Feedback needed

[Casey6452]

Hello everyone, I’m new to this forum but I have been checking it out for a while. I live in South Louisiana where everything we cook has some sort of smoked meat in it! I decided I want to start making my own sausage and Tasso so i started on my own smoke house. I went off of a few designs that I found on here and came up with a final product. I am not completely finished but i have a few questions. It is 4x4x4 and framed with cedar 2x4s and covered with western red cedar planks. I was wondering based on what i have, how can I retain more heat? I plan on hot smoking around 200-250. What would be a good insulator? And should I be able to reach those temps by using an external firebox or will i need an additional heat source?

 

[archeryrob]

I think you should read up a bit more on temps. How much fat do you items have? Anything over 180 can liquify fat. 200 - 250 would be for whole meats and I still don;t cook over 180 when making dried goose or venison, just smoke longer.