The oven is a pre-fabricated modular design made of refractory cement - it
simply slots together. I agree with Barry that it doesn't have enough
thermal mass - but I guess this may be unavoidable considering the design,
as thicker materials would be too heavy to lift.
As Roland says, the manufacturers suggest keeping the fire running while
cooking the pizzas - the problem is the small size of the oven, which
prevents me from moving the fire away a sufficient distance from the pizza
to prevent that latter from burning. My ideal solution would be to build a
custom oven on a larger scale, but I just don't have the space.
I'd considered Dick's suggestion of making a separate outer wall and
filling the gap with vermiculite, for the reasons he gives in his posting -
provides insulation between the inner and outer walls and doesn't add too
much weight. I had rejected this because I couldn't figure out how to keep
it watertight, ie how to cap it - my diy skills are limited. But your post
has convinced me to take another look at this option.
Cheers
Andy


"Joe Doe" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"Andy Phillips" wrote:

Hi,
I have a pizza oven made from refractory cement (see
http://www.purimachos.demon.co.uk/pizza.htm). This works OK, but the
walls
are not thick enough to retain much heat - therefore, having heated the
oven with a wood fire and raked it out, it's only possible to cook about
two
pizzas before it's cooled down. I'd like to be able to cook at least four
pizzas and maybe some bread afterwards. I therefore need to thicken the
wall
to increase the heat capacity - I thought by adding at least one course
of
bricks around the sides and top of the oven, followed by an inch or so of
render. Question is, do I need to use special heat-proof bricks (eg
firebricks) and cement, or can I get away with normal house bricks and
mortar? I'm concerned that the mortar and render will crack - when in
use,
the outer wall of the oven gets too hot to touch for more than an
instant -
I would guess about 100-140C.
Any advice appreciated.
Andy



They suggest you can leave the fire on and cook with it that way. This
is actually what is done in all Neapolitan pizza ovens anyway (live fire
cooking). That would be the easiest thing to try first.

See the Forno Bravo site for exhaustive discussion on all aspects of
wood fired ovens. See for example

http://www.fornobravo.com/pizza_oven...en_firing.html

and go to their forums

http://www.fornobravo.com/forum/

Roland