Hi all;
As many of you know I built an outdoor kitchen this summer.
Unlike many that are only summer kitchens , it is a year round kitchen!
I used Matt Walker's plans to build what he calls a BBQ and I call a Black or White
oven.
It uses his riserless core design.
When building, I had the choice of using ceramic boards to assemble the core or I could use heavy firebrick in split and full size.
The main difference between the two is ease of starting.
A ceramic core needs no warmup time to start a draft.
Startup on those will be quick and easy.
With a heavy brick core , getting a draft started can be challenging.
Rather than rising up thru the oven the heat initially sinks into the firebricks.
The smoke stalls and seeks the easy way out... thru the door!
I have learned tricks to help speed the process.
Building a small stick fire way back by the secondary air tube.
Using a lit paper to stick as far in the core as I can.
And last of all is my trusty high output propane torch!
It really helps convince the heat to move thru the core and up into the oven/ chimney.
In the summer and early fall I expect 10-20 minutes of time spent getting my heavy brick riserless core up to cruising speed.
Once its warmed up your
Dragon will fly!
Why would I use a hard starting material like heavy firebrick rather than easy starting ceramic boards?
I use my oven as a long slow cooker. For me the hard start is worth the long even heat.
With a fast heating ceramic core, more traditional fast cooking times are used.
I went out yesterday morning to fire up the oven in preparation of smoking a pork roast.
14F and a rare sunny morning outside.
I fully expected a normal startup lag of ten minutes or so.
I was pleasantly surprised when she took off without a single puff in the wrong direction!
Seems like if its cold
enough outside the heat has no trouble finding its way up thru the chimney!
11
