It's time to go Vertical

[RCLake]

Re: It's time to go Vertical

Glad to hear that, as long as it isn't raining, I'll keep the tarp off.

Threw in a brisket tonight. I put in a thermometer in the door and it was at 325, so we will see what happens,

[RCLake]

Re: It's time to go Vertical

It's been the 4th day of firing, trying to keep the dome at 600F, but the temperature of the dome varies greatly. It's probably because 1) the wood hasn't been seasoned or 2) 3" of rain we received this week. It seems to take some time before the oven heats up, but once flames start flaming gets warm. I'll go to 700 tomorrow if it isn't raining. The brisket I put in last night was so tender, that is what started me on this venture. I'll be making pizza dough tomorrow night!

Jim, I'm noticing about 200F difference between the inside and outside of the firebrick. How about you?

[gjbingham]

Re: It's time to go Vertical

RC,
If it were me, I'd give it a couple-three days of 700 degrees before pizza. That's when the real abuse to the oven appears to happen. Suddenly you're at 850 - 900 degrees and that's when the cracks appear. Just another smelly opinion.

[RCLake]

Re: It's time to go Vertical

RC,
If it were me, I'd give it a couple-three days of 700 degrees before pizza. That's when the real abuse to the oven appears to happen. Suddenly you're at 850 - 900 degrees and that's when the cracks appear. Just another smelly opinion.

Nah, I think you sniffed out a good plan. Was considering something along that line myself. If it stops raining today will be the first 700F day

[Acoma]

Re: It's time to go Vertical

George, you may be on to something there. If one goes from 700 to a 1000 degree potential in the oven, that could become an issue too, especially when it has been mentioned frequently upon completions of the ovens that performance is not optimized for the first several burns.

[RCLake]

Re: It's time to go Vertical

A couple of things I've noticed is 1)the wide range of temperatures within the dome, yesterdays target of 600 had areas away from the fire at 475 and 2) 600F on the inside and 400F on the outside when I lift the blanket on and check. It's raining today but I'm thinking of doing 700 Tues, 750 Wed and 800 Thurs and cook pizza on Friday.

[Frances]

Re: It's time to go Vertical

Sounds great Lake!

Good luck, have fun and make sure you have the camera to hand! I'll be looking out for your pizza pics on Saturday...

[RCLake]

Re: It's time to go Vertical

Well yesterday I was shooting for 700 and today I'm at 750F, It seems like for the first hour of the fire the temp doesn't move up all that much. Once the coals are formed is when I see the temp move up. I'm sure the wood I'm burning isn't properly seasoned, the ones that are drier really move the temp. I added a couple of splits earlier and they both caught on fire rapidly and I had a temp. excursion for a while. Off the scale of my gun so over 932F, haven't heard popping - cross my fingers.

[RCLake]

Re: It's time to go Vertical

Another thing I did today was place the extra 24" section of flue on top of my chimney. I'm not sure it's drawing better but the smoke is going over our patio and especially not into our neighbor's.
Doesn't seem a distraction but I'll wait until my wife gets back from Dallas to mortar it down. I'll use the rest of my HS50, but won't worry about curing!

[gjbingham]

Re: It's time to go Vertical

Did your dome ever clear on those hot fires RC?

[RCLake]

Re: It's time to go Vertical

No it is still sooty. It didn't stay hot for very long, I moved some wood around and it became manageable.

Speaking of a clear dome, at what temp does that happen? I also need advise on temperatures in the WFO for cooking pizza. Do I get the oven to a white stage, move the fire over to one side, clean the cooking floor with broom and mop and then let the floor stablize. What temperature should I expect the floor to be? I'm sure this has been discussed previously, but I wasn't paying close enough attention - didn't think the day would arrive.

[RCLake]

Re: It's time to go Vertical

At the end of the day, I decided to push it a bit. As always. Just added a couple of logs on top of the fire which was keeping the dome at 800. Wasn't long and temp got to temp at the top end of my IR gun (different type of gun in Texas) which is 932F. Went to look and half of my dome is clear, what happens next? Does it go back to being sooty as the the dome cools? Tomorrow I'm going to burn some pizza, or hopefully better. It's a pratice day anyway, kids are coming down for the weekend and won't be here till late. So Sat. I'll find out how to entertain.

[gjbingham]

Re: It's time to go Vertical

RC,
Just a guess, The top of the dome will stay white after cooling. The fact that you've got half of the oven white tells me that you still need to take it easy and do another fire or so like the last. Your dome will clear farther and farther down until the entire thing burns white. Pushing it too hard may result in cracks that you might not encur otherwise.

Once you can start with a relatively small fire, build it up over the first 20 -30 minutes, keep adding wood, and the dome clears from top to bottom in say 60 -90 minuutes, give it another 15 minutes for the first few fires, then move the fire to the side, add a log and make sure the flames are licking all the way across the dome. Take a temp measurement of the floor - probably 750 - 850 F. Pizza time! Keep adding wood as necessary to keep that flame going half way over the dome at least. If the floor is cooling off, add more wood.

[RCLake]

Re: It's time to go Vertical

Died and Gone to Heaven!


First weekend for pizzas, taking baby steps but stomach is full. Will posts pics and stories tomorrow after the kids leave.

[gjbingham]

Re: It's time to go Vertical

Good to hear. How is heaven anyway. I'd be nice to know what I'm going to miss.