Homebrew?

[cobblerdave]

Re: Homebrew?

Gudday all
One thing about hombrew that strikes me is its "workability"....the stuffs really great to lay bricks with ....not at all like normal mortar. Recon its the reason so many of these fantastic oven builds are turned out by basically mug first timers

Regards Dave

[Tscarborough]

Re: Homebrew?

6 months kept in a dry place, but we try and keep it to a couple of weeks in our warehouse.

[CvC]

Re: Homebrew?

I spent a lot of time tracking down materials. I don't know how to translate fireclay (google says Schamotte)

Google is right, but the problem is, that until now I could find Schamotte only as bricks or as refractory mortar, but I think that "fire clay" is not just a high heat mortar, but some kind of clay powder (the same analysis as the bricks, that?s why you could use the dust from your tile saw? But isn?t the analysis of fire bricks just the same as ordinary pottery clay?) without the additives that are in a high heat mortar?

Of course I can find refractory mortar, but I don?t think, this is meant to mix with sand, portland cement or lime?

[Mingy]

Re: Homebrew?

Here, you can buy fire clay in bags just like mortar. As per the instructions I used it and sand to stick the floor bricks so they can be removed.

Refractory mortar is a mortar mix. It is just like regular mortar for setting bricks or stones except it can take very high heat. It is also stickier (more like 'thinset mortar for setting tiles) and sets up much faster than regular mortar. It is also very expensive, so I made small batches of about 4 litres because I found I could more or less use that amount to set bricks before it started to harden.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: because of the huge amount of hard work involved in making a pizza over, I would strongly recommend people use the best materials they can get their hands on. It would be a pity to do so much work and end up with a problem because of substandard materials.

So, if I were you and I could get refractory mortar, thats what I would use.

[shuboyje]

Re: Homebrew?

I'm not looking for a debate, but homebrew has a long history of outperforming refractory mortars for our based on the users of this site. I personally demolished my first oven made with home brew to build a larger oven and has to cut the mortar off, it was so strong and hard the bricks broke before it did trying to chip it off. Many users have switched from one to the other at some point in the build, and all prefer the home brew. Refractory mortar is not ideal for pizza ovens for a few reasons. They are made for tiny mortar gaps on square bricks. That is not our situation. Some also require long curing processes at extreme temperatures to be installed to manufacturers specs, this is not possible in our ovens.

[TropicalCoasting]

Re: Homebrew?

Can someone post the actual recipe in this thread so it can be searched in the future ?

[Amac]

Re: Homebrew?

3:1:1:1
sand : fireclay : portland cement : hydrated lime

Mix first then add water as required - and mix to a workable consistency. This bit is not so exact. You don't have to adhere (sorry) exactly to the recipe. More fireclay is said to add to stickiness,
Amac

[Tscarborough]

Re: Homebrew?

That is a good article, but it really has no relevance to refractory mortars. Here in the states, in recognition of exactly what the article discusses, the specification is "from 2-1/4 to 3 parts sand by volume of the cementious materials".

[TropicalCoasting]

Re: Homebrew?

3:1:1:1
sand : fireclay : portland cement : hydrated lime

Mix first then add water as required - and mix to a workable consistency. This bit is not so exact. You don't have to adhere (sorry) exactly to the recipe. More fireclay is said to add to stickiness,
Amac

Thanks and future googlers will thank you too

[happytacker]

Re: Homebrew?

Thanks and future googlers will thank you too

Thank you!

[Tscarborough]

Re: Homebrew?

Do yourself a favor and try it at 6:1:1:1. It is more workable and less prone to cracking as well as heat decomposition. The 3:1:1:1 is based on a misinterpretation of the specification.