Chip's 42 in Minnesota

[mrchipster]

Re: Chip's 42 in Minnesota

Nice oven...Just finished mine. need to work on door. I was recently in Minneapolis a few weeks ago for a Fierek wedding.

Next time you schedule a trip here give me a heads up maybe we can get together. I do not get to Indiana much but if I do I will send you a note.

Take a look at my two doors they work well. The 4 inch one is heavy but it does keep the heat in. I will be building a decorative weather door that will also function as a blast door sometime soon, no insulation just variable vent near the bottom and decorative brass handles is what I have in mind. I picked up an old brass bed and think I will use pieces of that for decorative handles, kind of like brass andirons for a fireplace, but mounted to the door.

We will see how it finally turns out.

Chip

[mrchipster]

Re: Chip's 42 in Minnesota

One more simple update, The grass has riz and the San Marzanos are in full production on top of the curved wall. Still need a hand rail going to pool deck and some finer details but I think things are shaping up; just in time for winter.

I added some weatherproof speakers under the eaves so I can listen to music while I work.

Chip

[mrchipster]

Re: Chip's 42 in Minnesota

PS - the bread looks fantastic@

And it tasted great too.

Chip

[MAD1]

Re: Chip's 42 in Minnesota

Nice oven...Just finished mine. need to work on door. I was recently in Minneapolis a few weeks ago for a Fierek wedding.

[Hoobie]

Re: Chip's 42 in Minnesota

D'Oh!

I was looking at your 'Join Date' of April 2010, not the current dates for your recent posts. My bad.

I like that you've incorporated your oven as part of what looks like a pretty massive landscaping project. No wonder you've still got some detail work to finish. Who wouldn't?

I haven't made it up to Minneapolis for a couple years, but when next I do, I'd love to drop by. I'll keep that in mind as I'm planning my build this winter

Best,

-hoobie

PS - the bread looks fantastic@

[mrchipster]

Re: Chip's 42 in Minnesota

Hi, Chip.

I'm in the initial stages of planning an oven and wanted to say I really appreciate and admire all the work you've done here - both on the oven itself and on this thread. Definitely, this is information that I'll be using as I go along!

It looks like it's been a couple few years since construction finished. Any developments to share after using your great outdoor kitchen for a while?

Thanks,

-hoobie

If you get to the Minneapolis area you need to stop by.

Hi and thanks for your kind words, as a mater of fact have not quite reached a year of cooking, Oct 13 will be the official anniversary date of cooking.

Funny you should say since I finished my oven. As with many on this forum I am still working on the finishing details and was cutting the granite slab for the prep table earlier today. Picked it up off Craigslist for $175

I still have a little brick work to do on the back side and also my entry to the oven still needs detailing.

I hope to set the granite tonight. But it will require 3 more strong guys so I will see if I can line them up.

I made up some nice batards today nice crust and crumb, 3 day cold ferment with 4 stretch and folds. The port hole door worked fantastic for viewing the bread as it cooked.

See the attached photos

Chip

[Hoobie]

Re: Chip's 42 in Minnesota

Hi, Chip.

I'm in the initial stages of planning an oven and wanted to say I really appreciate and admire all the work you've done here - both on the oven itself and on this thread. Definitely, this is information that I'll be using as I go along!

It looks like it's been a couple few years since construction finished. Any developments to share after using your great outdoor kitchen for a while?

Thanks,

-hoobie

[mrchipster]

Re: Chip's 42 in Minnesota

Did a few rolls from the left over dough from the 2 weekend pizza parties we had.

The floor of the oven was still a little to hot and I needed to take them out a little earlier than I wanted.

But using the window door allowed me to determine this without opening the door.

Successful flavor and nice texture. Not cut deep enough to get a nice rip.

Chip

[mrchipster]

Re: Chip's 42 in Minnesota

Thermometer down.

Well the door with the window had it's first failure.

The very fragile thermometer i had in the window got bent due to high winds; the door tipped over with the thermometer in place and bent the probe.

I will now be mounting a more heavy duty thermometer in the body of the door.

Back to the decorative nautical theme idea for filling the hole in the glass.

Chip

[mrchipster]

Re: Chip's 42 in Minnesota

More door work yesterday, I decided to upgrade my well insulated door to remove the metal handles, recess the thermometer into the door, add a wood face, and two wood handles.

Pictures in order
1. Original door front
2. Modified door front
3. Modified door side (note wood cut back)
4. Modified door back (note thermometer probe)
5. Original door back (note thermometer probe)

The reasons for the changes.

1) Metal handles were hot enough to need pot holders when the oven was in the 800F degree range, so I wanted to get wood handles on the door.

2) Thermometer barely entered into the oven as you can see from the last photo. The probe was reading about 100 to 150 degrees low because it was primarily embedded in insulation. It is much more accurate now.

3) Added wood face for two reasons, first is aesthetic, I like the look better. Second is it seems to add another layer of insulation slowing the radiation of heat from the exposed aluminum surface.

The wood (cedar) is glued to the aluminum surface with hi temp silicone, and cut back from the edge about 1 inch to reduce the contact with the very high temp edge; The wood may not survive the heat long term but I thought I would give it a try. No real data yet but I think the heat loss via the radiating heat from the metal has gone down. Time will tell.

4) Wood handles worked so well on window door I decided to add to the well insulated door.

Chip

[mrchipster]

Re: Chip's 42 in Minnesota

I made a few batches of pizza sause with the fresh tomatoes and it was very tasty. I also made a few batches of salsa, and they make great salsa as well. Gives it a nice sweet flavor.

Randy

Picked a few today, The larger ones have their roots in the ground the smaller ones are from the plants in pots.

Chip

[RandyJ]

Re: Chip's 42 in Minnesota

I made a few batches of pizza sause with the fresh tomatoes and it was very tasty. I also made a few batches of salsa, and they make great salsa as well. Gives it a nice sweet flavor.

Randy

[mrchipster]

Re: Chip's 42 in Minnesota

How did your San marzzano tomatoes turn out? I got a ton of them from my plant.

Randy

Sweet and tasty none of them have made it to pizza yet but have used in a couple of salads and just eaten off the vine. Two in pots are producing but plants are small the 4 in the ground are huge and just started to produce red fruit, squirrels have gotten several of the low hanging pink ones so we are waiting.

Chip

[RandyJ]

Re: Chip's 42 in Minnesota

Wow that looks prett cool. Glad it worked out so well. How did your San marzzano tomatoes turn out? I got a ton of them from my plant.

Randy

[mrchipster]

Re: Chip's 42 in Minnesota

Twenty four hour temperature report. Not as good as my 4 inch thick insulated door but not bad Temp 305F after 24 hours down 115F. It was 58 F last night. and got to 83F today.

I think it will make a fine baking door.

I still need to put a rope seal on the door so it may get a little better.

Chip