Keystone CRA|CK Ugh!!!!

[Lars]

Re: Keystone CRA|CK Ugh!!!!

Of course,
You all must have your fancy italian flour, and your 'hydration ratios', but if you really want the BEST pizza, then forget all that 'home made' nonsense, and try this.

And, at 88 cents, it is within everyone's budget. Less than the cost of a single firebrick! Lots of good fuel in that waxy box, too.

Lars.

[DrakeRemoray]

Re: Keystone CRA|CK Ugh!!!!

I really think I need that insulating door to keep temps in there. Am I noticing a lack of insulation, or does the door make all the difference (I haven't made any kind of door yet) ?

Hi Lars, The oven looks great. I think your problem was the wet wood. You will not use your insulating door while there is a fire in the oven. You really only use that when you have removed the fire and want to do some retained heat roasting or baking.

Get some more dry wood and then see how the oven performs. Also, it will continue to cure for several firings and that will make it easier to get up to temp.

Oh, and you CAN get your fornobravo membership revoked for cooking tony's party pizzas in a WFO!

Drake

[dougrappe]

Re: Keystone CRA|CK Ugh!!!!

Hey Lars, congratulations, that is one roaring fire (or is that the pizza box going up in flames?) It took me an hour to get up to pizza temperatures, still a little timid about going all out with the fire. I'm trying to get the rest of the enclosure together now, the "roof" I'm working under now is very temporary, and naturally it's been raining here seems like every day.

I made a quick door out of a scrap of insulation board and some sheet metal, after the fire died down, I plugged the oven and this morning it was hot enough to bake some bread, and actually we reheated the leftover pizza from last night in the oven for lunch.

enjoy your oven...unless the WFO police have already whisked you away to an undisclosed location for that Tony's pizza incident.

Doug

[Lars]

Re: Keystone CRA|CK Ugh!!!!

Doug,

I am really curious how well my oven will hold heat. Really, the dome is not warm at all with the inside heated. I didn't get fully up to temp either. I need more dry hardwood for that. ( got plenty growing at the bottom of the hill)

So, I need to build a door. Looks like you had a very successful bake as well. There wasn't much pizza left over, and mine is out in the countryside, so just had it cold here at home.


That aluminum cookie sheet trick worked pretty good. Instead of trying to get the soft pizza on to the peel, just bake it for 45 seconds on the metal, then it is easier to transfer to the peel. I would REALLY have been ostracized from FB if I had shown a home made pizza baking in an aluminum pan!!!!

Oh well. And now it is on to counter space, counter space, and more counter space!

Lars.

ps. check out the back side of my flue!!! When it is heated up, you can see the crack opening up by the chimney cap... and it gets narrower and narrower as it approaches the point where it's covered.

[RTflorida]

Re: Keystone CRA|CK Ugh!!!!

Lars, Lars, Lars...........I would be the first to line up to slap you with a 63% hydration dough ball, if it were not for the bag of Totino's Pizza Rolls (Supreme) in my freezer. REALLY, I don't know how they got in there, and NO that wasn't me loading the toaster oven this morning for a not so tasty snack. I guess if they "black ball" you, you will have a friend to share nasty frozen pizza with. We may be forced into our own forum the FPEF (frozen pizza eaters forum), sot of a support group. I need hlp with impulse buys, Publix is always selling 'buy one get one free" on those darned pizza rolls......and I buy them every time,

RT

[Rodneyf]

Re: Keystone CRA|CK Ugh!!!!

Lars! Tell me you didn't cook that thing in your oven! I couldn't bring myself to look at the pic a second time without feeling that you had sold your soul to the freezer.
Come on mate, shake yourself and get back on track.

[christo]

Re: Keystone CRA|CK Ugh!!!!

Hi Lars,

I had two different tiles crack in my oven. I had a full lengthwise crack in the first tile, replaced that and developed an identical crack in the next one.

I have some heat resistant caulk that I had left over from sealing the tile to concrete collar I poured around the tile (I filled a 3/16inch gap around the tile to the collar). So far it's been 2 plus years and the tile has not made any new cracks.

Have not tried the Tony's pizza in my oven yet. May have to make a trip to the store today to check them out. It might be fun to have a blind taste test between "theirs" and ours. Who knows - the kids may prefer them and at 88 cents per pie - this could become my fallback pie for picky kids. That'll teach them for turning up their noses at my pies.

My first try at refrigerated cookie dough was a disaster - even with the cookie sheet! Everything burned even though I was rotating it in the entryway!

Good luck,

Christo

[Rodneyf]

Re: Keystone CRA|CK Ugh!!!!

As promised I have some pics here to let you know where I am up to. I have the arch ready to mortar now and I am about 5 or 6 bricks away from a finished dome. I am struggling with how to fit a flue and really want to use a chimney pot of the house that the bricks came from. It too is over 90 yrs old and would be a real feature if I can get it to work. Also I like the centre brick in the arch standing as a feature but my son likes it laying down, it is a bull nose brick and I am determined to use it but now I don't know if it should stand up or lay down?

[Lars]

Re: Keystone CRA|CK Ugh!!!!

Rodney,
I would stand it.
Furthermore, I would bring it out the radius of the curve of the bullnose, so it kind of stands out from the face. Do you plan to brick up above the arch, or use a brick facade?

( just my opinion) Probably would have to fill in with a brick piece behind, or mortar it in that way.

Looks good overall! The chimney is what gave me the most trouble. Putting weight on a low arch can be tricky.

Lars.

[Rodneyf]

Re: Keystone CRA|CK Ugh!!!!

Stand it is then! I have so many options for the chimney I don't know which way to go. There is a guy about 10 klms away that deals in terracota pipes, chimneys and fixtures that I will go to see this week before I decide which way to go. take a look at the site and see what you think iI have a thumbnail of some of his chimneys.

Mashman

[Lars]

Re: Keystone CRA|CK Ugh!!!!

Rodney,
You are really lucky... you must live in a great area to have a vendor like that so close by.

I would think hard about the two pots that had a little cap on them. You will want to cap the flue somehow. Depending on the expense, it may be a bit much... that's up to you of course.

I just put a 'brown coat' ( second stucco coat) on my dome. I am just using a stainless cap on a masonry flue. The pots might be able to withstand the heat, but my really tough masonry flue did crack when sitting alone on top of the vent. You might ask whether the caps ( which probably are MEANT to sit at the very top of a tall stack) could withstand the heat of a chimney fire ( wood fire going right up your pot within a foot or two)

I would hate to see you put so much into a really cool looking pot just to have it crack from too much heat!

Lars.

Ps. the solution for the plain old flue was surrounding it with vermiculite/portland mix... oh the fun that awaits you on the insulation stage.

[Rodneyf]

Re: Keystone CRA|CK Ugh!!!!

It is all too much to think about. I as going to mortar the chicken wire to the back fo the vent arch to give me something to pull tight against to wrap the blanket (don't tell my wife how much the blanket costs!). It won't have to be a long lasting joint once the vermiculite goes over it, it won't need to hold any more tension. I see your point on the heat factor of top of chimney vs being a chimney but I will see the manufacturer and see what he says. He tells me they are fired at 1300 C so I can't see a problem as long as it has somewhere to move to during the heatup stage of the WFO.

[blacknoir]

Re: Keystone CRA|CK Ugh!!!!

Lars, I'm back to using a clay flue liner.. probably.. I was wondering what you poured around your liner? I thought you were supposed to keep the space around it open so it can expand and contract?

I have a strong suspicion that my chimney is going to look a lot like yours..

[Lars]

Re: Keystone CRA|CK Ugh!!!!

Hey Shay,
Sorry for the delay ( trip to colorado)

You are not going to like my answer. I put Vermiculite/Portland around my chimney!!!!

That stuff is great. It gives, but more importantly, it holds the heat in the flue so it can expand evenly and NOT crack.

Lars.

[blacknoir]

Re: Keystone CRA|CK Ugh!!!!

I've pretty much given up my battle with Vermiculite.. not even sure why I had one since the only thing I really didn't want was a base made of the stuff.. I'll just have to go pick up a bag. Thanks for the reply, no worries on the delay.