DIY Pizza Oven

brianblaze

Hi all

Saw this on Reddit and am going to start sourcing materials soon.

http://m.imgur.com/a/lUCtN

Where's the best place to get Fire Bricks in small quantities? And is there any stores selling Ceramic Fibre mats or are they purely an online purchase? (Think it'll be easier gauge a size in person!) is the answer to both these questions a building providers? Am I answering my own questions? Have I lost my mind? Are those my feet?

my3cents

Only place that make firebricks in Ireland afaik are Dineen they even do a kit for a Pizza Oven. The firebricks are about €3 each in most builders merchants.

Edit> The other material you may want is vermiculite for making fireproof cement and further insulation and its available in bags from most plumbers merchants and builders merchants.

brianblaze

The pizza oven plan I'm following has no need for cement luckily. I'll check the Dinesen site now, cheers!

sham69

Best of luck with it.
I was going to try this last summer but chickened out and bought one online.
Best thing I've bought in a long time, perfect pizzas, bread and BBQ food etc.
Well worth the investment.

brianblaze

Cheap and easy too!

filbert the fox

brianblaze wrote: »

Hi all

Saw this on Reddit and am going to start sourcing materials soon.

http://m.imgur.com/a/lUCtN

Where's the best place to get Fire Bricks in small quantities? And is there any stores selling Ceramic Fibre mats or are they purely an online purchase? (Think it'll be easier gauge a size in person!) is the answer to both these questions a building providers? Am I answering my own questions? Have I lost my mind? Are those my feet?

Ahem... is this to go outside in this weather?

brianblaze

Easily covered in the bad weather in fairness

Happyman42

sham69 wrote: »

Best of luck with it.
I was going to try this last summer but chickened out and bought one online.
Best thing I've bought in a long time, perfect pizzas, bread and BBQ food etc.
Well worth the investment.

Where online?

brianblaze

At a guess...

http://www.pizzaovens4u.com/shop/category.aspx?catid=1

Happyman42

brianblaze wrote: »

At a guess...

http://www.pizzaovens4u.com/shop/category.aspx?catid=1

Ouch! There's posh

I think I'll be building.

iano.p

I was looking at making one this summer too. I got my blocks in doyles I got the last 50 they might have more in now. and got a stone off to put the pizza on of the lad up in flame. Hopefully I will make it in a few weeks. What plans you going off

brianblaze

iano.p wrote: »

What plans you going off

http://m.imgur.com/a/lUCtN

sham69

Happyman42 wrote: »

Where online?

Sorry for the delay.
Not that pricey at all, the Italian ones i was originally looking at were 1500+
I would highly recommend this one..

www.my-barbecue.co.uk/portable-wood-fired-oven-maximus

cargen

sham69 wrote:

Sorry for the delay. Not that pricey at all, the Italian ones i was originally looking at were 1500+ I would highly recommend this one..

Do they deliver fyi ireland ?

sham69

yep.
As far as I remember the delivery was free.

Happyman42

sham69 wrote: »

Sorry for the delay.
Not that pricey at all, the Italian ones i was originally looking at were 1500+
I would highly recommend this one..

www.my-barbecue.co.uk/portable-wood-fired-oven-maximus

Still way over priced for what they are, no?

sham69

I use mine all the time so no, not for me.
I do my breakfasts at the weekends.
My roast dinners, including veg.
All my breads and pizzas in it.

I suppose it depends on what you would use it for.
If just for Pizzas in the summer then yes a bit pricey.
I treated myself to in February when I turned 40, maybe a midlife crisis.....
Seriously though, I love it.

Xpro

Those small portable ovens are great, friend of mine has a Pizza Party oven, Italian made, I think they are around 700€ delivered from Italy, which is not bad considering over here they are selling Chinese replicas for way more.


Great investment if somebody is into pizza cooking and barbeques.
I would defo like to buy one myself but still not sure whether to build one or just buy one of those portables.

http://www.wood-fired-pizza-oven.us

curiousb

sham69 wrote: »

Sorry for the delay.
Not that pricey at all, the Italian ones i was originally looking at were 1500+
I would highly recommend this one..

www.my-barbecue.co.uk/portable-wood-fired-oven-maximus

This looks great and a really good price. I built a clay cob pizza oven last year but it has a limited lifespan! I will be checking out these guys for next Summer!

dararyder

sham69 wrote: »

yep.
As far as I remember the delivery was free.

Apologies for adding to this thread so late but Sham, mind if I ask a few questions about the oven? I'm thinking about getting one.

Is it wood burning? If so is it handy enough to get going? How long does it take to get to pizza cooking temperature? And how do you protect it in the winter?

RonnieL

I bought one of the aldi pizza ovens but with no insulation it's a bit crap - gets hot quickly, but I found it really hard to keep it at the required temperature.

Has anyone had any success building an oven? I'd love to see/hear some results.

Planning to get the garden done up, and I'd like a decent size pizza oven. I'm not very handy myself, but I love the idea of building something like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rM-a1f7kF40

I'd also be interested in seeing a response to dararyder's questions about the bought one, if you get a chance sham69.

brianblaze

We got the Aldi one too,. it's good for one or two but it cools too quick as you said.

We're looking at building a Cob Oven in the Spring as a project. The Flower pot one above is good but it's not exactly a permanent one!

curiousb

RonnieL wrote: »

Has anyone had any success building an oven? I'd love to see/hear some results.

I built a clay cob oven a few years ago (had to demolish it this year for a house extension...) and it held the heat brilliantly. The walls were about 10" thick so really held the heat well once it had time to heat up (usually took about 1-2 hours to get a floor temperature of 400 degrees centigrade.

The one you linked to has very thin walls with no insulation so I imagine it would lose heat quite quickly, though not as quickly as the one you have.

This is close to how I did mine.

RonnieL

curiousb wrote: »

The walls were about 10" thick so really held the heat well once it had time to heat up (usually took about 1-2 hours to get a floor temperature of 400 degrees centigrade.

The one you linked to has very thin walls with no insulation so I imagine it would lose heat quite quickly, though not as quickly as the one you have.

A couple of hours heating time would be a bit much for me - I don't think it would get the use. Am I right in saying the idea is to light the fire in the middle, then push the fire to the back when you're ready to cook, freeing up the hot floor for cooking?

One other thing I'm curious about - how well are these DIY ones likely to hold up to Irish winters? I'd be planning for mine to be build in a corner, and semi covered (under pergola type structure).

curiousb

brianblaze wrote: »

We're looking at building a Cob Oven in the Spring as a project.

My build was similar to this, but I had a different base. The main difference though was after I did the layer of clay cob and removed the sand, I let it dry for a week, then did another layer of cob on top of what was there. I mixed a lot of straw into this for insulation, and let this dry for a week too. Then, finally a final layer of clay cob for the outer layer, hence the overall thickness.

curiousb

RonnieL wrote: »

A couple of hours heating time would be a bit much for me - I don't think it would get the use. Am I right in saying the idea is to light the fire in the middle, then push the fire to the back when you're ready to cook, freeing up the hot floor for cooking?

One other thing I'm curious about - how well are these DIY ones likely to hold up to Irish winters? I'd be planning for mine to be build in a corner, and semi covered (under pergola type structure).

Yep, I mainly used the oven for pizza parties where it was going to get a lot of use. Last one I held, I popped a log of lamb into the oven when everyone had gone home and the fire was out and left it for the night. 12 hours later we had great lamb for lunch! I suppose the longer it takes to heat up the longer it will hold the heat.

You light the fire initially close to the mouth of the over, then as it takes, move it back into the centre of the oven and feed it there until the temperature is up to what you want. Then move the fire to the side and wipe off the centre bricks and you are ready to go.

RonnieL

curiousb wrote: »

I suppose the longer it takes to heat up the longer it will hold the heat.

Yeah that makes sense. I think I'd be happy with something that holds the temperature reasonably well - In other words, I don't think I'd need the 10 inches :-P

curiousb wrote: »

You light the fire initially close to the mouth of the over, then as it takes, move it back into the centre of the oven and feed it there until the temperature is up to what you want. Then move the fire to the side and wipe off the centre bricks and you are ready to go.

That's great info for when my pizza oven dream is a reality - thanks for the replies.

If any proud pizza oven owners are lurking - maybe you could post pictures, and if it's a diy job a link to the steps?

BrokenArrows

I think ill stick to my 15 minutes in the fan oven!!

curiousb

BrokenArrows wrote: »

I think ill stick to my 15 minutes in the fan oven!!

Its horses for courses really

But a pizza party with a wood fired oven on New Years Eve and pizzas cooked in 2 minutes is hard to beat (for me).

M.T.D

Brokenarrows - there is a big difference in the pizza cooked at 400 degrees plus for less than 3 mins and a pizza cooked at 240 for 15 mins
Ronniel - yes you really need to light the oven around 2 hours before you want to start cooking your pizza, but it is no big deal. I would light the fire then make the dough and apart from feeding the fire occasionally there is nothing else to do until it is time to prepare your ingredients,
re the Irish winters the summers are wet as well. Provided the oven is off the ground you can just put a tarp or polythene over it when not in use.
As curiousb says the thicker the oven wall the longer the oven will retain its heat.
Once the pizza eating is over I would bake bread. Usually a focaccia with any leftover pizza dough first, it cooks quickly, then a full sized loaf or two.

I have not done an overnight roast yet but will give it a go.

The usual fuel is logs but as I have a stack of turf I use that.
If anybody is interested I can put some pictures taken during the construction.

exaisle

Another fad. The only problem with this one is that you can't hide it in the press with the juicer, smoothie maker, sandwich toaster etc etc etc..and you can't cut it up and burn it in the stove..like decking..


Ah come on...an outdoor oven...with our weather???

curiousb

exaisle wrote: »

Another fad. The only problem with this one is that you can't hide it in the press with the juicer, smoothie maker, sandwich toaster etc etc etc..and you can't cut it up and burn it in the stove..like decking..


Ah come on...an outdoor oven...with our weather???

Fad? Outdoor ovens have been around a lot longer than indoor ones

You'd be surprised how often you can use it in our weather. I have had New Years Eve pizza parties for the past few years, without any problems. If it rained I put up a gazebo on the patio, with the oven just outside it and kept cooking. It's really not an issue.

RonnieL

M.T.D wrote: »

Brokenarrows - there is a big difference in the pizza cooked at 400 degrees plus for less than 3 mins and a pizza cooked at 240 for 15 mins
Ronniel - yes you really need to light the oven around 2 hours before you want to start cooking your pizza, but it is no big deal. I would light the fire then make the dough and apart from feeding the fire occasionally there is nothing else to do until it is time to prepare your ingredients,
re the Irish winters the summers are wet as well. Provided the oven is off the ground you can just put a tarp or polythene over it when not in use.
As curiousb says the thicker the oven wall the longer the oven will retain its heat.
Once the pizza eating is over I would bake bread. Usually a focaccia with any leftover pizza dough first, it cooks quickly, then a full sized loaf or two.

I have not done an overnight roast yet but will give it a go.

The usual fuel is logs but as I have a stack of turf I use that.
If anybody is interested I can put some pictures taken during the construction.

Thanks for the reply MDT. I'd certainly be interested in seeing some pictures if you have them handy.

RonnieL

exaisle wrote: »

Another fad. The only problem with this one is that you can't hide it in the press with the juicer, smoothie maker, sandwich toaster etc etc etc..and you can't cut it up and burn it in the stove..like decking..


Ah come on...an outdoor oven...with our weather???

I hear you - it's a bit of a fear alright, which is partly why I'd be on for a diy build spending a few hundred, rather than blowing a fortune on a bought one. I do fresh pizza once a week, and my kids love it. Even if I used it a hand full of times a year I'd be happy enough.