Thank you for such useful tips! I'm gonna build my first outdoor pizza oven based on your videos (my Neapolitan pizzas need it! 🍕🤪👍) I've seen many, many oven videos and books and yours seems to be the most practical, easy to build and apparently thermically effective. I will give it a try! Thanks again! 😃
I have watched just about all your videos they are very helpful and hopefully my pizza oven will be cured in another two weeks and I will post pictures thank you very much
Hi! Awesome videos. I’ve watched them many times. I’m part way through my own pizza oven build (first layer of perlite down) and had 2 main questions... 1. I’ve seen a few ovens that have cracked around the flue. Do you recommend putting refractory mortar around it so it adds to the heat resistance? 2. What is your opinion on putting a fire blanket between the layers of perlite? I was going to wire it down and then cover it? Any help welcome! And thanks again for all the info in your videos!
Thanks for all the videos, I made my own hibachi grill last week and taking it out the form tomorrow and I made a rocket stove the week before and it’s drying off for the next month. I’m going to use it to build a rocket pizza oven so I will let you know how it all goes.
I followed these instructions during lockdown. I used perlite and cement fondu, it’s worked really well. It’s been used several times, yesterday it was heated to 500c and no cracks. Thanks for all the help. The only thing I disagree with is waiting so long. Ours dried out for 2.5 weeks and we heated it slowly the first couple of times. Mine is a little bigger, I used a 75cm ball and needed almost 200l perlite and 2 sacks of cement. Thanks for your help.
Bom dia! Estou querendo fazer um fogão de lenha Rocket stove compacto Usando apenas massa com perlite Sem usar tijolos! Poderia me informar o traço de massa adequada????
Hi, from Chile. Great video, there are many videos of perlite / vermiculite wood fire oven, but none of theses explain clearly this doubt. One more question: its enough the chiken wire to avoid cracks? or thera are a better reinforcement. Thanks again
Thank you, Thumbs Up!! Would you mind giving me your opinion on what sort of problems I'll encounter if my contracter used the SAKRETE High Heat Mortar with actual "Fire Brick" but instead of just using the mortar underneath the brick, he used it underneath and then made grout lines instead of placing the brick next to each other. Can I use that as my cooking surface? Or do I have either replace the whole thing by putting another layer of fire brick. I hope this question make sense
(where I live it rains alot) is perlite waterproof? and do you use refractory cement? Have you firebrick on the base? if so how are they supported? , thank you
Loved the video. I couldn’t find white cement for a good price (I live in the US) and am going to use Portland cement. I am planning on making the walls of the oven about 4 inches (100mm) thick and reinforcing with chicken wire and possibly steel wool. Do you think this mixture would still work? I saw the vermiculite oven you built with Portland cement began to chip and I was worried the same would happen to me.
Thank you for the videos, great stuff. What is your base made out of( where the pizzas lay on)? It looks like pavers to me. If they are what size and width did you use? Thanks again.
Hi, great video series and super informative, thank you for posting. What temperature can these go up to? You mentioned not to go too hot to avoid cracking.
I want to line my charcoal grill to make it last longer... I was thinking of firecast cement, how would I apply it so it molds to the form of the barrel like shape?
hi thanks for the videos, Iam planning to add perlite cement mix as a 2nd layer outside my new brick oven with no blanket, do i still need to wait 5 weeks? and does this mix waterproof from rain or i need to seal it?
After you finish completing your perlite oven and it fully cures and you have used it can they be left out in the open in the elements or rain and freezing temperatures in the winter or do they have to be under a canopy
Hi, great thing. Could you please answer few additional questions? How long does it take to warm it up? How long does the oven retain the heat after you stop heating it? Could you bake bread in it? And another thing: don't you think you could use hydrated lime instead of cement? Lime should withstand high temperatures... but I don't see anybody using it for pizza ovens.... Thanx and Regards
About an hour to warm up. Retains heat for 1-2 hours after. We have cooked bread, roasted chickens etc after cooking pizzas. Not sure about lime. I have used it as an exterior render for cob ovens in the past but not sure how it would work otherwise??
Thanks for the update!I am slowly putting my supplies together. I have a couple of questions: I bought refractory cement instead of the white or standard cement. Is the ratio the same? (5/2/2) I also bought chicken wire for support and a ceramafiber blanket as extra insulation. Have you used the fire blanket? I really enjoyed your videos and am subbed. Keep up the great work!
Thanks for watching. Not sure of the ratio for refractory. Make a small test brick in an ice cream container, and let me know if the ratio works?! Insulation blanket sounds awesome.
Great concentrated dose of oven building tips! I've been wanting to build one for over a year, finally purchased some materials and about to start construction. Ironic that after waiting so long to start, I'm heartbroken to think I'll have to wait weeks instead of days before I can light it. I've ordered a ceramafiber blanket as well. Instead of chicken wire, I'll be treating the blanket with a rigidizer spray to keep it from squishing down thin as the outer layer of cement goes on. But I may use wire in the cement for additional strength as well. Hope your project goes well.
Very educational, I think you give a really good stuff for knowledge from your experience, very useful, thanks for that. I have a question. If you decide to go with high temperature cement, will you still add perlite? If so, which you think it will be the ratio?
Hey mate, great vids and very informative... Have any of your ovens gone onto a mobile base I.e trailer mounted? I’m very keen to build my own trailer mounted option and obviously I’m concerned regarding vibration during travel. Any thoughts, ideas would be greatly appreciated. Cheers.
Never built one for a trailer, only a trolley, which doesn’t get moved much! A perlite oven once dried out is pretty solid but I’m not sure how well it would go I’m afraid...
Hi Tom. Excellent videos! I'm planning a bbq shack area and want to put a perlite pizza oven in it next year. What are the overall dimensions of the finished item when you're using a 65cm ball?
Thanks for the pizza oven videos, they've been really helpful when making plans for my own oven. Can I ask if these perlite ovens will stand up to the elements? I'm thinking specifically heavy rain?
Hello Tom, thank you so much for your wonderful videos. I just found your channel, but will be watching more and more - I'm personally interested in making a pizza oven atm, but I'm sure that's just the beginning. I do have a few questions. I'd like to use a fine cement such as Rapidset Cement All, to cover the outside of the perlite oven, to trowel it smooth and possibly add some decorative brick pieces. This will make the oven quite thicker - I will add chicken wire. My questions are 1) Does it hurt to add this thicker layer for any reason? 2) My perlite cement will be made with refractory cement. This outer layer of Cement All won't have that - do you think/guess that's ok? Any other thoughts with adding this extra layer? THANK YOU!
Probably will be ok, but I’d be a tad worried about cracking...eventually. Sometimes we just have to try things! When I used to make cob ovens we used to make a lime plaster with hydrated lime and fine sand. This would give a very white breathable player layer which lasted a few years before cracking.
Hi, I cast my dome last week and it's been kept under damp rags since then. How soon do you recommend I keep the rags on? Also, what is the optimum time in weeks for removing the ball and tunnel mould? Thanks.
You talk about using medium grade perlite verses course, is that correct? It looks like if the perlite were medium grade the “percrete” mix would be much finer but not as porous and harder to stack when molding the dome. Should I go for the course or medium (horticultural) grade?
When using the perlite in the way you did,how did you stop voids/airgaps from happening. In mine ,I dont know if the mix maybe wasnt wet enough but I've been left with several voids I can see on the entrance of the oven. Thinking maybe using a slurry coat the fix this? Any suggestions would be grand thanks
You've probably been asked this before, But I'm toying with the idea of building a cheap(Ish) DIY alloy smelting forge. Do you think this pearlite mix would take the heat for any acceptable length of time? The idea is to cast an octagonal base, and a load of trapezium shaped "Bricks" to all fit together in a metal frame. I want to do it like this (Rather than casting the body as a single part) so I can replace bricks individually as the inner surface deteriorates. I know the temperature difference between baking a pizza (apparent around 500°C/950°F) and melting aluminium (Around 800°C/1500°F) is quite a significant step, But this material looks just what I'm after with regards to strength and cost, So if it would survive the heat it looks like it would tick a hell of a lot of boxes. Also, if this stuff could be usable, what kind of wall thickness would you suggest? Any advice you can offer would be appreciated.
I can’t give you a definitive answer but if you used refractory cement and perlite I’m sure it would. Thickness again not sure as it’s a completely different application. Maybe 200mm thick?
Hi Tom, greetings from a Brit in Sweden! Just ordered a 100L bag of perlite and looking to buy a 25kg bag of refractory cement to make my pizza oven. Wondered if I should/shouldn't add any sand to the perlite concrete and 1. If it's necessary/beneficial and 2. what it would do to the finished product. Would appreciate your insight! TIA! - Tom
Do you think placing the oven in a room with a dehumidifier would speed up the process of curing the oven? Or would it promote more cracking as it would be drying to fast?
Hi I have asked this to few different people but not got an answer. Will the oven be ok outside uncovered once built? Will rain soak in to the walls and soften the cement? In other words will the oven need to be covered at 'll times? Cheers for your help
Ideally it will last a lot longer covered. Mine is covered as are the 10 or so I’ve built for people, except 1. They told me that after a year it was fine.
Hey Tom, i am from India and i want to build a wood fired oven in my farm. Is there's a way to build an oven which wont crack ever? I'll source everything that is required. All i want is to build an oven that lasts really long. I am spending on it anyway so might as well spend on best quality build
Hi Tom, made mine very similar to yours same ratio with perlite and normal Portland cement and in parts it's very brittle? Left for about 5 weeks and had a few small test fires. Really disappointed
@@foodrelated lots of areas, Ive rendered the top so can only see on the inside. I can rub it away with my finger. Hopefully it's not fatal but it's not looking too good. May patch with fire cement.
Hi! Awesome videos. I’ve watched them many times. I’m part way through my own pizza oven build (first layer of perlite down) and had 2 main questions... 1. I’ve seen a few ovens that have cracked around the flue. Do you recommend putting refractory mortar around it so it adds to the heat resistance? 2. What is your opinion on putting a fire blanket between the layers of perlite? I was going to wire it down and then cover it? Any help welcome! And thanks again for all the info in your videos!
