools, so she put in fish sticks on a tray or hamburgers, or chicken nuggets... So, we aren't making everything from scratch. Just thinking, "Why heat up the oven/stove and by extension the house when the WFBO is hot? Conserve energy both at the stove and the a/c unit!"

One of the evening meals we did pull out the 12 quart cast iron pot and cook beans and sausage with spices and bell peppers, etc... Added a little water and rice right at the end and the timing was near perfect as I pulled it just as the rice was finished sucking all the moisture out of the dish... Was a nice boggy type of bean/rice stew.

I do need to work on a couple tools for pushing/pulling pots in and out. I built a forge last year, so this is a good excuse to bend some iron, eh?

CB

[GianniFocaccia]

Re: Countryboy build in SC, US

CB,

Since you haven't posted in awhile please be advised that posting of any/all descriptions of scrumptious prime rib roasts and 12-meal weeks are not permissable without pics! Sounds delicious!

John

[countryboy]

Re: Countryboy build in SC, US

Well, I haven't posted anything in here is a while... Been using the oven a LOT!!

Someone asked what we plan to do for Memorial day... "Grill?"

I had to explain the finer things concerning quality meat and cooking..

Long story short, I told him of the magnificent prime rib we had last night and how this, the third week in a row, we've cooked almost ALL lunch and dinner meals outside to conserve energy and save a/c in the house.

He wanted to see pics and learn more, so I had to show him pics on here.

Anyway, the reason for the post... We've had a good sized prime rib roast languishing in the freezer for the last five or six months and my wife could stand it no longer. so, we thawed it in the fridge starting Monday and yesterday invited a few friends over for dinner... everyone brought the requisite side dish while we provided the main attraction!!

I salted and peppered the meat and let it come to room temp yesterday with the oven coasting at about 300?. The roast was 8 lbs so i figured a cook time of about 3 hours. (WAY over estimated that... course, the roast was starting at a higher temp.) I put the roast in at 3:40 pm figuring to pull it at 6:40 for a 7 p.m. dinner. Thank the Lord, I checked the temp at 5:45 and it was a shade over what i wanted as a target, so I yanked it and tented with aluminum foil and let it rest. TWO hours in the oven and it was there...

It looked BEAUTIFUL, but the truth remained concealed until time to cut it....

Man-o-man!! It could not have been more perfect. Medium rare in the middle with a crispy fat surface. JUICY and tender. WOW!! Everybody LOVED theres. Had a little au ju and horseradish on the side. Mmmm!

So, not updating much, but we continue to use this oven a lot. Some weeks we'll have as many as 12 meals come out of it.

Great project that turns heads and has real benefits.

Only regret? No pics!

[cvuioernfl]

Re: Countryboy build in SC, US

Ok,it's no problem! Well done it.

[countryboy]

Re: Countryboy build in SC, US

The beans and roast turned out great!! Sorry so slow getting a pic up!! The beans might be some of the best I've ever had!! They were just delicious and I am not a particularly big bean fan...

Besides a pic of the two completed dishes, I have below a pic of the wall-mounted oven tool rack I whipped up today. Details of how/what I did are posted in the DIY Oven Tools thread.

[countryboy]

Re: Countryboy build in SC, US

Wow!! I have been singing the praises of the WFO!!

Two armloads of wood and we are rocking!

Pizzas last night for us and a family we invited over. Had a ball!

Sealed up the oven when we finished and mid-day decided I wanted to see how it baked cookies. I assigned my oldest the task of making cookies, which we do often with fresh ground whole wheat, etc...

I was called in from work and got home just in time to test some of the last ones out of the oven. Heavenly! Maybe the best we've ever made. My son could get three cookie trays in at a time and ran through four cycles finishing over eleven dozen cookies!! Pic is of the last batch cooling and the two counter cookie jars filled!

Interestingly, the oven was hovering at about 375? when he started and had crept UP to 400? by the time he finished.... Learned something new: Last night I pushed the coals to the back and after pizza never removed them. The door seals well enough that they really slowed down, but with the door opening and closing for the cookies the air movement reinvigorated them and the temps actually rose while he ran through four bake cycles. Interesting note for future temp maintenance...

Later, I put some steaks on a rack over a baking pan and cooked them for 30 minutes. They were good, but not great. Will have to re-think how best to cook them.

Next I whipped up some beans and a roast for tomorrow's lunch... Haven't put them in the oven yet, but will have after pics if they turn out well... My last meat experiment when horribly wrong, but that is expected with the WFBO learning curve.

[countryboy]

Oopsies!!! and some good food..

I made my outer door as a pretty close fit... Really close in places, actually.

So, last night we had pizza and then I sealed up the oven. Early afternoon today I was called in to work for a while so I put my eldest son on the job of baking cookies in the oven... Good experiment, right. Only, I forgot to give him some really careful instruction concerning the outer door.

After a while at work I get a call telling me how awesome the cookies are coming out!!! Perfect!!

Then I get 'the call.'

"Honey. uh, your son broke the oven."

"What??" (I'm thinking, 'Not possible.)

"Yeah, he knocked some rocks out of it."

"You mean bricks, right?"

"No. Rocks."

"There's only one big rock in the front."

Anyway... long story short, I was a bit confused, but careful to remain calm!

Once I got home to survey the damage, I recognized immediately what happened and why...

The outer door can expand in the heat and he got it in the tapered arch too far then must have yanked on it to try to free it so he could "rescue" the cookies in the oven...

All considered, not too bad a damage. And, a good lesson on why a bigger hammer isn't necessarily the best solution.

Took an hour to mix some mortar, clean up the brick and replace the pieces he managed to pry out of the outer arch. Went back together easily, though it was tough to get it to set back as far as the original brickwork because I couldn't remove all of the original mortar from behind... When I mortared it back in I did away with the earlier thermal break between the chimney support arch and the outer arch. I figured the additional support would be preferred.

Following are a couple pics of the damage and the repair.

Next post... FOOD!!

BTW! I have trimmed up the outer door for a looser fit and instructed him on when to use and how to insert/remove...

[countryboy]

Re: Countryboy build in SC, US

Used the wrong terminology.. Masonry heater is what I meant as I picture a small fire box with the smoke routed through channels that will extract all heat before it vents out the end of the GH.

I have searched and had trouble finding plans that I can modify. Will keep looking. I know they exist. My thought is to have a couple layers of 4" concrete that have copper or steel pipe networks through them that I can cycle water through to extract some of the stored heat into my fish tank. (I have a 1200 gallon fish tank with 230 tilapia in it in the greenhouse... See mu aquaponics project previously mentioned in this thread...)

My biggest concern is making sure it vents properly so it will draw...

Ideas and input readily accepted!

[dmun]

Re: Countryboy build in SC, US

Starting to ponder how to build a small fireplace in my greenhouse to store heat and heat water.

I'm thinking a masonry heater would be ideal for a greenhouse: you could fire it once at sundown, and the retained heat could carry it all night, until the sun took over in the morning.