outdoor wood fired pizza oven?

Joined: 09 Aug 2005 Location: at church watching porn

im thinking of building an outdoor wood fired pizza oven, have googled this just cant get enough info,
has anyone attempted to construct one of these?
any infomation or pics would be greatfull

jake

Joined: 12 Dec 2002 Location: QLD

Subscribe to the pizza mag, it's ok ligh reading Smile

http://www.pmqaustralia.com/

Here's some info for wood fired pizza ovens (beech ovens)

Quote:

What type of wood is best?
Beech Ovens recommend the use of properly seasoned hardwoods with a moisture content of 20% or less. Soft woods, such as pine, cedar and wet or 'green' wood, will cause a build-up of residue throughout the exhaust system and will produce more smoke compared to aged wood. The symptoms of poor heating performance related to wet or green firewood include:

difficulty getting a fire going and keeping it burning well,
smoky fires with little flame,
dirty glass,
rapid creosote build-up in the chimney,
low heat output,
the smell of smoke in the kitchen,
short burn times,
excessive fuel consumption and
blue-gray smoke.
Although hardwood is more expensive when compared to softer woods there is value for money because hardwood is denser and therefore will provide more available fuel in the same space. Hardwoods will also burn longer and if the wood is properly seasoned it will burn very hot. The fuel available in hardwood enables the oven to sustain high temperatures for significantly longer periods. Also, hardwoods will keep a hot live coal bed for days increasing the ovens heat retention capacity.

NEVER burn any treated or painted wood. The chemicals used can release dangerous amounts of arsenic and other toxic compounds. Never burn plastic because it also releases toxic chemicals.

How much wood is required?
The amount of wood required will vary depending on the oven size and usage conditions however you could expect the oven to use approximately 1 cbm of wood per fortnight (dependant on wood type eg. a dense timber such as hardwood will have better heating abilities). Adding about 10kg of wood per hour should bring the oven temperature up about 100 degrees per hour. Do not over-fire the oven. If flames are spilling out of the door opening, or if oven floor temperature exceeds 400 degrees C, you are over-firing the oven.

Lighting, maintaining and re-igniting the fire
The fire should be ignited a couple of hours before the oven needs to be at cooking temperature. The fire can be located in any position inside the oven chamber. If the oven is being used daily, the fire can be ignited by using the glowing coals from the previous day's fire. The oven is heated more evenly and effectively by the fire positioned on the side rather than in the rear of the oven.

Once the desired oven temperature is reached, maintain it by addition of wood as needed. Don't throw wood against the side or back walls of the oven. At the end of the work day, place the removable stainless steel plug door supplied with the oven into mouth/door opening to retain residual heat inside the oven overnight. Remember to place the door correctly inside the oven moth past the exhaust spigot (refer to operation manual for further advice) .

At the start of the following work day rake the glowing coals out of the ash pile and carefully remove the ash with the ash shovel, leaving the remaining live coals to start the day's fire. Place the removed ash into a metal container with a tight-fitting lid. The closed container of ashes should be placed on a non-combustible floor or on the ground, a safe distance from all combustible materials pending final disposal. They should be retained in the closed container until all cinders have thoroughly cooled.

CAUTION: Never use an ignition fluid such as petrol or gasoline-type lantern fuel, kerosene, charcoal lighter fluid, or similar liquids to start or reignite a fire. Keep all such liquids away from the oven while it is in use.

Storing Firewood
Firewood should be kept up off the ground to promote drying and prevent mould growth.

Characteristics of Wood Species
Species Heat Ease of Lighting Coaling Qualities Sparks Fragrance
Apple Med – Low Difficult Excellent Few Excellent
Ash High – Med Fairly Difficult Good – Excellent Few Slight
Beech High Difficult Excellent Few Good
Birch (White) High Easy Good Moderate Slight
Cherry Med Difficult Excellent Few Excellent
Elm Med Very Difficult Good Very Few Fair
Hickory High Fairly Difficult Excellent Moderate Excellent
Ironwood Very High Very Difficult Excellent Few Slight
Oak (Red) High Difficult Excellent Few Fair
Grey Box Poor Excellent Few
Red Ironbark Poor Excellent Few
Yellow Box Poor Excellent Few
Red Box Poor Excellent Few
Yellow gum Poor Excellent Few
River Red gum Poor Excellent Moderate
Blue Gum Fair Good Few
Red Stringybark Good Good Few
Narrow Leaved Peppermint Good Good Few
Mountain Ash Excellent Fair Moderate
White Cypress Pine Excellent Poor Many
Radiata Pine Excellent Poor Many

Joined: 12 Dec 2002 Location: QLD

Put one of these in your back yard Smile

Joined: 17 Jul 2004 Location: Waikerie; SA

http://au.lifestyle.yahoo.com/better-homes-gardens/search/index.html?term=pizza+oven&x=43&y=14

http://www.alfrescowoodfiredovens.com.au/

http://www.abc.net.au/gardening/stories/s943952.htm

Very Happy

Joined: 13 Jan 2004 Location: Canberra

PM me your email, I actually have some plans for one you can buld from scratch.

Joined: 14 Jan 2007 Location: Melbourne

You would have to like and eat a lot of pizza to warrant it.

Joined: 13 Jan 2004 Location: Canberra

T_Diesel wrote:

You would have to like and eat a lot of pizza to warrant it.

Its not actually just a pizza oven, its just a wood fired oven, you can cook anything in them. They were the main cooking source for the ancient romans.

Joined: 28 Nov 2002 Location: Melbourne

Yep, you can do waaaay more than just pizzas. When I have the time and space I'll build one.

Joined: 05 Feb 2005 Location: Check your six.

mkpatrol wrote:

T_Diesel wrote:

You would have to like and eat a lot of pizza to warrant it.

Its not actually just a pizza oven, its just a wood fired oven, you can cook anything in them. They were the main cooking source for the ancient romans.

Romans...what did the Romans ever do for us....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaE3EaQte78

Joined: 13 Jan 2004 Location: Canberra

You idiot

Joined: 23 Apr 2004 Location: Auckland, NZ

Mate built one earlier this year, just in time for....well, winter. We still put it to good use though and will get alot more use this summer.

Make sure you use thermal bricks. His were recycled from some commercial operation. He used two layers of them and the dimensions of the oven were based on the brick's size to minimise cutting them and wastage. This sucker weighs over 2T, so needs to be sited on a decent concrete plinth.

Still havent finished off plastering the exterior properly because he's onto the next project already.

Joined: 08 Nov 2004 Location: vic

mkpatrol wrote:

PM me your email, I actually have some plans for one you can buld from scratch.

This post is useless without pics

Mrs S

Joined: 18 Mar 2008 Location: Perth, WA

slaveman wrote:

mkpatrol wrote:

PM me your email, I actually have some plans for one you can buld from scratch.

This post is useless without pics

Mrs S

lol great post Mrs S look at above post, or u could just pm him seeing as he has the plans probably ment he built one or u could google it

Joined: 14 Nov 2003 Location: Wollongong

I have one important thing to add here:

Mmmmmmm Pizza...!! Very Happy

Always wanted a pizza oven, they are so versatile.

http://www.diypizzaovens.com.au/

Joined: 13 Jan 2004 Location: Canberra

Here it is, downloadable from here:

http://www.fornobravo.com/store/Pompeii-Oven-Instruction-e-Book-pdf-p-16249.html

The process of getting the plans is free but you have to "buy it now".

Joined: 13 Jan 2004 Location: Canberra

I left the plans at home on my thumb drive so I downloded it again if anyone wants me to email the plans to me just send me a PM.