Oven temp profile

[lwood]

I am wondering how my oven performs relative to others in terms of retained heat. Has anyone done a temperature profile of their oven with time? One data point I am interested in is your oven temp 12 hrs after the oven has been fully heat saturated, coals out and door on. The best I can hope for is 300F

What started me wondering was a statement Jay made where he said he usually bakes his bread the next morning after fully saturating his oven. Maybe I mis-understood, but there is no way I will be at 500F the next morning. Jay please explain and maybe talk a little about oven temperature profiles.

Would appreciate all the input I can get on at least this one data point. My oven is an out lier because it is made with red clay fire-brick. Someone also suggested that the red clay fire-brick was the major difference. Have seen a few people ask about using red clay fire-brick as an alternative so it seems relevant to those considering it. There are lots of factors affecting this, door config, etc but I think its worth a thought. Your thoughts are appreciated.

[Tman1]

I think the biggest factor will be insulation causing temps all over the board. Mine has none, and the temp would be too low for baking the next day.

[Faith In Virginia]

Before I make any wild statements I will check my oven the next time I bake( Hopefully this weekend) I do know that 3 days later in below 0 temps my oven was still to warm to touch. I will take some readings and let you know.

[Les]

I posted this sometime back. Hope it helps.

Les...

I wanted to document my temps, when I get asked, I never remember all the numbers.

Saturday at 6:30 PM after the fire; hearth=900 deg.
Saturday at 8:00 PM after pizzas; hearth=555 deg.
Sunday at 9:00 AM hearth=447 deg. - cooked a coffee cake
Sunday at 4:30 PM hearth=374 deg. - cooked coconut shrimp
Monday at 6:30 AM hearth=288 deg.
Monday at 4:45 PM hearth=244 deg.
Tuesday at 4:45 PM hearth=170 deg.

As you can tell, we didn't do much cooking, but the oven appears to be retaining heat fairly well (I think).

[texassourdough]

Hi lwood!

Either I miswrote or you misinterpreted what I meant! My oven is no where near that heat tight! My oven has a four inch slab above insulation that goes straight out to the support stands and loses hearth heat to the world. The hearth is based on the Scott design.

I like to bake bread the morning after pizza but I have to build a new fire and recharge the oven... I like doing it after pizza for it is already "warm" and it recharges faster.

I typicall burn for about an hour after oven clearing. I close the oven for about fifteen minutes to kill the fire and then clear and sweep the oven. Temp at that point will be about 650 to 700 on the hearth. I close the door and let the oven heat soak for an hour or so. That allows the heat to even out through the refractory. Around an hour to an hour and a half after clearing the hearth will be around 565 or so. That is when I spray/load the bread/spray/bake. The temp when I remove the bread will be aroung 450 and if I close the oven up it will bounce back up to about 475 to 480 depending on how well it was heat loaded. I usually then do something like a roast in cast iron.

WhenI do pizza I run the hearth at about 750. Say I finish and close it up at 9 pm. At 8 am the next morning the temp in my oven will be around 375 - perfect for a slow roast/braise. At 6 pm I will be about 240. Next morning around 170 - all dependent on ambient temperatures also. Les is about a day slower than me at that point.

Hope that helps.
Jay

[Tscarborough]

Mine runs about 900 after fire.
700 after a full run of 8 or 10 pizzas (with a side fire).
550 in 24 hours.
350 in 48 hours
150 in 72 hours.
ambient in 96-120 hours.

[lwood]

Those numbers are great, thanks everyone for your input.

[lwood]

Tscar, those numbers are impressive.

[Tscarborough]

I have more than 32 cubic feet of loose perlite around the oven, thermal breaks at the entry and the entry/chimney area is all insulated with perlcrete/loose perlite, plus I have an insulating castable/perlcrete door.

[texassourdough]

You did a great job on your oven construction TS! Good thermal efficiency which is why I keep pushing people to the Pompeii design practices. I WISH I had a thermal break around my hearth slab. Having the insulation on the bottom is not IMO a big deal so much as losing heat out the sides.! But...the Pompeii plans work and that is great! (You do have a Pompeii don't you????
Jay

PS: You too Les!
J