I’m really torn between the Mattone Grand and the BrickWood Box.
How hot does the BrickWood get? 800+ degrees like the Mattone?
How many pizzas can you cook at once in the lower oven? If only 1-2, how long does the fire burn?
We host a lot of parties… my dream is to have 20-30 folks over for a pizza night on a weekly basis. But I’ve also dreamed of hosting a pig roast a few times a year. The versatility of the BrickWood Box is appealing. But it has to be just as good at making pizzas as that’s the primary purpose.
Advice? Thanks!
Ok I’ll weigh in my opinion here. When my wife and I first dreamed of a pizza oven the brickwood box was not available. And went on to strat building the Mattone Barile Grande. Half way through my build the brickwood box came out. And we were like that would of been prefect. The best of all worlds.
But now looking back on it, I’m glad I didn’t. And this is the reason. You would have to get down on your hands and knees to cook anything in the oven. Unless you elevate it. Then you would have to get up on something to use the top. My wife and I are not getting younger so we would not use the oven part as much. And I don’t know how many pizza’s you can cook in it.
If I were you and you want to host pig roast and pizza partys, for 20 to 30 people I would build both. You would have the ability you need.
Hope this helps.
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Thank you for responding, that’s exactly what I was thinking but wanted to hear it from someone else, because on the surface it seems awesome and a one stop shop!
I agree with 423tommy. I built both and it works perfectly. The Barile Grande is perfect for managing pizzas and I found the BrickWood Box is a little to low to the ground for making pizzas the same way as the Barile Grande.
Did you build the Box yourself? I’m looking to do it myself… I have almost zero experience, but the directions are amazingly OCD detailed to where I could see myself doing it. Any tips?
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Yes, I built it myself and the yes, the direction were perfect. I know there a few things along the way that I might have changed but they were very minor and I mostly forgot. One section of the directions that I strongly recommend following would be when you apply the veneer to the upper chamber…ensure you have a guide to keep everything straight. I didn’t and my corner sort of droop down. Oh, and I did make the concrete pad bigger so I could have around 18"+ of concrete on each side.
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I am also someone that built both. If possible, that is strongly recommended if you want to smoke and have pizzas. As others have said, the brickwood box could definitely work, but the height (ground level) is cumbersome to make pizzas. Particularly because in practice you will never make 1 pizza (in which case 2-3 min. of being on your knees is fine). But, If you are going through the experience of making the dough, building the fire for an hour etc., you are rarely making less than 4-5 and usually more. It would be a lot of time on your knees.
Just finished my box. So far smoked a brisket and blue fish and used as a grill. I love it! But use pizza oven for pizzas if you are lucky enough to be able to have both.
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Any tips on smoking? I have never smoked anything. All I know about smoking is to buy smoked salmon and smoked pork chops.
I highly recommend watching a bunch of youtube on smoking (and I can’t begin to compare my knowledge to some of the posters there…). My tip specific to using the brickwood box was that I needed to chop my wood smaller (thinner) than I first expected. The smaller pieces helped me better hold / control the temperatures I was shooting for.
Thank you for the reply. I noticed you made a concrete (or granite?) top for the Grill. Can you post a little bit about it? probably not in Pizzas, but somewhere in the BrickBox. I think I like it and it seems better and smoother than the veneer. I have placed Chicago bricks on the bottom (cut in half) and plan on putting Chicago brick veneer on top. A colored concrete border might be nice.
It is concrete. I added some glbutt and polished it. One I poured in place and one in a mold. I have been planning to post all the pics from my build soon and haven’t done it yet (as you can see I am a few stones short of being finished with the veneer, but since its fully operational I have been distracted by cooking and eating!).
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HAHA… I have not taken out the grills to avoid that. I am finishing the veneer on top (I did the bottom first). I will probably do it this weekend, or most of it, but I think you had a nice idea. I would think you pour everything in place.
What about the depth and hitch posts? do they fit?
I don’t have the hitch posts (yet 
) so I can’t confirm if they will fit. I guesstimated the allowance and figured I can cut a notch if needed.
I poured the one around the pizza oven in place (because its rounded) and made the box one in a form- mostly to experiment with the two methods because I had never done it before. They both came out essentially the same (I think I did a better job distributing the glass on the poured in place one because its slightly easier to see what you are doing). If you pour in place the lesson I learned is to polish it before you put the veneer on or else wrap it well, because the ground concrete wants to run all over your finish work…
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