Backyard Aquaponics
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I learned about AP from an aussie website and later learned about wood fired brick ovens from an Aussie website...

The roots of brick ovens actually goes WAY back and rests largely in the Mediterranean area with perhaps the most famous being Italian for quality pizza and breads...

Lots of different styles and build methods. Clay, brick, refractory cement, etc... Pompeii (igloo), low vault, Neapolitan, Tuscan, half barrel, etc...

Anyway, I wanted to open a thread for discussion and pics of member ovens. Links, etc...

I am nearing completion of a 42" Pompeii style brick oven.



It cooks a MEAN pizza!



And the obligatory "before" pic when I broke ground on this project six weeks ago...



For a detailed build thread, got here.

I highly recommend the Forno Bravo Forum for info and detailed pics/build threads on WFOs. They are much like this wonderful forum! Many guys more than ready to help... free plans and lots of pointers.

If you have an oven, questions or pertinent links, please post up!!

CB

This will be my most bestest and most visited site. I want to build one XMAS time so ill be watching this like a ferret on top of a rabbit hole.
The more details on how to build and issues - the better (for me anyways )

Yeah

I am going to be building one as well. Mine will be integrated with the FT, sump and BBQ

Pizza looks yum I think I will stick with electric $90 job, perfect pizza 10 minutes

My idea is to have a hot tub behind the oven so you can turn on a valve and have the water heat up while your cooking the pizza.

Can't beat that smokey flavour from a wood fired pizza oven.

Integrating a WFO with the FT may actually be a great idea! Location and layout did not make that feasible for me, but designing it to be able to cycle water through some part of the brick work would be awesome...

I have a temporary inner door for my oven that seals fairly well, but is not nearly as insulated as it will be... still, the temps this morning in the oven, after burning ONE large armload of wood yesterday afternoon, were still over 300º F. If I burn two or three large arm loads I can get the inner temp of the oven up over 900º and it will coast for days!!

I am considering building a small purpose designed fireplace with heavy stone mass for cycling water through just inside the end of my GH. I could fire it up and heat the tank to 85º F, then let it coast for days until it nears 65º F, then do it again. Guessing a once a week fire would do the trick... Excess heat in the fireplace/water tank could be vented to a steam turbine for power storage...

Cost for building an oven varies based on your location and cost of materials, size of the oven and type of finish. Including $400 of concrete slab, counters, extra mortar, block, stucco, etc for the fireplace, etc, I probably have about $1900 in this whole build. Had a contractor built this, I would bet we'd be $5-7K into this project... Lots of labor, but nothing any rookie couldn't do. None of the work I did is rocket science.

Do check out the Forno Bravo Forum for LOTS of how-to info and pics if you think you want to tackle this project. The food out of it is amazing. It is sustainable. Reduces heat in the kitchen/house that the a/c has to overcome. Will last a generation plus if built fairly well...

BTW, Nocky, this thing will cook a pizza in 90 seconds!! But it is SO much more than a pizza oven! However, if you want another way to get the WFO touch on pizza, place a layer of firebrick in your grill and heat them up screaming hot! Like 700º hot! Then throw the pizza on them. The results are good, but not exact duplication of a WFO.

Also, the FB Forum has free plans available for download. It is a very comprehensive 70 or 80 page pdf file. You just have to sign up for a free account on the site.

I have a couple other links I'll post when I'm back at the house.

CB

I have the base for a brick oven in the backyard. Been there a couple years. I also have all the block, bricks and firebrick I need to complete it. Unfortunately, whenever I am ready to start to finish it something else comes along to suck up the money for the refractory concrete and my time. However, the base has not completely gone to waste. It is a good place to pile up all the brush I cut out of the yard each year and dry it until I can burn it.

I haven't checked out the forum you mentioned yet. I am basing mine off of the Wang and Scott book The Bread Builders. The method in that book for starting and feeding a yeast culture is the best I've found.

Behold, the Funcooker !

90 x 90 cm internally, single brick wall, refractory render, 10mm thick steel plate door, made in two days ...
no firebricks, no insulation, no technical skill in construction, 2mm wide cracks all the way through it ...

this thing isnt a pizza oven , it's an EVERYTHING oven !!
woodfired ribs, plum duck, potatoes, ribs, bacon, fish, bread, ribs ...
it cooks ribs really well too
Ive cooked more of every other possible thing in the funcooker than I've cooked pizza in it
the only thing that turned out bad was the rabbit and turnip stew - lid on, fire too low ( turnips in it ... ) , rabbit meat not sealed, etc

best roast duck Ive ever had, best potatoes Ive ever had, smoked trout tase AWESOME if theyre finished / browned off in this thing for a few minutes after coming out of the smoker,
I cant wait to taste the 5 annoying noisy chickens that we have after they sit in this thing for a good hour

A brick oven doesnt have to be expensive to cook great food -
the steel door was lying around, it cost 50 bucks to cut it how we wanted,
the bricks cost a carton of beer - for the guy at the tip so he let us take some bricks
the render on inside and out cost a few bags of cement, a bag of kitty litter , a bag of perlite and a trailer of sand ...

under 200 bucks and it works a treat

Boris, that is nice!! Excellent build on a budget, too!! I had to operate within some strict, uhm, er, 'design restrictions' my wife put on me...

Later this fall, I want to try my hand at a cob oven using local clay. Seems easy enough though not nearly as durable as the brick or refractory cement ovens. There are examples of old WFOs that are 2000+ years old!

For the thread, here are a couple interesting links with pics of quick builds done at a weekend seminar. Different oven styles. Picture heavy, so the pages may not load at once...

http://mha-net.org/docs/v8n2/wildac06b.htm
http://mha-net.org/docs/v8n2/wildac04b.htm
http://mha-net.org/docs/v8n2/wildac05b.htm
http://mha-net.org/docs/v8n2/wildac03b.htm

CB

Nice looking ovens.... I don;t remember seeing that at your place last time I was there Boris.. You do keep yourself busy...

I bought the book by Kiko Denzer, "Build your own earth oven" quite a long time ago and I've wanted to build a cob oven for a long time... Just never got a round tuit....



Guess I have no excuses now..

Got to say that wood fired ovens are something that unless you have one you dont realise how good they are.
I've had one for over a year and we do every roast in it now instead of outside.
Havent bought takeaway pizza since as either as they dont compare.
Great for when guests come around too.
Good to stand around while having a beer.......

I was looking at a "Koala Oven" the other day for a bit over $2000. Steel construction, portable (if you buy the frame + wheels for $300) so you can take it with you if you move or move it around the yard, much more energy efficient and quicker from start up to cooking (around 30 min). Fire is in a seperate compartment from the food so it is easier to control temps, but smoke + heat flow into the oven. Has anyone seen or tried one of these babies?

http://www.koalaoven.com/Home/Home.asp

Hi Countryboy,

Yeah great site, I'm already a member and waiting for the day when I can start building. talk is I'm going to build two . One in a rental that we own before we sell it and then when we rebuild our house, build one for ourselfs.

Plan is to build a 42" for our selfs and make the rental one smaller.

Himzo.

Goodie - a thread on one of my not too distant future projects! (after the AP is done)

Got given a heap of self sufficiency mags years ago. One showed a stone oven - had the fire heating a single person hot tub, as well as a bbq and a box roasting oven - always wanted to build one after seeing that!

Have been looking at building an earth oven for a while now which would be connected to pipework laid in a grid underneath the ground inside the greenhouse to control ambient temp to take load off the heat pump - Not sure how it would go. Wonder if we could have it running out through a spa too? Have seen one incorporating a sauna which is another option

Had a mate engineer who built a pot belly type boiler with copper pipe running to his spa but after a while you were expecting someone to come and add the veggies! way too hot!