P
phillee
Guest
I'm sure a lot of people have seen the pizzahacker's weber mod:
http://www.thepizzahacker.com/
It got me pretty excited about doing something similar, and I've been doing a lot of research (ok, some research) and planning to get my own version started. Part of the research led me to this amazing forum in fact.
I found this guy as well who had more detailed directions on how to actually cast the parts of the frankenweber:
http://backyardpizza.blogspot.com/2011/03/frankenweber-is-in-full-on-construction.html
He made a mixture of refractory concrete and perlite. He cast a dome using the weber top as a mold, and he cast the cylindrical body of the oven using a mold made of cardboard, resulting in a faithful clone of the pizzahacker's oven. The castable mixture is supposedly a very good insulator while also being extremely lightweight.
Now, I want to make some slight modifications to this process, and I want to get some feedback and suggestions from experts.
For the dome top, I will probably do the same thing that pizzahacker and backyardpizza did and cast it in a Weber lid. Another idea I had, to get a prettier surface on the inside of the dome and a more uniform thickness was to use two stainless steel mixing bowls as molds. A 30 quart and 20 quart bowl seem to be about the right size for the inside and outside of a 22" grill lid and can be found relatively cheap:
http://www.hotelrestaurantsupply.com/WNC-MXB-3000Q.html
http://www.hotelrestaurantsupply.com/WNC-MXB-2000Q.html
I think I would like to also add a handle to the top of the dome to make it a little easier to place the dome (and adjust it after firing the oven). Hopefully, the dome will not be too brittle and/or weak to drill two holes for a handle.
For the cylindrical body, I've been looking for containers to make the mold, but it was hard finding large enough buckets/trash cans/other containers that were the right size. Also, most containers that large are tapered, and have ridge surfaces for strength. Sections of steel drums and possibly plastic drums could be the right size, but they are expensive and probably not worth cutting for something like this. The cardboard thing worked for backyardpizza, but I think I want something reusable and prettier. I will probably be able to get access to a decent wood/metal shop possibly with cnc capabilities. I'm thinking of making a mold out of sheet metal and/or plywood. Even without access to a fancy shop, I have the tools at home to cut circles out of plywood to wrap sheet metal around.
For the hearth, I am thinking of firebricks instead of a pizza stone - more mass, cheaper, and easier to put away for storage. Also, I've seen plans for wood burning ovens that use firebricks as the hearth. My understanding is that the castable perlite material insulates from heat while the firebricks absorb, radiate, and maybe reflect heat. I played around in google sketchup to figure out how to place the firebricks on the grill inside of the cylindrical body.
The body has an outer diameter of 22.5", and the walls are around 2-3" thick if i remember correctly. The firebricks making up the hearth are 9x4.5x2.5. The four bricks around the edge on end are splits measuring 9x4.5x1.25. Not sure if those are necessary or even useful, but there was room for them. I may leave out the brick in the back of the oven and place wood directly on the grate. Hopefully the bricks won't slide apart too much. They can be strapped together possibly or held together with angle irons.
So far, this has all been very similar to pizzahacker, but the change that I really want to get some feedback on is something that seems to make perfect sense to me. So much so that I assume that there has to be something wrong with it or else somebody would have already thought of it - not just for making pizzas but for grilling in the Weber in general.
I want to line the bottom part of the Weber with the same castable refractory. Of course I would put something in there to make sure that the bottom vents are clear. Yeah, I'd have to do something to accommodate the charcoal and grilling grates (either modify the grates to fit, use the smaller 18" grates, or cast the insulating layer with the grates in place). But otherwise, wouldn't this be better for pizza and grilling and possibly even for smoking in the Weber? You'd use less charcoal, get higher temperatures, and possibly more even temperatures. Kinda like a cheaper, lighter ceramic cooker.
Being able to convert the weber from pizza to regular grilling and back was actually a big concern for me, which is why I steered away from the Little Black Egg mod or anything that involved cutting out the bottom (I forgot to mention that I might be doing these mods on a Weber that is not entirely mine unless I can find something on craigslist for cheap). That is also why I also like having a large heavy hearth that can still be taken apart easily and stored. I am thinking of casting the cylindrical body in 2 or 3 parts, again for the same reason (the opening is a 90 degree arc, so the 3 parts would also each be 90 degrees), although that would make it a less stable base for the dome top. I was also toying with the idea of drilling vent holes into the dome so that it could also be used for grilling and smoking instead of the metal lid. To switch the new lid to pizza-mode, I could maybe have plugs for the holes made of the same castable material or metal.
Sorry for the long post, but this is the first time I wrote any of this down. It's all been in my head up until this point except for the sketches I made in a notebook and the sketchup model. I was getting more ideas as i was writing, but I'll save those for later.
In any case, why doesn't everyone insulate the bottom of their weber with lightweight castable insulation, pizza oven or not?
Am I underestimating how difficult this will be to build?
Thanks for reading, and please help me.
http://www.thepizzahacker.com/
It got me pretty excited about doing something similar, and I've been doing a lot of research (ok, some research) and planning to get my own version started. Part of the research led me to this amazing forum in fact.
I found this guy as well who had more detailed directions on how to actually cast the parts of the frankenweber:
http://backyardpizza.blogspot.com/2011/03/frankenweber-is-in-full-on-construction.html
He made a mixture of refractory concrete and perlite. He cast a dome using the weber top as a mold, and he cast the cylindrical body of the oven using a mold made of cardboard, resulting in a faithful clone of the pizzahacker's oven. The castable mixture is supposedly a very good insulator while also being extremely lightweight.
Now, I want to make some slight modifications to this process, and I want to get some feedback and suggestions from experts.
For the dome top, I will probably do the same thing that pizzahacker and backyardpizza did and cast it in a Weber lid. Another idea I had, to get a prettier surface on the inside of the dome and a more uniform thickness was to use two stainless steel mixing bowls as molds. A 30 quart and 20 quart bowl seem to be about the right size for the inside and outside of a 22" grill lid and can be found relatively cheap:
http://www.hotelrestaurantsupply.com/WNC-MXB-3000Q.html
http://www.hotelrestaurantsupply.com/WNC-MXB-2000Q.html
I think I would like to also add a handle to the top of the dome to make it a little easier to place the dome (and adjust it after firing the oven). Hopefully, the dome will not be too brittle and/or weak to drill two holes for a handle.
For the cylindrical body, I've been looking for containers to make the mold, but it was hard finding large enough buckets/trash cans/other containers that were the right size. Also, most containers that large are tapered, and have ridge surfaces for strength. Sections of steel drums and possibly plastic drums could be the right size, but they are expensive and probably not worth cutting for something like this. The cardboard thing worked for backyardpizza, but I think I want something reusable and prettier. I will probably be able to get access to a decent wood/metal shop possibly with cnc capabilities. I'm thinking of making a mold out of sheet metal and/or plywood. Even without access to a fancy shop, I have the tools at home to cut circles out of plywood to wrap sheet metal around.
For the hearth, I am thinking of firebricks instead of a pizza stone - more mass, cheaper, and easier to put away for storage. Also, I've seen plans for wood burning ovens that use firebricks as the hearth. My understanding is that the castable perlite material insulates from heat while the firebricks absorb, radiate, and maybe reflect heat. I played around in google sketchup to figure out how to place the firebricks on the grill inside of the cylindrical body.
The body has an outer diameter of 22.5", and the walls are around 2-3" thick if i remember correctly. The firebricks making up the hearth are 9x4.5x2.5. The four bricks around the edge on end are splits measuring 9x4.5x1.25. Not sure if those are necessary or even useful, but there was room for them. I may leave out the brick in the back of the oven and place wood directly on the grate. Hopefully the bricks won't slide apart too much. They can be strapped together possibly or held together with angle irons.
So far, this has all been very similar to pizzahacker, but the change that I really want to get some feedback on is something that seems to make perfect sense to me. So much so that I assume that there has to be something wrong with it or else somebody would have already thought of it - not just for making pizzas but for grilling in the Weber in general.
I want to line the bottom part of the Weber with the same castable refractory. Of course I would put something in there to make sure that the bottom vents are clear. Yeah, I'd have to do something to accommodate the charcoal and grilling grates (either modify the grates to fit, use the smaller 18" grates, or cast the insulating layer with the grates in place). But otherwise, wouldn't this be better for pizza and grilling and possibly even for smoking in the Weber? You'd use less charcoal, get higher temperatures, and possibly more even temperatures. Kinda like a cheaper, lighter ceramic cooker.
Being able to convert the weber from pizza to regular grilling and back was actually a big concern for me, which is why I steered away from the Little Black Egg mod or anything that involved cutting out the bottom (I forgot to mention that I might be doing these mods on a Weber that is not entirely mine unless I can find something on craigslist for cheap). That is also why I also like having a large heavy hearth that can still be taken apart easily and stored. I am thinking of casting the cylindrical body in 2 or 3 parts, again for the same reason (the opening is a 90 degree arc, so the 3 parts would also each be 90 degrees), although that would make it a less stable base for the dome top. I was also toying with the idea of drilling vent holes into the dome so that it could also be used for grilling and smoking instead of the metal lid. To switch the new lid to pizza-mode, I could maybe have plugs for the holes made of the same castable material or metal.
Sorry for the long post, but this is the first time I wrote any of this down. It's all been in my head up until this point except for the sketches I made in a notebook and the sketchup model. I was getting more ideas as i was writing, but I'll save those for later.
In any case, why doesn't everyone insulate the bottom of their weber with lightweight castable insulation, pizza oven or not?
Am I underestimating how difficult this will be to build?
Thanks for reading, and please help me.
ray:
