 Subsequent fires got hotter - too hot?
I didn't take notes, but here's what I remember of the max temps recorded by the analog cheapo Taylor oven thermometer on the floor of the oven. It's an easy consistent way to measure a given, fixed temperature data point (infrared thermometers vary by a hundred degrees when you move it a half inch):
FirstFire: Max temp 200 degrees.
Second: 300 degrees
Third: 300 degrees (Wood was damp and/or I lost patience).
Fourth: 500 degrees (Yikes! It got super hot really quickly!)
Fifth: 400 degrees
Sixth: 600+ degrees (Oops! It was at 500, I turned my back then it hit 6 Benjamins!)
Seventh: 500 degrees, then I knocked it down and cooked a chicken.
The hotter fires burned portions of the apex of the dome clean white. I know this is what you shoot for when cooking pizza, but I'm wondering if it's too early to hit those temps.
While my measuring standard was the floor-mounted Taylor thermometer, I was poking around with the infrared thermometer. I LOVE that thing. It gave me a good idea what was going on in the chamber. There was some seriously obscene heat going on.
As expected, cracks started appearing. Small at first, then a bit larger, then more of them. Each new fire brought more cracks. More on this later.
James asked if I have an infrared thermometer - I do. I got it at Home Depot or Costco. Max temp is 1K which is fine for me.
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There is nothing quite so satisfying as drinking a cold beer, while tending a hot fire, in an oven that you built yourself, and making the best pizza that your friends have ever had. |