32 Inch Pompeii in Northern California

[Les]

Re: 32 Inch Pompeii in Northern California

still over 250 degrees - which is a night and day improvement over the non-insulated oven! Now I wonder what will happen when I put a a door on it...?

You will be doing what I am doing. I made pizza on Saturday. I wanted to put a roast in to slow cook this morning - the oven is 300 degree's. I have the door off and I am hoping it will drop to something reasonable in a couple of hours. Heat management is difficult with these things.

[boerwarrior]

Re: 32 Inch Pompeii in Northern California

Thanks Les!

yes, I imagine it will take some time to 'learn' my oven and figure out the heat management. I consider myself somewhat of an expert with Weber charcoal grills - I can hold a constant temperature in my Weber to plus/minus 10 degrees for 8 hours! But I have been cooking on Webers for 25 years!

[boerwarrior]

Re: 32 Inch Pompeii in Northern California

We had our first mini-pizza party on Saturday and it was a success! I heated the oven a bit more slowly than I have been doing and I got the top of the dome stabilized at about 950 degrees. The first pizza cooked too quickly but the remaining 5 were great. Very happy!

Then today I finally finished the flagstone patio in front of the oven. A bit of a challenge given that the temperatures this weekend were around 102 midday. (I know it was far worse for those of you in the southwest!) I also completed paving a separate area of the same flagstone in case you are wondering what the second picture is! Still need to pressure-wash and seal.

Any recommendations on a good sealer?

Neil

[Les]

Re: 32 Inch Pompeii in Northern California

Any recommendations on a good sealer?

Neil

Spill a lot of wine and olive oil. You did a fantastic job - looks awesome!

[stonecutter]

Re: 32 Inch Pompeii in Northern California

Miracle makes a very good sealer and is reasonably priced. It looks like the stone was wet set, so you should wait at least a week before you seal it.

[boerwarrior]

Re: 32 Inch Pompeii in Northern California

Thanks Les and Stonecutter

yes, it was wet set - so will definitely wait. I will look up the "Miracle" product.

But wine and olive oil sound good too!

[K79]

Re: 32 Inch Pompeii in Northern California

very nice patio !! Nice when it all comes together isn't it.

[boerwarrior]

Re: 32 Inch Pompeii in Northern California

Thanks K79!

yes it does! you and I tracked each other pretty well there for a while - nice job!

I am tired now and I think I am going to take a break from building things for a while (that will probably last about a month) and enjoy some pizza parties. I have a long list of people I need to invite over!

[K79]

Re: 32 Inch Pompeii in Northern California

I am tired now and I think I am going to take a break from building things for a while (that will probably last about a month) and enjoy some pizza parties. I have a long list of people I need to invite over!

You and me both !! Wife is already planning a flagstone walk around the house to the patio haha.

[boerwarrior]

Re: 32 Inch Pompeii in Northern California

WHAT A DIFFERENCE A DOOR MAKES!

I finally got around to building a door. I used two pieces of 16 gauge steel front and back, and then some 1 1/2 inch wide steel channel for the sides and floor. For the top piece I used a flat 1 1/2 inch bar that I curved to fit. Inside I put a piece of 1 1/2 inch ceramic fiber board that I had left over from the floor of my oven. My plan was to weld the whole thing closed - but I started using stainless steel sheet metal screws to "tack" it together - and found that they worked so well I may simply keep the screws. I used high temperature caulk to seals the cracks so that none of the insulation will leak out.

After cooking last night I put this door on. This morning, 13 hours later, the temperature of the walls and floor were still 550 degrees! Wow! Without the door I was down to 250 degrees after 12 hours.

Also the insulation in the door seems to work well - I can easily lift the door out with the handles without using gloves. The temperature of the front of the door is about 140 degrees.

[boerwarrior]

Re: 32 Inch Pompeii in Northern California

Six days after firing and the interior temperature is still 165 degrees!

[K79]

Re: 32 Inch Pompeii in Northern California

Is that awesome!! Good job.

[boerwarrior]

Re: 32 Inch Pompeii in Northern California

Thanks K79! It's great to read everything on the forum and then see it all come to fruition eventually!

[boerwarrior]

Re: 32 Inch Pompeii in Northern California

Labor Day Pizza Party...

went very well! We had 21 guests and cooked around 19 pizza's (I lost count!)

I started the fire at 3.00pm and we started cooking at around 6.30pm. For the last hour or so before cooking I stopped adding wood, pushed the coals to the sides, and let the temperature stabilize.

The oven was a little too hot for the first 2 pizzas. Pizzas 3-16 were perfect! Then the last few pizzas began to take a little longer to cook - but were still great!

In Mid-October we are having an even bigger party and I am going to try and cook about 50 pizzas. I will start the fire early and make sure my oven is well saturated with heat - and I will keep a lot of small pieces of oak at the ready to keep some small fires going at the sides and back.... Hope this will be enough to cook that many!

[jbruning]

Re: 32 Inch Pompeii in Northern California

Glad t hear your party went well, Neil.

I have had a couple of smaller gatherings and it has been a lot of fun. Everyone loves the pizza and they have been fascinated by the oven.