Firing up the v1.0.0 backyard pizza oven for the first time, I guess I went too hot too fast. Fortunately I can scavenge another rock from work and try again.
I made a similar mistake once building a fire pit in the yard. Filled it with rocks from a creek nearby. I eventually had to redo the project because every time it got to temp, little bombs went off.
As added caution to anyone reading this, river rocks can and will explode violently, and have been known to kill or seriously maim you depending on where the shrapnel lands. Be safe out there.
Not just river rocks.
Grab any random rock, it will explode at a certain temp, and a certain temp raise over time.
There’s so many factors it’s almost completely impossible to tell when it will happen, but it will happen eventually
In a proper wood-fired pizza oven, the fire is on the same level as the pizza. The only time I’ve seen this design is from ignorant DIYers on YouTube. It seems like a terrible idea and you’re just going to keep getting the results you’re having. It’s inevitable.
Just build a bed of bricks, and a dome of bricks above it, and put the fire on top of the bricks, and the radiant heat will cook your pizza.
Are you just using slate?
You could throw a 3/8ths sheet of steel in there for much better heat transfer and reliability.
Yeah, 2" piece of bluestone. My concern now isn’t just stability. If there’s water in any of the brick or other stones, the same thing could happen.
Yeah so you gotta do a very long, slow heat up. Then if it gets rained on, cooked again.
The other issue with stone that I’ve experienced is that it takes a very long time to reheat/ heat transfer. You end up loosing a lot of heat capacity each pizza you cook. Then it takes a very long time for it to get back up to heat. First pie is often a throw away because its so hot it burns instantly (metal grill grate can help with this), the second pizza is great, and by the third and fourth the stone has lost so much energy its not cooking well.
If you are insistent on stone/ wood fire, look at the italian designs. Instead of the fire being below the stone and relying on convection, they put the fire on top. They use a volcanic clay to form their surface and has lower heat transfer, but it doesn’t have the scorching issue some modern synthetics have.
I’ve tried all of these and I just use steel any more. Way more reliable. Way more durable. Way faster to get started. Way faster to shut down. I do have to adjust my burn a bit in terms of style because I do lose energy between pies, but I can kick out a pizza about ever 10 minutes from my oven.
“Fire brick” is a thing and the only kind of brick you should be using. There are loads of instructions and videos online that will tell you what materials will work. Don’t chance it.
