Last week I just manage to finaly end the construction of my first oven....such a long ride for many reason......I start from nothing 3 years ago ....I knew nothing about masonry...... watch countless video......meet some outdoor oven owner ...ask a lot of question .....buy stuff....many many hours trying to do my best .........I learn so much trough that process.....I am very proud and the oven work well....... sharing that with friend and family is priceless!!!
The biggest issue I had with the functioning of the oven I built was water proofing, If it rained any amount and the 2 tonnes of bricks and cement got wet, there was no way to build enough heat to dry it out never less cook. a couple of times it was so soaked that the steam/humidity would put the fire out.
I started with a basic Ooni and got addicted, so of course I wanted to up my game. Thought a lot about building because I'm a DIY'er and pizza ovens look pretty simple, but you gave me a lot to think about. Very helpful information - thanks!
I really thought I wanted to build. I liked the idea of control and quality. I'm glad I went the route I did (Zio Ciro). Best of luck and thanks for watching!!!
Dang... that sounds awesome. If you have a video (or some pictures) I would love to see it. Maybe post a link to a RU-vid video here or email it to me. You can find my email address here: ru-vid.comabout
Thanks for reaching out! I definitely have opinions on that. Brick/refractory material gives more consistent heat which is critical for making neapolitan style pizza and for occasions when you make more than a few pizzas at a time. However, if you're making a couple pizzas, some of the steel ovens allow you to heat them up more quickly. I cover this extensively in ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-MmomRk15eqQ.html
thanks for video ...great info ... I built my oven (only wood burning) about 3 years ago after much research ... we dont have as many off the shelf options here in South Africa as you guys do there ... turns out its a really good addition to my hot tub business ... busy with my 6th oven for customers now ... and I make a sell gourmet pizzas on a limited scale over weekends ... loads of regular customers ... next project is a mobile oven ... keep up the good work ....
Some of the stuff you say is true… some. I built my own oven. Yes it came out too big and it didn’t work that great until I bought a pizza stone. Actually I did build my oven out of REGULAR bricks because I was cheap. The cost was really low and it really added to the backyard when I sold the house. I had people overbid before the pandemic. But you’re right, you need to have skills or be overly optimistic and enthusiastic, I was the latter. When I build the next one it will be just right.
Hey man, great video. So far I've made every mistake possible building my own oven. I think one of the things I've learned is that the perlite and Portland cement build is not the way to do it.
perlite and cement is the right way but you need more than that .... my oven has 5 layers of which perlite mix is only one layer ... thats the trick ... its worth the extra effort and materials ...
@@BitontoPizza I am a firm believer in brick ... maybe old school .... so first layer is brick ... second payer 30 to 50mm mortar ... then 50mm perlite cement mix... you can throw in a bit of bentonite clay as well ... cat litter which contains perlite and bentonite clay is good ... then the blanket or similar insulation ... then chicken wire stretched over .. then a layer of 50mm mortar ... then its cured and used to cook at 400 to 500 deg c then the final layer of about 30 to 50mm mortar ...you can switch some of the layers around like you can swop the perlite layer with the blanket etc ...
Great information, you hit upon all the things which I've been thinking about for a long time. Ultimately I ended up in the same place as you. My decisions at the moment are Zio Ciro or Valoriani, and 60 or 80/75 versions.
So, regarding the 60 decision. I evaluated the same thing. If you're cooking with wood, the 60 is going to be a tight. If gas, you should be fine. Interestingly, one of the great oven makers of all time, Renato Riccio, lives near me and I've met him on a couple of occasions. He showed me the math and, basically, if you're cooking with wood you don't want to be below 75cm. Let me know how it turns out and, if you haven't already, please subscribe!
@@BitontoPizza Hey there, wanted you to know that I ended up ordering the Valoriani Piccolo (Baby) 75 wood only oven which should be delivered sometime mid-August. Also, the more I looked at the 60 and because I wanted to use wood only, I realized that the 75 suited my needs better.
I build a few pizza ovens, the last one I build was a 95cm oven.I bought a new house and had to leave my oven behind.,there was no way to move the oven.I installed a stainless steel oven in the house and just love the oven,it ia locally made in South Africa and call Avin.Building your own oven still costs you close to a ready-made oven but the joy to say it's homemade that's lekker(nice).
This the kind of not very helpful sales videos that one finds here on youtube. I appreciate that there is knowledge that's needed, but it would also be helpful to get solutions, not only the challenges and problems enumerated...
I'll disagree with him (I'm the originator of the Pompeii Oven plans on FornoBravo). My oven is still going strong after 20 years and if you follow my design for a base & oven then you could move the oven - I designed it to be forklifted off the base. Fast forward to this year thoguh and we built a house on the side of a mountain by a lake. My first floor is 25 feet above the ground & the lower level is 15 feet higher than the ground so we did not bring the original prototype Pompeii oven to the new house 😞 We did buy a Gozney Dome which gives us the same ability to cook more than just pizza - we love making bread, high temperature roasting of things like vegetables and steaks. But it cost me almost twice as much as building one. It was quicker to set up than building but to get almost the same cooking capability I spent much more, just saved time. Tens of thousands of people have built Pompeii ovens since my design first hit the wilds (thanks to FornoBravo for hosting the plans) and almost none of them had any wild skills before they started. It's just not that hard if you're willing to do the work. Mistakes aren't critical and easily corrected. If you live in the United States, virtually all of the materials can be found at Home Depot and the stuff that's not (firebrick and mortar) are easily found in any masonry supply store which you'll find in most cities & decent sized towns. If money is more important than time, I'd encourage you to build - I haven't yet met anyone who couldn't do it. If time is more important than money, or you just can't put a large concrete block and brick oven in your space, then buy.
I admire you for building the oven. TBH I'm considering building one in the future. At the time I put together this video there were shortages on a lot of the materials (during COVID) so the cost was pretty high. I also was having a hell of a time getting a permit from my local municipality.
@@BitontoPizza You may be getting someone who is overstepping their authority. If you're in the US, most states exempt them from local regulations because they're "cooking appliances". Regulations concerning Fire Marshal review, zoning regs for setbacks, outdoor fireplace rules, etc are all superseded by the state's assessment of it as a cooking appliance. You shouldn't even need a permit as it's a temporary or portable structure.
I don't understand why you say pre-built is cheaper. Even from your own chart the oven you priced out ($2500) is a nicer and larger oven than the lowest end Zio Ciro model (also $2500). Building an oven doesn't require any special training. There are plenty of in depth videos and tutorials/guides on the internet that make building an oven accessible to anyone that really wants to.
I agree that there are a lot of great resources, especially the famous Pompeo book from Forno Bravo. For the same level oven, I think building your own can be cheaper. In my case, I did the math and it was slightly cheaper only because I was going to have to hire an architect to submit plans for my stationary oven to ensure code compliance. I would love to see your calculations for your circumstances. Right now, fire brick is extremely expensive. However, you can still get refractory cement mix at a reasonable price.
Internally it is 80cm - externally it's about 1m. You can find out more about it on my unboxing video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-vRMrBhpEVu4.html
If you are planning to cook with wood, I would consider the 80 if you can swing it. This video talks more about choosing an oven: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-MmomRk15eqQ.html
I prefer cooking with wood for the flavor and the nostalgia and have no regrets to not having a gas option. Mrs Bitonto Pizza on the other hand would love the control and cleanliness of a gas option. Zio Ciro allows you to add gas later (very easy to do) and so I may do that. You can bet that if I do, I'll make a video about it!!!!
I have both and do not want to deal with wood all the time, it can be a pain. Gas, bingo! it's on!! gets as hot as wood, over a thousand degrees. Valoriani baby 75
