Ready to buy / build, how hot will Casa get

[giambra]

Hi from Raleigh, NC.
After quite a bit of watching and studying this subject, I'm ready to buy / start building my oven. I have tentatively chosen the Forno Bravo Casa 100 (39 inch cooking surface).

I have a few questions to help make sure I've chosen a good oven for my goals (and if not, maybe guidance on which oven would be better).

The primary purpose (by far) for the oven is pizza. I envision some bread, but very little. I would like to experiment with very hot temperatures. First question is: how hot can I get this oven? Over 900 degrees? Not sure I would settle on my best pizza having to be cooked at that temperature, but would like to try it there.

Second question is, realistically, how long does it take to get the oven this hot? I've seen 50 minutes on the spec sheet, but doesn't really say how hot that is. Seems the oven will get much more regular use if I can get it to temperature fairly quickly. I bet there are other variables to determine how hot / how fast, just looking for an average / baseline.

Thanks in advanced
Tim

[krosskraft]

I have a Casa 100 and am still learning how it likes to cook. I have easily gotten temps up to about 1100 degrees, and yes, have scorched a few pizzas. Really it takes me about an hour and a half to get it roaring and tempered for pizzas, but I don't have a "weed dragon" to start the thing. We just go slow and enjoy the process of heating it up. Others may heat up faster. Honestly, I only cooked one pizza at a time in the thing. It cooks in 90 seconds with a turn in between so I can only concentrate on one at a time. But I promise that once you get the oven hot and eat your pizzas you are going to want to stick a roast or casserole or something else in the thing to use the wonderful heat. Enjoy

[nissanneill]

Hi Tim and welcome aboard.
I have a 40" Pompeii and that takes 2 hours to heat to 450˚C and around 2.5 hours to exceed 500˚C. The first pizza at the last firing cooked in close to 60 seconds with at least 2 turnings. You can't take your eyes off them at that temperature but I was showning a new group to the art.
I removed it, cut it into slices for them to sample and then it was a race to get their pizzas into the oven and we had 5 in there at once, rather crowded but all ok. The ones baked on aluminium pans took almost twice as long as those cooked directly on the hearth and the visitors recond that they tast so much better on the hearth.

Neill

[Ken524]

Welcome Tim!

Originally Posted by giambra

First question is: how hot can I get this oven? Over 900 degrees?

Easily!

Second question is, realistically, how long does it take to get the oven this hot? I've seen 50 minutes on the spec sheet, but doesn't really say how hot that is.

I think it's safe to assume that anytime we mention getting an oven "hot" or "up to temperature" that means "pizza heat" - around 800-900F. You fire the oven until all the black soot is burned off the interior dome (we refer to this as the dome going "white"). At this point, the oven is considered fully fired and ready for cooking.

The FB Casa ovens are thinner than the home built Pompeii's (less thermal mass). If insulated properly, I would imagine they would have a shorter heat up time.

Seems the oven will get much more regular use if I can get it to temperature fairly quickly. I bet there are other variables to determine how hot / how fast, just looking for an average / baseline.

I would agree with that statement. Just insulate the heck out of that thing to insure you will have the absolute fastest, most efficient heat-up time possible (and more retained cooking heat the next day!).

Have fun and keep the good questions coming!

[giambra]

Thanks for the replies. Sounds like I can get my foundation questions ready ...
Tim

[ginoamato]

Hello. My husband is building a brick oven in our west coast (rainy) back yard. He was going to order some stucco to cover the oven, but unfortunately, (or maybe not) it wasn't ordered. The store he supposedly ordered from called, and said that the stucco wouldn't be waterproof. I am in charge of making the call to order the stucco, but was wondering if it is a wise choice. I would like to keep my working husband happy, as he is anxious to start making delicious pizza. Any suggestions????

[Modthyrth]

Once it's painted, stucco is plenty waterproof. It's a very common product to use to cover the exterior of houses around here. My house is stucco. My previous house was stucco. It was 24 years old when we sold it and the stucco is still in perfect shape. It needs to be re-painted every 10 years or so, but what home doesn't?

Somewhere here on the forums there's a guy in WI who has a stucco home. I think the stucco needs more upkeep in climates with freeze/thaw cycles, but it's still certainly waterproof and weatherproof, even in places where it's not sunny 330 days a year.

When we built a courtyard on the front of our old home, we were instructed to wet the new stucco walls down to help slow the curing process. It was fine--even desirable--to get the product wet until it was fully cured and we could paint two weeks later.

What did the guy try to sell you instead?

[nissanneill]

Hi ginoamato
why buy your stucco? Go to your local sand and metal merchant, get some plastering sand and mix it 3 sand to 1 Portland cement. This is waterproof and I would ensure that a 1/2" layer went over a solid base, eg at least a couple of inches of vermiculite cement. This ratio can be reduced to 2.5:1 and we normally use this mix to line rusty rainwater tanks over a wire mesh lining. Totally waterproof.

Neill