Author Topic: New: Ooni Karu 16 Multi-Fuel Oven (Read 9793 times)

Quebert · « **Reply #20 on:** July 26, 2021, 05:50:21 PM »

Quote from: Peter B on July 26, 2021, 04:10:45 PM

Are you confusing the Kari and the Koda? Because my take from that response is that the Karu will be much easier to manage, whereas the Koda needs these hacks.

I left the comment on a Karu 16 video they posted and specifically asked about the 16's gas attachment and if it would be suitable to bake NY style pizzas in. I also asked around what temps to expect when the gas is set to low. They definitely didn't want to directly answer my question, and I know they know. So until I see proof otherwise I'm assuming this oven won't be ideal for NY pizzas.

They also told me to try the low and slow method in my Koda (I told them I have a Koda 12) but if I'm making 6 pizzas that bake for 6.5 minutes each I'm imagining the waiting time between pies for the stone to get super hot again would take forever to actually get 6 pizzas done. I'm hoping I'm wrong here, but Ooni's reply didn't instil a lot of confidence. This is exac tly what I posted to Ooni on their Karu 16 video

Ok, the low and slow for cooking steaks and bread and stuff's awesome. But can you easily set it for a temp around 550-600f? I want an oven I can cook NY pizzas in. As much as I love my Koda, it can be a real struggle to make any pizzas that don't cook at blistering temps. I'm curious if you could reply to this with a bit more detail about the temperature range of the gas burner.

They also replied again saying

The Ooni Karu 16 Gas Burner has increased precision thanks to the fully insulated oven body and mounted digital thermometer. The Gas Burner, and therefore temperature, can be controlled using the dial. The digital thermometer measures the ambient temperature within the oven, and cannot be 'set' specifically but our Engineers can confirm the Karu 16 Gas Burner can consistently cook at 250C (480F) for at least an hour straight when set at a lower flame.

480f's not great for NY bakes, can you set it to 550-600f? They do say "The new low power cooking function enables cooking low and slow pizzas or meat dishes." on the Karu 16 Gas attachment webpage. But they pointed me to a much older video about low and slow. Hope I'm wrong here, I would REALLY love to get this oven, somebody sooner or later will do a video on the gas burner and go into detail on the low power cooking hopefully. I understand they can't give exact numbers for mid range temps because gas doesn't work like that in these ovens. But I would like some confirmation that NY temps are achievable.

I hope I'm wrong, I've been wrong many times in my life lol.

Peter B · « **Reply #21 on:** July 26, 2021, 06:50:41 PM »

I think you may be reading too much into the answer. If they had said that it can steadily cook for an hour at temps as low as 250c, would you feel better about it? That is how I take it. Not that it can cook at 480f and >650 but not in between. But we’ll see what the deal is when it comes out.

Quebert · « **Reply #22 on:** July 26, 2021, 07:59:17 PM »

Quote from: Peter B on July 26, 2021, 06:50:41 PM

I think you may be reading too much into the answer. If they had said that it can steadily cook for an hour at temps as low as 250c, would you feel better about it? That is how I take it. Not that it can cook at 480f and >650 but not in between. But we’ll see what the deal is when it comes out.

480f for an hour straight like they said is great to hear, if they had said you can get 600-650f for an hour straight, I'm pre ordering right after reading that. You're right I am reading too much into their answer, but when I specifically asked about NY temps, I know they know what I'm asking since they're pizza experts. So for them to answer by telling me you can set it to 480f and cook for an hour was frustrating.

I guess I just have to wait and find out.

Peter B · « **Reply #23 on:** November 14, 2021, 08:51:53 AM »

Just checking in to see if anyone has gotten one of these ovens yet.

Quebert · « **Reply #24 on:** November 14, 2021, 10:57:48 PM »

There's 1 review on Williams Sonoma, it's 1 star and says they waited 6 weeks and it came with the window broken, so now they have to wait even longer for more to be back in stock to get a replacement. This is the Internet so I could easily read into 1 bad review means the Karu 16's a pile of junk and to stay far away from it. But I'm a bit more sensible than that. I know some people here will have one and be posting about it. I was SUPER close to pre-ordering, but I decided to hold off and see what others think about it first. Unless there's some catastrophic issue with it, which I doubt. It's inevitable I'll order one sooner than later. Right now I can barely make a full 12" pizza in my Roccbox

#1STWORLDPROBLEMS

herlihym · « **Reply #25 on:** November 30, 2021, 08:25:08 PM »

I have the Karu 16 and used it once, so far. I am new to wood - hoped to get the gas burner that has been unavailable for a long time - but succeeded in not burning any of the 4 pizzas I cooked. I will say that the fuel tray is quite large, and can handle wood well beyond the 5-6" kindling size. I'll be trying some larger pieces in my next try on Friday. Having seen YouTube reviews and suggestions I used lump charcoal as a base fire, adding kindling for the extra heat after the temp came up to 450-500F. Pizzas were cooked between 600-750 depending upon how well I watched the fire.
No issues with the quality of the oven, and no regrets (yet)!

Peter B · « **Reply #26 on:** December 01, 2021, 01:11:05 PM »

The gas attachment is not available? That would kill any interest I have. What a bummer.

Quebert · « **Reply #27 on:** December 08, 2021, 03:43:08 AM »

One thing I just learned about it from a YT video is it burns 4.9lb of propane per 10 pizzas, on the same video he says his Koda 16 burns 1.3lb of propane per 10 pizzas. That's a super massive difference. Weird how 2 ovens from the same company that cook the same max pizzas size can have such a huge gap in propane usage. I'm guessing my old Koda 12 used a lot less than the Koda 16. So the Karu 16 will be pretty expensive to fuel. That's almost 4x as much propane as the Koda 16, and next to my Koda 12 would probably be 5 or maybe 6 times.

dragonspawn · « **Reply #28 on:** December 08, 2021, 06:56:28 AM »

All gas burners are rated on kg/h. Just look at the power in kw. 3kw is 300g/h roughly.

Karu 16 burner is 7. 4kw compared to Koda 16 8.5kw. So you can expect 10% less per hour consumption.

Quebert · « **Reply #29 on:** December 08, 2021, 10:53:52 AM »

Quote from: dragonspawn on December 08, 2021, 06:56:28 AM

All gas burners are rated on kg/h. Just look at the power in kw. 3kw is 300g/h roughly.

Karu 16 burner is 7. 4kw compared to Koda 16 8.5kw. So you can expect 10% less per hour consumption.

Hummmm, that's what I get for trusting a person on the internet lol. I was reading up on it a bit ago because it didn't even sound possible to me it uses so much more fuel when I really started to think about it. His video has 22k views, wonder how many people decided to buy a Koda over the Karu for this reason.

aaah, the wonderful world of the internet. Thank you for posting this, basically I was spreading missinformation too.

toddwheeler · « **Reply #30 on:** January 06, 2022, 07:45:21 PM »

I get my Ooni 16 Karu Oven this Saturday Supposedly. I will let you know how it goes and take some pics. I am going to have some the NY style dough ready when it gets here with Y'alls recipe.

Peter B · « **Reply #31 on:** January 07, 2022, 11:49:00 AM »

Quote from: toddwheeler on January 06, 2022, 07:45:21 PM

I get my Ooni 16 Karu Oven this Saturday Supposedly. I will let you know how it goes and take some pics. I am going to have some the NY style dough ready when it gets here with Y'alls recipe.

Please do keep us posted!

mosabrina · « **Reply #32 on:** January 08, 2022, 06:13:21 PM »

If you want one of these right away, Ooni has seemed to expand their presence in the U.S. and are available at a ton of retail stores right now.

Ooni sells at Best Buy, Ace Hardware, Bed Bath and beyond, Bloomingdales, Scheels, Lowes, Dick's, REI, True Value, Cost Plus, Crate & Barrel, among others. Scheel's and Ace hardware have them in stock either free shipping or to store.

Sometimes these stores will have a 10-40% off order or 1 item promotion which can save you a bit of money too.

I've also seen some models get clearanced at 50% off as well.

spresso · « **Reply #33 on:** January 09, 2022, 10:02:17 PM »

I received our Karu 16 on December 23rd; order placed September 16th. The propane burner was just shipped so I have not used it yet.

This is my first small pizza oven, but I cut my teeth on wood fired oven cooking with a Komodo Kamado so I know a little bit about managing a flame. I think, like all small WFOs, the Karu 16 takes considerable attention to the firebox to keep oven temp somewhat stable for Neapolitan bakes...or anything really. Let the flame subside and the temp drops quickly. Over-stoke and you'll be waiting a little while for it to cool down some.

I only have two gripes really, relative to this the Karu 16 being a small oven and <$1000: The glass window door. No matter what I use to start the fire, including using oak lump which burns relatively cleanly, to get the oven temp up to about 500F before putting in small dried oak pieces, the inside glass surface soots over rendering it useless during baking. Then, after its cool and each and every time post-bake, the razor scraper comes out. The front of the metal portion of the door is pretty much permanently coated with soot.

The 2nd gripe: The door is a bit of a PITA to open/close. Its not mounted on a simple hinge but rather the door has to be lifted vertically to engage/disengage the latch system. It seems to work OK when the oven is cold but with peel & pie in hand and trying to open the door single handedly, its just more challenging than it should be IMHO.

I've only used it 3 times for a total of 9 pies and although the Karu 16 is capable of delivering the goods, so to speak, the fire box requires near constant attention to get bullseye results all things properly baked Neapolitan pies. I have baked perfect Neapolitan pies in it...but looking forward to trying the propane burner which, hopefully, will make it a little more hands off in between pie bakes.

But that door...

thezaman · « **Reply #34 on:** January 10, 2022, 01:19:26 PM »

i was hoping that the front door issue was fixed. hated that with the pro oven.one of the facebook forums mentioned starting the fire with the door opened then once you are getting a clean burn with red hot coals shut the front door. do you thing that would work?

spresso · « **Reply #35 on:** January 10, 2022, 04:26:48 PM »

^ Tried starting and getting the fire going with the door open but...its "6 of one, 1/2 dozen of the other" dealio. For last night's Neapolitan bake, just like each of the 3 bakes so far, I start with a clean razor-bladed inside glass door surface. And before the first pie is baked...it looks exactly like the attached photos which were taken this morning. Sorry for the shadows...but I think you can see the coating on the glass and upper outside area above the exterior portion of the door & glass.

There's just too much smoke getting to the glass. Maybe if the smoke flow/chamber/flue were positioned farther back...it would help. OTOH, lifting the door straight up to release before opening is just plain wonky (to me).

The oven is certainly capable of 'delivering the goods' all things Neapolitan pie baking. And, I'm not sure any other oven in its general price range offers more overall bang for the buck. But it could be better w/o increased costs at the mfg level (IMHO).

Peter B · « **Reply #36 on:** January 10, 2022, 05:03:42 PM »

This may be a tremendously stupid question. Is that soot issue just from coal/wood? Or will using the gas burner likely have the same problem?

spresso · « **Reply #37 on:** January 10, 2022, 06:44:00 PM »

The soot you see is from using lump oak to start the fire and get the oven up to about 350-400ºF before adding dried oak pieces. The propane gas burner form Ooni has been shipped and is in route. That shouldn't leave any soot whatsoever.

mosabrina · « **Reply #38 on:** January 10, 2022, 10:06:14 PM »

You can see in this video which is sponsored the door is caked in soot on the inside but they took great care to clean the glass and the front.

mosabrina · « **Reply #39 on:** January 12, 2022, 12:42:08 AM »

Quote from: spresso on January 10, 2022, 06:44:00 PM

The soot you see is from using lump oak to start the fire and get the oven up to about 350-400ºF before adding dried oak pieces. The propane gas burner form Ooni has been shipped and is in route. That shouldn't leave any soot whatsoever.

Watch this video. Absolutely 0 soot on the oven. And I don't think this was cleaned for the video. I believe the wood you are using was not dry or it is not a nice wood.