Questions on a DIY brick wood fired oven & cordierite stone

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Hello folks, I'm planning to build a really simple brick stacks of wood fired oven. I'm about to start a small pizza business around the neighborhood. I'm young and I don't have experience with building and concete materials. If you are experienced, please give me some advice..



The oven will be a simple one, using 4 levels bricks for the base with air pocket vent on the back, then the base for the pizza will be using a cordierite stone, and the top will be a slaps of bricks/fire bricks concrete/cordierite.. I will use mortar in between the bricks, and probably layer the sides with vermiculite..



For the cordierite though, the store have 2 types of thickness (1/2 inch and 1nch).





** Oven model is on the attachment


Please check this video for the visual of the oven:
youtu.be/tHMQ_QQJtbY



My questions are:



1. Is the 1/2inch stone will be enough to resist the direct fire from the oven? will the thicker stone needed for a better result? I have tight budget and the thicker stone is almost 2x the price of the 1/2inch..



2. Is it necessary to coat the outer sides of the oven with vermiculite for a better result?



3. **Pls check the video in the link



Why is the base of the pizza burnt a lot? is it too much wood for the fire? is it because the brick is bad?



What will happened if i use a cordierite stone for this type of oven? will it tend to burnt as well?





I'm planning to build a slightly bigger version of that oven, probably a brick more on the length and 2 bricks more on the depth(width)



That guy on the vid only have 1 brick for the vent, i'm planning to have 2 bricks for the oven vent, in hoping that the bigger gap will helps the oven have a better air circulation, so heats will be distributed more evenly.. Pls correct me if im wrong..



And for the depth(width), i'm planning to have it wider, probably 1.5-2bricks deeper so that the fire won't have direct contact with the pizza.



My questions are, if i put 2 bricks gap for the vent, will it combust the pizza even more? or the indirect contact from the depth will save it from burning?



Thanks.

[truckcab79]

To be honest I’ll refrain from answering your individual questions as I think you need to be clearer about your intended business. That oven doesn’t follow any of the principles of a ‘proper’ wood fired oven so it’s fine for chucking together at minimal cost for a bit of fun making pizzas at home but it’s not what you need for a business by a long stretch. Have a look at some of the builds on here, on Facebook and on Forno Bravo forum. Plenty of info for both home builds and business use. You’ll soon find that the size and performance of something like you’re proposing is never going to meet your business needs. You’ll also have to dramatically  raise your expectations on budget. If the concern over the thicker stone is bothering you then the cost of a proper oven will knock you out.

Not intended to sound patronising and fair play to you for starting out on your own business. Definitely the way forward these days if you have it in you. Just don’t want you to waste time and money. If you join The Wood Fired Oven Cooking Club on Facebook you’ll get loads of useful feedback and theres also someone selling a ready-made mobile pizza business currently, van, oven and bookings although it’s probably nowhere near where you live. Worth a look though. Obviously a vastly bigger investment but if you’re serious about it then probably a better starting point.

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Jan 23, 2021 10:15:16 GMT truckcab79 said:

Hi mate, appreciate the reply, and i'll take that on consideration very carefully. And thank you for the references.. i'll definitely check that out tomorrow morning..
Btw, if you have any experienced on stones and air circulation.. Could you suggest what is the alternate ways to make that oven operates better? 

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**Just consider that i will use that for daily cooking and not business

[truckcab79]

Rather than me try to regurgitate the info badly just google ‘pizza oven design principles’ and you’ll find dozens of sites explaining how they work at their most efficient.

As far as the oven design you want to build I’d ignore the principles. It’s never going to do anything really well. That’s not to say you shouldn’t build it. I’d build it as simply and cheaply as you can. Use the cheaper stone you’ve found if you want to rather than waste any money on the thicker one. Better still try and scrounge old clay bricks, fire bricks, or heater storage bricks. Build it from that. Have some fun with it. It will be inefficient but you’ll have a great time building and cooking on it. In the meantime read up, and if you get a taste for it read loads of build threads and decide what your first ‘proper’ oven should look like.

In particular look at village clay ovens on YouTube. Lots of people with zero money in the middle of nowhere building perfectly decent ovens out of earth, straw, or whatever they have to hand. Interesting even if you don’t go down that route.

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Jan 23, 2021 15:45:28 GMT truckcab79 said:

Your saying actually got me thinks about it a lot, I will do my reading and comeback for help, that's for sure.
Btw really really appreciate your reply.. Thanks

[truckcab79]

👍

[truckcab79]

This is what I’d build in your situation. Not dissimilar from your original idea.

m.youtube.com/watch?v=OCwKpyKY8Gs