How To Use Your Pizza Oven As A Smoker!

Can a Wood Fired Pizza Oven be used as a Low 'n' Slow Smoker to cook things like Brisket, Ribs and Pulled Pork? You bet it can, and it's so easy that an engineer can do it! Learn more: bit.ly/3dCPMVM
Links to things!
Fireboard Pro V2
We have the Fireboard units and accessories on order, but not yet in store, so here's a link to buy one! hark.com.au/pr...
Double Barrel Smoker: mistygully.com...
Charcoal Basket: www.bunnings.c...
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CREDITS
Videography and Editing by SUB AERO MEDIA: www.subaero.me...

[@DrychronRed]

Your frankness and down to Earth nature makes this just perfect. You don't have to be an expert to convey great ideas.

[@TheFireBrickCo]

Thankyou so much for the encouragement, it's been a ton of fun to make this particular video!

[@DonavonRoberson]

Never in my life would I have considered watching a 1 hour video on You Tube…now I can’t wait to get on your page and find out what other beauties you have!!! Amazing!!! So my question is…what about brisket! I assume it is similar but has anyone done brisket? What is the same? What is different?

[@TheFireBrickCo]

Hahaha why thank you Donavon! If you like long videos with plentiful detail you've come to the right place 😂

[@jamescatania]

Guys, I follow a lot of channels, and I can't tell you how much I enjoy your videos, I know you're primarily a business and the fact you don't overly push your products in these videos is just amazing. Also, is there a chance to get a bit more of these ?. As always guys, Well done, amazing video, Love it.

[@TheFireBrickCo]

Wow! Thankyou James! I definitely plan to do some more videos, I have limited time (most of it is spent running the business, setting up new infrastructure and so on) but I do love making the videos and will definitely be doing more in future. We probably won't ever have super-regular content, but will focus on quality over quantity

[@unconventionalideas5683]

American here. You said Mesquite quite correctly. Mosquito without the o is a good guideline.

[@TheFireBrickCo]

😅 phew!

[@turbotransporter]

I can’t thank you enough for inspiring me to build a WFO with your cheerful demeanor, nicely detailed and very inspiring Melbourne Fire Brick Oven videos. While I did choose to build my own Pompeii style oven by utilizing design characteristics/plans from another source, it was your calm and reassuring voice I relied upon to keep me focused and confidently moving forward. My 20 year old nephew (aeronautical engineering student) and I began the build in 2020 and while the pandemic was shutting the world down, we were staying safe and sane creating what has become a hugely positive and highly social backyard sensation! Because we are in the slightly damp 😉 PNW, our WFO was built in the protection of a 3 sided “shed” with the open side facing a 12x14 covered pavilion that allows us to entertain outdoors year ‘round. You are absolutely correct when you emphasize that the wood fire oven is so much more than just a pizza oven and no one that has followed your wonderful channel is surprised that you’ve documented the proof. Thanks a billion Ben! 😍

[@TheFireBrickCo]

Awww shucks, stop it you

[@LukeEnglish-ur3uy]

I have a P85 and love it. I have followed the instructions in this great video a couple of times with fantastic results. Since then, I've fabricated a couple of things to make life easier - I'm sure you could make them better than me (just an amateur backyarder). Might I suggest a purpose made smoker door - I have made one with a closeable vent at the bottom to let air in and another about 120 mm above the bottom to let smoke out. At first test it seems to work, and will put it to the test tomorrow. I've also made a rack to hold heat beads and smoking wood and some stands to raise up the Tuscan grill.

[@TheFireBrickCo]

YES!! Send me some photos Luke!

[@travajito]

Great instruction. followed every step (except I resisted buying too many gadgets on the advice of my wife ha ha) the pork came out lovely and I can retire my old smoker now. I did not pull the pork instead We diced it and enjoyed it in a street taco recipe we have been working on. fresh corn tortillas with a mango/cilantro salsa, tomatillo sauce and a splash of lime. incredibly delicious! Thanks! will be watching for more tips!

[@TheFireBrickCo]

Oh my WORD that sounds delicious!! Yay! Glad to hear the video was helpful :)

[@kevinc2683]

Ben, good video there are many items that I do that you demonstrated. However, smoking is not one of them. I actually have a smoker called Pit Barrel Cooker. I like having the option in using my wood oven. Like you, I like the smart thermometers and I can monitor up to 4 probes. As for wood my favorite is Hickory.

[@TheFireBrickCo]

Give it a try sometime Kevin! 😄

I built my own food fired oven from scratch almost two years ago, and I have never tried hot smoking meats in it. I will now though, this video was simply amazing, great presentation and a contagious enthusiasm! So if anything, you've taught a Swede to be more adventurous with his oven!

[@TheFireBrickCo]

Thankyou for the encouragement David!!

[@markelliott6112]

This is one of the greatest videos I have seen. Soooooo excited to get my oven in Christchurch sorted for smoking. Onto Amazon for the smoking tubes I go...

[@TheFireBrickCo]

Yay! Thankyou Mark, that is much appreciated! Let us know how you go!

[@manroke1]

Thanks for this great instructional video Ben. I’m looking forward to trying this. Was looking at a treager smoker. I’m happy to see that I can use my oven. By the way, the oven came out beautiful. Lots of compliments. Cheers! From Florida

[@TheFireBrickCo]

Fantastic!! Thankyou so much! Looking forward to seeing some photos from you!

[@RussellTurner]

I can’t tell you how much I learned from this. Great video. Thanks!

[@TheFireBrickCo]

Thankyou so much Russell! I'm so glad it was helpful :)

[@RPIdemon]

As a fellow engineer, I LOVE your content. The right amount of science behind everything and your enthusiasm and passion for it all. I discovered your channel as I was in the process of building my own oven. Otherwise, I would have just went and ordered your P85.

[@TheFireBrickCo]

Thankyou! Haha, a little bit of science is good fun. Hope you're getting loads of joy and great food out of your oven!

[@martinravina6934]

Well we had Covid this year, but you managed to saved the year at the very last month! Thanks again Ben for everything you do mate. Really your passion is contagious. If I wouldn't have built my own oven would definitely get one of yours. Cheers!

[@TheFireBrickCo]

Thanks Martin!!! Really appreciate the encouragement!!

[@christophergear7247]

You are a fantastic teacher.You’re easy to follow and have a very down to earth attitude.Thanks so much for this information because I learnt so much .Chris.

[@TheFireBrickCo]

Thanks heaps Chris! I have a long way to go as a teacher but I love explaining things that I'm passionate about

[@frankinhiro]

Was just looking for a way to smoke in my WFO. Thanks!!

[@TheFireBrickCo]

Huzzah! Hope it was helpful!

[@Antdog77]

Great vid and great ideas. Looking into a wood fire oven myself. An fyi is to turn foil shiny side in… not saying it won’t or doesn’t work the other way around…. Just that it is made to reflect. Love your work guys

[@TheFireBrickCo]

Now that right there is a good tip - thank you!

[@jerometappe5931]

It validated why I want to buy the oven! Ben you did an amazing job.

[@TheFireBrickCo]

Awesome! Thank you!

[@joeshadel8001]

I am in the process of building a brick oven the old fashioned way. It sits on a 7'x 7' concrete elevated base so firewood and other things can be stored underneath. We hand cut all the brick, blended our own mortar that sticks like glue to the brick, which makes building the dome fairly easy because the bricks stay where you place them. We just finished the chimney and went searching for affordable material to dress up the outside which we are finding may not be possible. The cost of materials is out of sight right now. I'm only mentioning this because as a general contractor I appreciate your attention to detail. And your oven looks very exact and precise. Ours is more old world. To the point, I noticed there is a thermometer in the door and, in the side of the dome. In a previous building video you talked about waterproofing the dome by using aluminum flashing. So does the thermostat in the side of the dome penetrate the dome and if so, how are you keeping that penetration watertight? And congrats to Marcus!!

[@TheFireBrickCo]

Thanks Joe! Good job,m sounds like you're building it good and sturdy! The Thermowell gets sealed around the edge using the roll-on acrylic membrane coating, so we haven't seen any moisutre getting in through there so far. Where we do see water being absorbed is when rain falls on the oven floor and the fire brick front - all of that water is absorbed and held in the oven until the next firing, so it's worth trying to protect the mouth of the oven from rain where you can.

[@Daniel-qw9dm]

What a fantastic video. I don’t have one of your ovens, here in uk, but it’s helped me see what I can do with mine.

[@TheFireBrickCo]

Glad it was helpful!

[@clearprop]

Just awesome. Loved this. I spent the summer here in the UK landscaping an area of the garden in readiness for a covered area which will be home to my oven. Videos like this REALLY whet the appetite for the joys to come. Thanks for uploading. P.S. I wish Kennedy Fire imported the D95 here in the UK!

[@TheFireBrickCo]

Hi Dan! Thankyou for the lovely feedback! One day we will get the D95 set up as an export kit, one day..

[@clearprop]

@@TheFireBrickCo I'm still undecided over the P85 and D105. I'll see how I feel after the rest of the landscaping! Your channel has been a bit of a bible for me and I know I'm not alone in that. Keep up the superb work. 👍

[@dessertstrike]

Real nice! unfortunately I live in the Netherlands and I can not easily get your oven (within my budget) so I had to purchase another brand that is in available in the Netherlands! Despite that, I love following your videos! and smoking with a wood oven… that has been on my wish list to try for a long time! so thx for this video. Have fun engineering, building and cooking.

[@TheFireBrickCo]

Thankyou for the kind words, much appreciated!

[@Alexarakas]

Another wonderfully informative vid... Thank you!

[@TheFireBrickCo]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@z0rgMeister]

"pukhaaan" or "pee-ken" made me laugh. Anyway I'm just finishing my P85 build (well, hoping to somewhen this or next week, weather allowing) and I just want to say a big heartlfetl thank you to you and your team. Your videos and calm, natural, clear method of communication (and written instructions) have helped me through the whole process from dream to a now nearly finished reality. It's a bit wonky, definitely too much refractory castable on some of those joints but "don't panic" and "just enjoy" the process. All these smoking tips I'm sure will also come in handy at some point too. Semipro-tip (from a profficient home cook): instead of injuring your wrists grinding that much pepper, just use a heavy based pan and any hard surface on your peppercorns; even those bricks will do instead of a pan.

[@TheFireBrickCo]

Hahaha I am glad you've enjoyed it, it's meant to be a fun project and it sounds like it was for you!

[@jdporco]

Ben, for the smart temperature gauge, are you considering providing an option to replace the standard analog temperature gauge on the brick dome with a smart temperature gauge any time soon? Ideally one that can convert the thermocouple reading to digital and transmit via WiFi. I'm thinking of a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) device with a standard CR2032 cell battery to avoid bringing power to the oven.

[@TheFireBrickCo]

Good quesion - you can actually already do this! The Thermowell that we use with our analogue gauge actually fits a type-K thermocouple inside it, so you can simply remove the analogue gauge and slide the wired thermocouple into it. Done! We did pay around with bluetooth but the range just isn't there - as soon as we went inside to prep more food the signal would drop out which was not ideal.

[@dcloder]

Great video, Ben. I've been thinking about how the smoke would affect the inside of the oven. I've seen how the inside of my weber looks and I'd not do that to the inside of a brick dome. But I guess the next high temp cook will burn off any residue the smoke has left behind.

[@TheFireBrickCo]

Hi Darren! Yep, the next firing will clean the oven perfectly, you don't need to worry about sticky buildups of creosote and whatnot, that will all burn off on the next firing. Another great plus of smoking in a WFO!

[@bengowans2190]

Well done Ben great work still love my oven after 8 years .

[@TheFireBrickCo]

Oh thankyou Ben!! That is SO GOOD to hear! Yay!!

[@jeffstraw466]

Wow, I’m definitely going to try that, thanks! I’ve been looking for other ways to use my oven. Wonder how I’m going to need to modify the process to do it -20°C like it’s going to be here (Calgary, Canada) for the next month?

[@TheFireBrickCo]

Glad to hear it! I think you would need to burn a little more charcoal to compensate for the colder inlet air, but other than that it would probably be much the same!

[@HorstLushington]

Thankyou for a great video. We had some Frenchies over for a beef bourguignon they said it was the best they have ever had. It has been a challenge for me to get the right temps, your advice has been very helpful. As it has in the past when I built my oven. Can I recommend Yotam Ottolenghi, he has some great vegi dishes as well as meat that work well in the oven.

[@TheFireBrickCo]

Ooooh I will check out some of those recipes!!

[@mhyato]

at 15:00, the first time I've seen the aeropress funnel put to good use! What else could we expect from the _Melbourne_ fire brick company :)

[@TheFireBrickCo]

Haha we do like our coffee down here!

[@nelson32]

Ben, your ovens look incredible.. i'm here in the united states and I'm looking to purchase the D105... I'm thinking of building one in the spring.

[@TheFireBrickCo]

Hi Nelson, sounds like a plan, we will have you covered! I got your email and we will get back in touch with you later today with a quote including delivery

[@terryballard2350]

Wow I really liked your pizza selections! 🙏 Try seedless grapes on your sausage pizza! Salt and sweet work well together!

[@TheFireBrickCo]

Ooooh that does sound good!

[@apollyon1]

you can't teach enthusiasm. for that reason you're better than most TV chefs.

[@TheFireBrickCo]

I am nothing if not enthusiastic hahaha! I do love what I get to do, I'm very spoiled.

[@alexiskyr85]

OK, so this is the first video of yours that I laid my eyes on and for feck sake I love you! I was looking for exactly what the title says and that is what I found. My father-in-law (f-i-l) has a wood fired oven and last week I made my first (and also successful) Neapolitan style pizza. I do have a bbq at my house that I use as a smoker but I was looking to use the oven as a smoker (Pizza the first day, smoked X the next day). Thank you for your video! P.S.1: I am an engineer myself and your humor and level of explanation catches mine! Great video! P.S.2: If you ever plan to visit Greece, (please) sent me a message. I would love to meet you and maybe share/taste some recipes at my f-i-l's oven.

[@TheFireBrickCo]

Thankyou so much! Far out I do hope I get to visit Greece some day!!

[@Ahmedelhaty]

Hello! My appreciation for your very interesting and useful content. I want to build my home pizza oven here in Palestine, but the problem that we dont have the appropriate materials, especially the firebricks. So please make a video on how to make firebricks and fire resistant mortar at home.

[@TheFireBrickCo]

That's a very tough one Ahmed, we won't be able to help you there sorry!

[@PatrickGuerrisi]

My wife has a funny thing about eating pork. So can I ask what beef cut do I ask for at the butcher to achieve the same as this video but with beef? Id like to try a slow smoked beef in my oven

[@TheFireBrickCo]

Great question! Apparently Beef Chuck Roast would be the equivalent, I haven't tried it but it sure sounds good

[@stevenpayette280]

Remember if you're lookin' you're not cookin'.

[@TheFireBrickCo]

Oh that’s a GOOD ONE!!

[@desmikes]

I've never smoked anything in a wood oven. I'm a bit afraid to mess up my oven. The smoke is not going to badly and permanently saturate the inside of the oven, so that everything from that point on smells like barbecue meat, is it? After you burn off the smoke deposits on walls, will the oven go back to it's original, pre-smoking condition?

[@TheFireBrickCo]

Good question! Don't worry - the smoke won't do anything permanent to the oven at all - remember that you're filling it with smoke each and every time you fire it up normally, with some of that smoke sticking to the walls as soot. This will burn off with the next major firing, and the oven will be back to bare brick again.

[@dividen2]

You're awesome!

[@TheFireBrickCo]

Thanks!! I don't know about that but we do our very best!

[@SD_Alias]

That is a very inspiring video. I planned to build a garden kitchen with a brick oven and an offset smoker. Now i think i build only the brick oven and buy better high quality meat for the saved money not building the offset smoker… Is the chimney to be closed in your oven after the wood is burned the two days ago?

[@TheFireBrickCo]

Go for it! We don't close the chimney as such, we close the oven door which effectively means the chimney isn't drawing any air out of the oven chamber (so kinda the same thing)

[@SD_Alias]

@@TheFireBrickCo Thank you, i like the solution with your simple door that can be put in front or past the chimney.

[@johnstrickland3933]

well technically both smokers an pizza oven pretty much built the same way. there built to retain heat. it just one is direct high heat an smoking is low indirect heat

[@TheFireBrickCo]

I've found that most smokers aren't really built to retain a lot of heat (they're mostly made with an uninsulated steel tank), whereas a good wood fired oven really focusses heavily on insulation and heat retention. Quite different really, but it's pretty cool that we can use an oven to do both high heat and low heat cooking!

[@youknowvin]

I smoke in my wood fired oven and this seems overly complicated and requires buying more gadgets. I do not care for pellets either. I have a large steel bowl that has no vent holes in it. I start a charcoal fire in it and then put on small chunks of wet pecan or hickory and I get a lot more smoke than those little pellet tubes. I put a pan of water above the fire and the meat on a rack above that. I do need to add more wood but don't consider a 2-3 hour interval to be that troublesome as with the rack method I have never wanted to smoke more than 6 hours.

[@TheFireBrickCo]

Good tips John - there are loads of great methods for smoking in a wood fired oven, this method just works well for me with only a couple of small gadgets needed (the expensive one is the Fireboard, which isn't critical but certainly makes things easier)

[@petraivarsson8264]

Hi :) Great video :) Writing from Sweden and trying to find this double Barrels om Amazon. Can´t find them. Enybody that found them outside of Australia? /Petra :)

[@TheFireBrickCo]

Hi Petra, try searching for 'Smoke Maze' instead

[@thesivraj]

Hi there - what is the thermometer you are showing in the video? Does it handle WFO high temps?

[@TheFireBrickCo]

Hi Jarvis! The smart thermometer is the Fireboard Pro V2, which uses thermocouples as sensors and is rated to well beyond 700C. The analogue gauge in the wall is rated to 550C

[@barmcake1000]

Great

[@TheFireBrickCo]

Thank you! 😊

[@TerryKashat]

It’s a Legit Oven. 🥃. Real Ovens always turn out better product.

[@TheFireBrickCo]

Thanks Terry!

[@jishnupp3436]

Am also an engineer from kerala india who loves to cook

[@TheFireBrickCo]

We engineers are willing to give anything a crack I tell you!

[@GrahamSwan-yi5gw]

Firstly congratulations on a very informative video BUT I found it far toooooo long. You could cut the length by 2/3rds if you didn’t keep repeating yourself. Please keep the videos coming.

[@TheFireBrickCo]

Thanks Graham - I'll have another crack at it some day and try to shorten it

[@nickiibrenton]

Just got bored.

[@TheFireBrickCo]

I hear you, I'll try again in the future and make it much much shorter. Hopefully you got some good info from it, give it a crack!