Cheapest path to 24" pizza?

[gijoe985]

Hey all,

To keep it short, here is the situation-

I make, what I think of as, new york/neopolitan pizza.
I modified the thermostat on my home oven to get me 600+ degrees for my pizzas.
I have a dream if making a 24" pizza someday, but that wont fit in my home oven. 16.5" is the max.
I'm on a budget right now and I'm not looking for a long term rig yet...
So... what would be the cheapest/easiest path for me to cook a pizza that large?
I can get a stone and a peel...

Thanks!

(Fyi, I have considered building a hearth in my backyard, but I wasn't sure if there is something quicker/cheaper/easier.)

[shuboyje]

I think a mortar less oven from standard clay bricks could be cheap, easy and effe five for the short term

[gijoe985]

One reason I am asking this is because I just bought a new house. It has natural gas. Would there be a way to power the hearth oven by gas, without being a huge headache?

[shuboyje]

Nope, natural gas is lighter then air.  A black oven has a door lower then the peak of the dome.  This leaves a void where any unburnt natural gas could accumulate and then explode.  Complicated and expensive safety devices are a must.  Wood is easy and safe.

[gijoe985]

I've thought about buying a cheap gas oven, taking it apart, and then constructing a large housing for the oven innards. If I modify the thermostat like I did on my home oven, I can adjust the oven temp. All I'd need to do is build a housing that is a bit deep/wider. Then just mount the burner/broiler in place.

[gijoe985]

On that note... This also might allow me to get two birds with one stone if I can easily convert it back and forth from natural gas to propane... Then I can have a portable unit... ;-)

[gijoe985]

So, I am looking into my gas oven theory, but I am curious on people's thoughts. I teach high school shop classes, including metalworking, so I feel like I have the means to do some serious fabrication.

Anyway, I figure like i have two options- 1) take out all of the innards and move them into an oven I built from scratch. OR 2) take a gas oven and just build an extension on it in order to fit the dimensions I desire. As of right now, I am not certain which would be easier...

[buceriasdon]

I would build a oven housing, that way you can use insulating bricks along the sides and top as well as have a lower overall height. You could even use insulating brick in the door, even splits would go a long ways to help make the oven more effecient. Build a stand to get the door height where you want. Custom built has more advantages in my mind.
Don

[gijoe985]

Yeah, I've spent the last hour looking at designs for ovens. Now what I am trying to nail down is how many BTUs I will need and what the best parts donor would be. Obviously I could get an oven or I could get a gas grill. The oven would have the thermostat and whatnot, which would be nice, but again I have contemplated whether just having manual controls and watching the temp myself would be easier. My main concern about a thermostat running it would be getting the floor and top temps where I want them. Just making a heated box seems easy, but having the floor and ceiling temps where I want them will take a bit more work.

My thoughts in a nutshell (I just took an hour break after starting that first paragraph...)

Build a box with a 30x30" floor and determine a height that would give me about 10" of workspace after the burners and stones were installed.
Insulate the box and then add an additional outer metal layer.
Design an insulated door, maybe with ceramic glass...
Figure out how to balance the floor and ceiling temps. Maybe have floor temp on a thermostat and the top manually controlled.

Anything major that I'm missing?