Cloita's 42" Pompeii in Plainfield, IL

[cloita]

Re: Cloita's 42" Pompeii in Plainfield, IL

the cladding on top looks awful but the cladding did not get a chance to cure as much as the oven did last fall before i fully fired it, so that lead to cracking. whatever happened over the winter seems to have worsened it.

Any thoughts/recommendations on repairs? As far as i can tell, i don't have any major cracks running all the way through, no major smoke leaks or anything of the sort. The white substance on the inside of the dome is mostly gone now after two fires.

oh and gotta have first pizza of the year: https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-D...407_193331.jpg

even without a door after the insulation blanket i'm still in the 200 degree range the next morning after a full fire so i think i did something right!

[cloita]

Re: Cloita's 42" Pompeii in Plainfield, IL

Grumble grumble...Hibernation is over. I've installed my fiber blanket insulation but have some concerns that something bad happened over winter.

Insulation:
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-Z...407_194321.jpg

There is a white substance on the brick and cladding, I'm assuming it got wet:
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-5...407_141330.jpg
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-w...407_141336.jpg
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-b...407_141344.jpg

[cloita]

Re: Cloita's 42" Pompeii in Plainfield, IL

Metal studs have arrived, now to figure out if I stick with the tarps and tent or frame this guy... damn winter!

[cloita]

Re: Cloita's 42" Pompeii in Plainfield, IL

We can do this Russell! And thanks, it was delicious

[UtahBeehiver]

Re: Cloita's 42" Pompeii in Plainfield, IL

Cloita,

Scrambling here too in Utah to beat the winter. Nice job on roast.....

[cloita]

Re: Cloita's 42" Pompeii in Plainfield, IL

Thanks Mark, did you get a whole pig for porchetta or a scottish shoulder or other?

And no door yet Dino so I'm stuck with the one-shot cooking at the moment. I have a 22.5" bullet smoker to do my overnights in until then!

Aaaand thanks to both of you, skirt steak is now on the menu... =)

No progress on the enclosure yet, still waiting on materials.

[Dino_Pizza]

Re: Cloita's 42" Pompeii in Plainfield, IL

I agree, that pork roast looks great.

Don't forget that some of your best roasting will come from overnight or even the next day AFTER you've fired the oven. We just made a 10 hour slow roasted pork shoulder and did it the next day from a "light" pizza firing so the temp was just high 200's and coming down which was perfect for it.

I don't know if you have an insulated door yet but once you do, you'll have 2-3 days of cooking (if you plan ahead, which we mostly forget to do )

Mark: I'm about ready to make that skirt steak again too.

[MAD1]

Re: Cloita's 42" Pompeii in Plainfield, IL

Pork Roast Looks Outstanding.... I just made a successful porchetta! I want to try Dino's skirt stake with spinach, cheese, roasted red peppers basil. Looks awesome!

Mark

[cloita]

Re: Cloita's 42" Pompeii in Plainfield, IL

Thanks Dino, I used your thread for a lot of my design ideas. The draw is excellent with a 4ft pipe on top. I've had about 5 full temp fires including one in the rain last night, talk about stressful!

Here's some of the latest pictures:


Learned to trust the oven with chicago style deep dish pizza - if the top is dark after 20 minutes, the bottom is dark too!


And my masterpiece so far, bone-in pork roast with sage, cloves, oranges, potatoes, onions, and moscato:


I'm waiting on materials to get the enclosure started, running out of time before Chicago winter. Big rush now!

[Dino_Pizza]

Re: Cloita's 42" Pompeii in Plainfield, IL

Great job Jonathan. I like your vent transition area. I'm sure it vents smoke very well. And the corner mount on the oven looks good too. Cast iron cooking is a good idea during the slow curing fire stage although I assume you are up to full temps by now?

I think the "blue-tarp" stage is the worst part of the whole wfo building stage so we can't wait to see the enclosure.

-dino

[cloita]

Re: Cloita's 42" Pompeii in Plainfield, IL

good luck, i haven't picked out any cracks yet. i'm almost out of wood though, hopefully the landscape place has good dry wood in stock

[UtahBeehiver]

Re: Cloita's 42" Pompeii in Plainfield, IL

Looks yummy,

Did a 2nd cure fire with charcoal yesterday and it hovered around 250-300F. Going to do anothter tonight.

[cloita]

Re: Cloita's 42" Pompeii in Plainfield, IL

Thanks Russell, I got something like that from the chimney supplier where I purchased my Duratech.

Been working my way through the curing fires, we hit high 500s yesterday. Cooked a bit!

Chicago style deep dish:


Stuffed thick cut pork chops:


Thanks everyone for the input over the past few months, finally getting to use this oven feels great. Now to finalize the enclosure!

[UtahBeehiver]

Re: Cloita's 42" Pompeii in Plainfield, IL

Jonathan,

Been gone for a week but here is the refractory sealant I used for my anchor plate and thermal break. Sets up hard and according to the MSDS it is pretty safe stuff.

[cloita]

Re: Cloita's 42" Pompeii in Plainfield, IL

Day 1 and 2 of curing fires:


And of course it freakin rains so i had to build a flimsy tarp stand to keep it off the dome:


To 400 degrees tomorrow!