Blodgett 1048B BTU question

Stef

Stef

New member
Newbie question here. Looking to open a small pizza shop in a touristic area with good foot traffic serving NY style pies primarily slices but also full pies (16-18 in). I’m looking for an used 120000BTU oven and came across a double deck Blodgett 1048B at a good price. However, I’m confused about the BTU of this unit. Lady selling it said that the serial plate says 60,000BTU but I couldn’t find any 1048B specs with that output. It’s either 85000BTU for the newer models or 120000BTU for the older ones. Does the 1048B have 2 burners and the specs on the plate are for 1 burner?
Thanks
 
Stef said:
Blodgett 1048B
Click to expand...
There is an aluminum tag on the ovens side when you open the bottom door. Check to see what it says for model # and btu’s. Have her send you a photo. Personally the 1048 is not an oven I would use. We use 1960’s blodgett 1000’s which are 120,000 btu’s per deck with double burners. They bake evenly without rotating pies. I would have a skilled tech look at any oven before you purchase and also check to see if there is enough gas volume coming in the shop to handle whatever oven you pick. Otherwise, you can be looking at a big bill from the gas company, if they can even do it, to get you up to speed.

1048-man-english.pdf (blodgett.com)
 
Thanks for the input.
The newer 1048 seem to have different BTU output but this one seems to be an older model, and I think @George_Mills mentioned it as a good option. I’ve seen a couple of people on this forum using the 1048 for NY pie.
I’ve been searching for 1000’s for over a month now and can’t find any.
Besides the inconvenience of having to rotate the pie, are there other issues I should be aware of? Other reasons why you don`t recommend it?

I’m also looking at BP Y600 but the ones I found seem really beat up.
 
Stef: The 1000 is actually pretty easy to find compared to finding one with the original stones. It is very hard to find one that is not beaten to all heck at this point in their life. Without the stones they are on par with the Y series ovens. I never liked the 1048 because I was raised on the 1000’s. The 1048 will bake unevenly and doesn’t have the btu power of the 1000. That is why I love the 1000’s. There is a lot of things that can be wrong with a deck oven, and it still will operate, but not efficiently. That is why I said get someone to check whatever you are thinking of buying. Well worth it in the long run. Also make sure the gas and vent systems are up to running the oven. Here is a cool article I wrote with Norma Knepp, Caputo Cup Champ, on the story behind the blodgett pizza ovens. You can see him designing the 1000 and his 90 year old daughter told us he said it was perfection and would never need to design another oven (we run a stack at our pizzeria). We have been researching the Mastro story for a long time. Frank designed all the blodgett ovens of his era. I liked George Mills but he was geared to Midwest, not NY level of pizza. Lots of screen, pan, bakes in the midwest.
The Pizza Kings: The Strange, Sad Story of Two Great Visionaries - PMQ Pizza Magazine
 
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Great read, and thanks for your insights.
I’m in Canada and I believe the overwhelming majority of 1000’s are scrap metal at this point, really not easy to find. I called all used equipment sellers in my area and most of them told me they haven’t seen 1000’s in a while. If you know anyone in Canada selling 1000’s, I’m all ears.
What would be your second option deck oven for NY style?
 
bummer on the ovens. There are tons of them in the Chicago area used places. I don’t have a second really but if I had to pick it would be the old BP like Defara’s uses. Frank Mastro designed them as well and are basically a 1000 with a different outside look. Then it would be the pizza master. My friend Derek who owns Paulie Gee’s in Chicago uses them, We are close friends. He organized a go fund me to get us out here and designed our shop logo as a gift. So he gives me the straight talk. They bake good but still have to rotate. Sorry about not having an affordable alternative. Glad you liked the article. The guy that did the Pizza and the Mob for Vice is talking with us to do a Mastro story.
 
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Got pic of the serial# from the lady. Manufactured in '99.
The plate says Input/Burner 60000. I’m assuming it’s 120,000BTU per deck or am I wrong?
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Do the stones look fine to you? There’s seems to be like a slight curvature where the stones link up. Not sure if that is an optical illusion or something wrong with the bottom.
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any inputs appreciated
 
The stones are replacements. I would contact blodgett. They can give you all the info from the tag- get a photo of the entire one.
 
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Stef,

I used to use the Blodgett 1000s that @smiling_with_hope is talking about. They are phenomenal. My understanding is that they are no longer as good because the process of making the old stones involved asbestos and they haven’t been able to 100% replicate it.

We are currently using Marsal and Sons ovens at two of our locations. I find these to be second to the Blodgett 1000s. In my opinion, the Marsal and Sons SD series most closely replicates the 1000s. We also have Marsal MB series ovens that bake well, but differently since they have stones on the top of the oven chamber to provide more top heat.

Blodgett now owns Marsal. The sales people will tell you that you don’t need to rotate the pies, this is not true. The SD series are more forgiving though and you can get away with not rotating but will not have a 100% even bake. If you can find the Marsal SD ovens, I think they will be better than what Blodgett has put out the past couple decades,

Good luck!

Mike
 
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