Author Topic: Ecoque Wood Fired Oven and Smoker  (Read 36088 times)

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Offline smokeasaurus

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Re: Ecoque Wood Fired Oven and Smoker
« Reply #29 on: May 05, 2016, 10:22:35 AM »
I failed to mention that I added the fire-grate this time. The fire grate limits the amount of wood you can add so you can keep your temps down for lo and slo. The smoker ran around 240 while the pizza oven was at 360. I know the Mfg suggests only one or two wood chunks to maintain temp but I have found that it does not give me enough of a coal base. So I take a small axe and half some chunks and add them in with about three regular size chunks about every hour.
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Offline smokeasaurus

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Re: Ecoque Wood Fired Oven and Smoker
« Reply #30 on: May 10, 2016, 09:44:33 PM »
Was getting the stone heated up for some pizza and Wendy brought out upside down cake to put in the pizza oven
25 minutes later


and then:


I added some more wood chunks and opened up the vents more and the stone hit 500 degrees
tossed in a store bought taco pizza
10 minutes later:


look at that crispy crust and perfectly cooked toppings
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Offline TentHunteR

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Re: Ecoque Wood Fired Oven and Smoker
« Reply #31 on: May 11, 2016, 09:09:38 AM »
This is shaping up to be an awesome cooker, Smoke!
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Offline Smokin Don

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Re: Ecoque Wood Fired Oven and Smoker
« Reply #32 on: May 11, 2016, 10:13:50 AM »
Sure looks like a great oven and smoker!!! Don
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Offline muebe

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Re: Ecoque Wood Fired Oven and Smoker
« Reply #33 on: May 11, 2016, 11:08:49 AM »
Great looking pizza
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Offline smokeasaurus

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Re: Ecoque Wood Fired Oven and Smoker
« Reply #34 on: May 11, 2016, 12:34:09 PM »
I think I will wrap up this review.

Now this is more of a niche item I feel. It is extremely heavy duty and very well made. The pizza oven is much larger than I thought. Last nights pizza was a 16inch round offering and it fit comfortably in the oven. This oven should have no problems with multiple things going on. Casseroles and breads can be done at the same time.

The smoker works well and creates a very nice smokey moist environment. The size seems limited though. You are pretty much forced to have a pan on the bottom rack because there is no where for the grease to go. So that leaves with just the top rack. You can get three racks of ribs on it because both ovens are 2 feet deep. Two pork butts should be fine and one packer brisket is no problem. Two spatchcocked chickens or one spatchcocked turkey is fine. There is no headroom so you cant leave them whole..but I like spatchcocking anyways.

The firebox is brilliant. It is set up for large fires for using the pizza oven and smaller fires for doing lo and slo. The mfg really put some time and thought into this. The firebox is adhered to the heavy stainless rack by a rod and the rack is set up to be pulled all the way out safely with no fear of the rack coming out completely. Very reassuring when pulling it out to stoke the wood or add more chunks.

Now wood consumption is another thing. If you only add a "couple" of chunks every hour you eventually will not have enough of a coal base to get the two chunks burning when you add them. The air tight fire chamber can be a hindrance by letting your wood smolder instead of catching a flame.

I have found a way around this....you just knew The Smoke would  ;)

I take a small axe and half the chunks. I add 6 smaller pcs total about every 45 minutes and leave the three spinner vents open more. This gives me a smaller hotter cleaner burning fire...I do not mind adding wood more often. This unit is a vertical stick burner. I almost have to treat the fire the same way I do in my off-set...just on a smaller basis.

So I do use more wood than the Mfg says that I should but there is one feature that does make up for this.  :) At the wrapping stage, I simply stop adding wood and place the wrapped meat in the pizza oven. The brick and stone in there stays hot for hours...even after letting the fire burn down. Free heat if you ask me.

Wendy and I looked at this oven/smoker for almost two years. When I contacted the owner he sadly informed me they had 39 left and when I talked to Tim late last week about fire management issues he said they were down to 25. So these units are selling pretty well. I believe they had a lot of 2000. My unit was mfg in 2014. We bought direct from the Mfg and got 500.00 off of retail and a free cover and free freight shipping. There will be no more after this. There is a slight re-design change in the works but Tim is not sure there will be another incarnation.

If anyone or if you know of anyone that is interested...act quck. Go to outdoorchefstore.com to get the 500.00 off retail with all the goodies and free shipping.

We were concerned making this large of a purchase with the item going away soon. Tim assured me they have plenty of parts for warranty claims. He informed me that they have only had to ship somebody a pizza stone. That was because it had cracked during transit.

Everything on this pit is heavy duty. All stainless steel lined fire-box and both ovens. Fully insulated. Very nice powder coating. Charcoal tray is 12 gauge and welded. Racks are heavy stainless steel. At 380 lbs this oven/smoker will be around for a while. I had to hire a couple of guys to help me get this bad boy through the cabin and down to the bottom deck. Now The Smoke is buff and chiseled (that is my story and I am sticking to it  :D) and this is at least a two man lift or somebody will get hurt.

So is this unit for everybody. Probably not. We like the two distinct cooking environments. The pizza oven is dry and hot. The smoker is moist and smokey. At the same time!!  So, while I feel wood usage is not as good as suggested, the unit makes up for that by being able to use both "ovens" at the same time. Being able to use the pizza oven as a "holding" oven after smoking something is a real neat feature.

I hope everybody enjoyed this review. I have been informed by Wendy that I won't be doing any product reviews any time soon  ??? ???  so this one is going to have to suffice for a while.

Now if I can only figure out how to get a Fire Butler into the storage shed sight unseen  ;) ;)  Until then, lets keep that blue smoke rolling 8)
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Offline muebe

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Re: Ecoque Wood Fired Oven and Smoker
« Reply #35 on: May 11, 2016, 01:38:13 PM »
It is a great review Smoke! Honest and unbiased IMHO

I like the unit but honestly would rather have the pizza oven work more like a real wood fired oven. The full exposure to smokey air by using some type of baffles and openings in the interior wall that would allow the smoke and heated air to enter the oven chamber instead of the smoking chamber or be directed in the oven chamber then back out into the smoking chamber. Then could be closed when you want to use it like a standard oven. I think if they added that function it would really improve the unit and make it more like a real wood fired oven.

The Uuni is the closest thing I have found that makes an authentic wood fired pizza. I love it for the portability and the flavor it gives pizzas. One day when I finally get settled I am going to have a large real wood fired pizza oven in my backyard. I would honestly give this unit more of a look if the oven functioned more like that. I will probably be spending around a thousand dollars for my oven when I do decide to make the plunge. Having a all in one unit like this would be great...
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Offline smokeasaurus

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Re: Ecoque Wood Fired Oven and Smoker
« Reply #36 on: May 11, 2016, 02:40:34 PM »
There is an oven like that Muebe called the Fornetto. It has a pullout knob to let the smoke enter the pizza chamber. I asked Tim about that model design and he felt the stone would get too much smoke saturation so they went with the two separate ovens. He suggested to move whatever we are cooking in the pizza oven into the smoking chamber for a kiss of smoke........

Glad you liked the review  :)
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Offline TMB

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Re: Ecoque Wood Fired Oven and Smoker
« Reply #37 on: May 11, 2016, 02:56:16 PM »
Nice review Smoke!  But Kimmie kill me if I looked into getting one
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Offline smokeasaurus

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Re: Ecoque Wood Fired Oven and Smoker
« Reply #38 on: May 15, 2016, 11:36:46 AM »
I have to add to this product review to keep things honest.

This cooker simply does not work as advertised.

It is not a fuel miser.

It is not easy to use.

If I could afford to, I would sell it to a recycling place.

Tim at Ecoque is a great guy. He can't figure out what is going on. He thinks it might be elevation. His brother has one and lives in Denver. Our elevation here is higher than Denvers. So we will see what happens.

I am following all of Tims suggestions because at the end of the day, if this pit does not straighten out, I will be demanding some sort of restitution......... >:(

to be continued..........................
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Offline jjjonz

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Re: Ecoque Wood Fired Oven and Smoker
« Reply #39 on: May 15, 2016, 02:53:01 PM »
Thanks for a very through good honest review there Smoke.
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Offline smokeasaurus

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Re: Ecoque Wood Fired Oven and Smoker
« Reply #40 on: May 23, 2016, 09:28:39 PM »
Well, after two weeks of brainstorming and trying things with Tim from EcoQue, we have determined that the only thing we can think of is elevation that is giving us problems. The firebox smolders and does not burn clean no matter what we do. It takes 3 hours and a bunch of smokey wood to get the pizza stone to 450 to do a 6 minute pizza cook.

Tim offered me a 500.00 partial refund and I can sell the oven/smoker locally. Should be on Craigslist in about an hour  :(
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Offline muebe

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Re: Ecoque Wood Fired Oven and Smoker
« Reply #41 on: May 24, 2016, 02:41:18 AM »
Sorry you couldn't get it figured out Scott.

Maybe someone at a lower elevation in the valley will have better luck.
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Offline smokeasaurus

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Re: Ecoque Wood Fired Oven and Smoker
« Reply #42 on: May 24, 2016, 09:41:10 AM »
Sorry you couldn't get it figured out Scott.

Maybe someone at a lower elevation in the valley will have better luck.

Thanks Buddy.

Tim said out of 2000 units he has never seen this problem. He said a unit went to Denver and he has heard of no problems...but we are higher in elevation than the mile high city!

Wendy still has issues from time to time baking at this elevation............
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Offline smokeasaurus

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Re: Ecoque Wood Fired Oven and Smoker
« Reply #43 on: June 02, 2016, 03:34:25 PM »
Well, a guy from the So-Cal beach communities bought the Eco-Cue the other day. He is also purchasing 3 new ones from Tim. So it worked out to be a happy ending for all parties involved  :)
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