- Oct 26, 2023
- 2
- 1
I'm a software developer working remote. I moved out to a 25 acre property last year, with the goal of growing/raising all our own food. We have some mangalitsa pigs, a very small beef herd and some chickens. We butchered our first hog last winter, plan to butcher our second this November. Last time I successfully cold smoked some cured bacon using a classic Weber grill, a flexible dryer vent, and a cardboard box! Going forward I want a proper cold/hot smokehouse, so I built one that I hope last a very long time.
My new smokehouse is 4x4x8 with 2x4 construction on a cement slab, with 1" thick board and batten siding from reclaimed oak floor boards from the old barn on the property (so there are lots of cracks for extra airflow). A firebox sits about 12 feet away with a 6" pipe coming in through the cement floor. It has a peaked roof, with a 6" exhaust pipe leaving out the wall horizontally underneath one of the peaks with a 90 deg elbow taking the pipe vertical before the smoke exits. I bought the tejas smoker LPCAST8-2 propane burner that puts out 80,000 BTU/hr. The burner is currently situated about 6" off the ground in the center of the smokehouse (just above the smoke inlet pipe), with the venturi situated outside the smokehouse connected with a regulator to a 5 gallon propane tank.
And now to my question: I was testing this out for the first time yesterday and couldn't get the internal temperature above about 160 f. Should I install some sort of insulation? Or are there other tweaks I should make?
Thanks everyone!
Here is a link to a youtube short of my smokehouse from a couple weeks ago
My new smokehouse is 4x4x8 with 2x4 construction on a cement slab, with 1" thick board and batten siding from reclaimed oak floor boards from the old barn on the property (so there are lots of cracks for extra airflow). A firebox sits about 12 feet away with a 6" pipe coming in through the cement floor. It has a peaked roof, with a 6" exhaust pipe leaving out the wall horizontally underneath one of the peaks with a 90 deg elbow taking the pipe vertical before the smoke exits. I bought the tejas smoker LPCAST8-2 propane burner that puts out 80,000 BTU/hr. The burner is currently situated about 6" off the ground in the center of the smokehouse (just above the smoke inlet pipe), with the venturi situated outside the smokehouse connected with a regulator to a 5 gallon propane tank.
And now to my question: I was testing this out for the first time yesterday and couldn't get the internal temperature above about 160 f. Should I install some sort of insulation? Or are there other tweaks I should make?
Thanks everyone!
Here is a link to a youtube short of my smokehouse from a couple weeks ago