Posts Tagged ‘44 gallon drum’

44 Gallon Drum Pizza Oven – New thermal mass!

Sunday, July 17th, 2011

Keeping the temperature of the 44 gallon drum pizza oven at a constant level has proven to be tricky. So some thermal mass should help.


Brick for pizza oven

Canberra Red brick – fired to high temps

I’ve heard that Canberra Red bricks are fired at a very high temperature and are suitable for such a purpose, so a number were purchased at the local recycling depot.

Canberra red bricks – fired to high temps

@ $1 each, a cheap upgrade

8 for the oven space and 2 in the fire box to test their stability there. Might add a few more in there if they don’t fall apart.

bricks in pizza oven

thermal mass & temperature probe

You can see the temperature probe in the oven space too.

pizza oven with tray

make sure the pizza trays fit!

Tests last night proved very positive. The oven temp quickly rose to 220 degrees plus and never dropped below, keeping a consistent 220 – 240 degree temperature, despite variations in the relative intensity of the fire.

pizza preparation

Preparing the pizzas

The pizzas were great, with a little attention required to the timing, which was a little quicker than previously.

The firebox bricks seemed to last fine. We’ll see how they go after a couple of firings.

More pizza reports to come, perhaps some gluten free recipes?

Brian.