Anyone have contacts for firebricks?

[Tank]

Looking at building a wood fired pizza oven outside as a bit of a project.

I love pizzas and make pretty bloody good ones - but even with a big assed oven in the kitchen - there is no way I can get to the temps I need to make great pizzas (and everything taste better when cooked with fire).

Im not that keen on the prefab units - I am not sure is they will do the job as well as a 'real' oven - and Im sure they wont hold the heat long enough for roast etc.

I have done a lot or research - but (and this is the biggie) - fire bricks in NZ cost a fortune - like $5.50 each. Not a problem if I am needing a few but given that the 'fire facing' parts of dome and base will need about 250 of them (and then there is the cost of the insulating and the outside bricks) it gets really expensive really quick.

Anyone got a hook-up for good quality firebricks ???

[Hitcher]

We're knocking out a fireplace in the next few weeks. This will liberate a couple of dozen firebricks in tidy order. They are yours for the uplifting freely of.

[CookMySock]

It's easy to make "wood fired" pizza in the oven. Yes, it is. Read on.

Get a pizza stone and put it on a tray high up under the griller, so there is about 5cm of space between the griller elements and the stone. Now leave the oven door open just a tad so the thermostat doesn't switch off, and turn the oven onto grill and turn the bastard all the way up and get that stone DANGEROUSLY hot 20 minute preheat should do it. Don't put oil or flour on the stone, or it will smoke it straight off.

Roll your dough out thin, like 3mm thin, a small amount of toppings on it, and LIGHTLY flour a thin scone tray and use the scone tray to slide your pizza onto the FUCKing hot pizza stone. Watch the magic!! 90 seconds is all it takes.

The rules ;

Everyone makes a pizza, taking turns. No one misses a turn.

Pizza is ripped up with fingers, not cut.

Every person gets a piece of the first pizza, and the second, and the third, and so on, so everyone makes pizza for everyone else.

Every pizza is an experiment.

No person criticizes any one elses pizza

Add beer and good music to suit.


An great evening to be had.

Steve

[phred]

I assume you read the article in "The Shed" some while back about making pizza ovens?
250 bricks sounds like a lot How bigs the oven. Another option is to use a castable refractory, should be cheaper.
If you definitiely want the brix try Kevin at Crow Refractories. He may have some excess stock or some such that may be more financially viable.

PS I like anchovies on my pizza.

[DingoZ]

No I don't have any contacts as such, but you might consider going and seeing some of your local demolition people. Like they might have piles of bricks and stuff from a demo job, or they might know of a house that they are demo'ing that may have bricks from a fireplace....Ended up with a good pile of usable bricks for a bbq I built at one of my old houses when I lived in Aucks.

[Headbanger]

Demolition companies aren't going to sell them cheap, That's probably where the $5.50 price came from.

We have been sitting on a pile of them for years,we know what they are worth.

well...the yard man does anyway, I don't take much notice of the crap that goes back as salvage.

[Tank]

It's easy to make "wood fired" pizza in the oven. Yes, it is. Read on.
...

No it isnt. Thats grilling using a pizza stone.

To make proper pizza you need to have far higher heats - like 400 deg c. You simply cannot do that in a oven.

Thats why I'm looking at spending all this $$$$ on a proper wood fired oven - not doing it on the cheap - but doing it properly.

I assume you read the article in "The Shed" some while back about making pizza ovens?
250 bricks sounds like a lot How bigs the oven. Another option is to use a castable refractory, should be cheaper.
If you definitiely want the brix try Kevin at Crow Refractories. He may have some excess stock or some such that may be more financially viable.

PS I like anchovies on my pizza.

Didnt see the shed article - but I have done plenty of reading at forno bravo and traditional oven forums.

I will try Kevin at Crow and see if he has any thing 'surplus' Thanks for the name

[Devil]

Build it and they will come.

If I dont get an invite i'll cry.

PIZZAAAAAAA!!!!

[Hinny]

Build it and they will come.

If I dont get an invite i'll cry.

PIZZAAAAAAA!!!!

If you had turned up to the ATNR a bit more often and you would have got at least a couple of invites from me.

[geoffm]

PM Hinny - he has a primo woodfired pizza oven - and knows how to use it.
I can recommend his pizza

[Hitcher]

Fuck the pizza. Does anybody want my free fire bricks?

[Hinny]

- fire bricks in NZ cost a fortune - like $5.50 each. Not a problem if I am needing a few but given that the 'fire facing' parts of dome and base will need about 250 of them (and then there is the cost of the insulating and the outside bricks) it gets really expensive really quick.

Anyone got a hook-up for good quality firebricks ???

I have been unable to locate my recipe for an oven but from memory the last time I priced it the materials cost was around $2,500 for a home size oven.
That price was from Crow refractory. Included bricks, mortar, insulating board for the underside of the floor of the oven, vermiculite for the insulating concrete and maybe the plaster for the outside..
Cheaper than the dudes in Huntly. They wanted $11 a brick.
Ordinary fire bricks from fireplaces, chimneys etcetera are not that suitable. You need bricks with a higher alumina content to hold the heat. The ones I used in my oven felt about three times the weight of ordinary fire bricks.
Can cook as fast as the pizza joints in Naples - 40 to 60 secs.
You could make a castable one for a lot less. Don't hold the heat as well and tend to flake on the inside. Quick to build tho'.

[Swoop]

Hitch. When you get your pizza oven up and running, will KB'ers be able to drop in for a free feed?

[Hitcher]

Hitch. When you get your pizza oven up and running, will KB'ers be able to drop in for a free feed?

Erm, with the numbers of bricks I'll have available to build the oven, the pizzas may be a bit wee. Caveat emptor?

[Tank]

I have been unable to locate my recipe for an oven but from memory the last time I priced it the materials cost was around $2,500 for a home size oven.
That price was from Crow refractory. Included bricks, mortar, insulating board for the underside of the floor of the oven, vermiculite for the insulating concrete and maybe the plaster for the outside..
Cheaper than the dudes in Huntly. They wanted $11 a brick.
Ordinary fire bricks from fireplaces, chimneys etcetera are not that suitable. You need bricks with a higher alumina content to hold the heat. The ones I used in my oven felt about three times the weight of ordinary fire bricks.
Can cook as fast as the pizza joints in Naples - 40 to 60 secs.
You could make a castable one for a lot less. Don't hold the heat as well and tend to flake on the inside. Quick to build tho'.

Not keen on making a castable one - want to do it properly and have one that will retain the heat for baking of bread / roast etc.

What design did you go with the round or the rectangle base?

40 seconds - fuck! how hot are you cooking - I was thinking that 90 seconds was 'optimal'