I'm getting closer to my Dome!

[Aegis]

Re: I'm getting closer to my Dome!

I had all intentions on doing a heat study this weekend, but a major thunder storm interrupted our pizza party and subsequently heating the oven to max. temps. The pizza party was still almost perfect tho, pizza dough was the best I ever made, thankks to Rossco's thread. The lightning came just as I pulled the last pie from the oven (my dinner) then the down pour. Of well I'll go out now an read the temp of the dome and hearth and edit this post with results.
I did get cement board on the sides but no roof yet, so it was a major scramble to get the trap up over the steel studs. I also filled the enclosure with coarse vermiculite, so I needed to hurry so that didn't get all wet! Argh! If it ever stops raining long enough I can finally have a roof! Sheesh!
Hearth Temp @ 7:30am 538 F
Dome Temp @7:30 am 564 F

Hearth Temp @ 7:30 pm after bread bake & Dinner 422 F
Dome Temp @ 7:30 pm ---------------------------------461 F

NEXT DAY

Hearth Temp @ 7:40 am 361 F
Dome Temp @ 7:40 am 368 F
The above was the last cool down temp. Wife wanted to cook some chicken dish that required a hotter oven. Threw a couple of small logs in and started a fire. Within 20 minutes the oven was back up to 510 F and I had to break up the fire so it didn't get too hot.
Chicken came out great!

[Aegis]

Re: I'm getting closer to my Dome!

You noted that you were going to do some temperature tracking on the oven with your fabulous heat retention. I've been doing some temperature tracking on my oven the last couple months and it has been very helpful in prepping for meals and bread bakes. I have to admit that pizza has not been a primary use of my oven...it's bread. Normally a neighbor comes down on Friday and the two of us bake 15-25 loaves in the afternoon. I started taking readings with my IR temp gun and noting them down on the hour. The next day I graph the results in Excel to get a feel for the oven heat signatures. I've attached the last oven bake graph where I put 24 baguettes through after the daily (morning) firing.

As you have noticed, I also sometimes get some black cinders on the landing (from the chimney). I just blow them back into the oven when I fire it up or brush them into the ash slot...no worries.

Hi Mike, If your bread is close as good as your oven build is then you are baking awesome bread!
I will find out how good the heat retention really is with a pizza bake Friday night, some bread Saturday and a roast on Sunday. Heat retention is one thing, stored heat to bake 15-20 loaves is certainly another. Wow what thermal mass! My bread baking will be only 6 loaves this time!

[Aegis]

Re: I'm getting closer to my Dome!

I sometimes get little flakey sooty bits falling down on my oven too. I don't think there's much you can do to prevent it. I tend to burn any kind of wood I can find (best wood is free wood) Maybe overloading the chamber with fuel is the culprit, so there is unburnt fuel going up the flue. I just blow the black stuff off with my blowpipe.

I know I need to try the top down burn to start the fire, which may help reduce the soot/smoke at the beginning. Some of the soot was from the many curing fires which were low temps.
Thanks for the insite

[Aegis]

Re: I'm getting closer to my Dome!

Hi Aegis,

When I first started using my oven I burned a lot of pine and evergreen wood and my chimney was a mess. I did a long radical burn where fire was coming out of the front of my oven and that cleaned the chimney of the build up.

All hardwood was burned, but only one big fire so far. I'll fire up the oven this weekend and see what I can burn off! Gotta love playing with fire!

[Aegis]

Re: I'm getting closer to my Dome!

Creosote is produced from condensing gases in the smoke of a cool fire, or a hot fire but the smoke cools before exiting the chimney. It then sticks to everything. One way of reducing it might be to have an outer arch door that allows a draft to feed the fire as well as holds the smoke at higher temps, allowing the gases to remain hot as they go up the chimney. Even then, you will still get build up, and will need to occasionally brush the smoke stack. Just cover the hearth bricks before you sweep the chimney.

gene

I was afraid of getting that answer, another thing to build and still have to clean up! lol Thanks

[SableSprings]

Re: I'm getting closer to my Dome!

You noted that you were going to do some temperature tracking on the oven with your fabulous heat retention. I've been doing some temperature tracking on my oven the last couple months and it has been very helpful in prepping for meals and bread bakes. I have to admit that pizza has not been a primary use of my oven...it's bread. Normally a neighbor comes down on Friday and the two of us bake 15-25 loaves in the afternoon. I started taking readings with my IR temp gun and noting them down on the hour. The next day I graph the results in Excel to get a feel for the oven heat signatures. I've attached the last oven bake graph where I put 24 baguettes through after the daily (morning) firing.

As you have noticed, I also sometimes get some black cinders on the landing (from the chimney). I just blow them back into the oven when I fire it up or brush them into the ash slot...no worries.

[david s]

Re: I'm getting closer to my Dome!

I sometimes get little flakey sooty bits falling down on my oven too. I don't think there's much you can do to prevent it. I tend to burn any kind of wood I can find (best wood is free wood) Maybe overloading the chamber with fuel is the culprit, so there is unburnt fuel going up the flue. I just blow the black stuff off with my blowpipe.

[Laurentius]

Re: I'm getting closer to my Dome!

Hi Aegis,

When I first started using my oven I burned a lot of pine and evergreen wood and my chimney was a mess. I did a long radical burn where fire was coming out of the front of my oven and that cleaned the chimney of the build up.

[ggoose]

Re: I'm getting closer to my Dome!

Creosote is produced from condensing gases in the smoke of a cool fire, or a hot fire but the smoke cools before exiting the chimney. It then sticks to everything. One way of reducing it might be to have an outer arch door that allows a draft to feed the fire as well as holds the smoke at higher temps, allowing the gases to remain hot as they go up the chimney. Even then, you will still get build up, and will need to occasionally brush the smoke stack. Just cover the hearth bricks before you sweep the chimney.

gene

[Aegis]

Re: I'm getting closer to my Dome!

Ok I need a little help again! lol I have been working on the chimney and had several good fires and a pizza bake. Now I am having creosote/carbon fall from my flue onto my entry way hearth bricks. What's up wit dat? Did I build it wrong? How does anyone keep the carbon off or how do you clean it up without using copious amounts of water?
Thanks in Advance

[Aegis]

Re: I'm getting closer to my Dome!

John - Great idea! I knew I was saving all those firebrick chips for a reason! What was the average size of the pieces/slices of firebrick you used? The residual heat curve you have achieved is highly enviable.

Great-looking pizza bread, too. I had no idea you could get a crust like that.
John

Firebrick slices were 1/4" to 5/8" or so , just rough estimates. Many were wedges that I used fat side down and the thinner side towards the top of the dome. It kinda of flattened out the dome silhouette to more cylindrical shape. The out side temps here were 60-65 F for highs and lows in the lower 40's - 43 F last night. The oven dome is still at 195 as of a half hour ago. I will do some graphs on the heat dissipation as soon as I get some time to do so.
The bread crust and crumb were excellent!
Thanks
John

[GianniFocaccia]

Re: I'm getting closer to my Dome!

I used a homebrew skim coat then added firebrick slices from all the dome cuts, embedding them in the skim coat

John - Great idea! I knew I was saving all those firebrick chips for a reason! What was the average size of the pieces/slices of firebrick you used? The residual heat curve you have achieved is highly enviable.

Great-looking pizza bread, too. I had no idea you could get a crust like that.
John

[Aegis]

Re: I'm getting closer to my Dome!

After the pizza party I dug into the refrigerator the next day and got out the containers of bread dough I made the Wed. before the Friday pizza. Shaped them, let them rise and put them into the oven which was around 540 F by that time. Here are some pics, I was tickled pink with the results, I did not add steam to this bake as I wanted a bench mark to compare steam results. I have made these breads many time in the home oven. These browned and bake totally evenly and the oven spring was the best I have ever had. They tasted great! Can you tell I love this oven already! I was prepared for a much steeper learning curve (more burnt/ruined dough) but this hopefully isn't beginners luck!
Again Thanks to all that have helped me with all your indepth posts and pics!
John
Olive rosemary bread and Italian bread pics

[Aegis]

Re: I'm getting closer to my Dome!

WoW! That, I believe, is akin to getting 50 miles per gallon with a Mack Truck!

Are you measuring the temp on the floor or the dome?

I have several thermocouples that read very close to each other after the oven is closed and temps settle throughout. Dome and hearth temps are usually within 10-15 degrees of each other. I have a load of blanket insulation and added an inch to an inch and a have of extra mass in the dome and vent transition. I used a homebrew skim coat then added firebrick slices from all the dome cuts, embedding them in the skim coat. On top of this cladding another coat of home brew for the extra mass.
I felt that pizzas would do well with the heat reflecting off the dome, while the heat still soaked in the extra mass. The hearth I left at one firebrick thick for two reasons, 1) quick heat up for pizza and reheat for next pies being cooked. 2) for bread baking I didn't want burnt bottoms-heat would be diminished quicker on the bottom with less mass than the rest of the oven. I also thought that the dome would capture more of the heat from the wood as it is always being hit with flames!

I am obviously very pleased with the results so far!

[Lburou]

Re: I'm getting closer to my Dome!

....snip....The oven insulation so far has been fantastic! The next day temps were 585 F and this morning I am still at 370 F .....snip......

WoW! That, I believe, is akin to getting 50 miles per gallon with a Mack Truck!

Are you measuring the temp on the floor or the dome?