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How long to smoke a brisket at 300 degrees?
Smoking a brisket at 300° is super easy, and doesn’t really take that long at all. On average, you can expect anywhere from 1 1/2 pounds to 2 pounds per hour of cook time when smoking at hotter temperatures such as 300.
Smoking at hotter temperatures is definitely the way to go.
You save a lot of time, and don’t really have to change too much outside of maybe adding a little bit more fuel and changing the vent settings on your smoker.
One of the most common adages in the BBQ realm is to smoke a brisket at 225°F. That is not the only way to smoke a brisket.
A lot of that comes from older generations where they did not have accurate enough thermometers to actually tell them what temperature they are smoking with to begin with.
In fact, I suspect that a lot of the times when pit-master is back in the day with smoke a brisket, they were actually smoking a brisket at higher temperatures than just 225°F.
In terms of the length of time most people expect a brisket to be done, you can certainly use the ballpark estimate of 1 pound of brisket per hour of time, but in my experience, that number is substantially increased as you start to cook a piece of meat at higher temperatures.
Can you smoke at 300 degrees?
Smoking a brisket at 300° is a very good way to save a lot of time and effort when preparing and cooking your barbecue. A lot of the times pit masters will actually prefer kicking their briskets at 300°F or above due to this fact.
So whenever you’re planning out your potential brisket cook or smoke, try experimenting a little and cooking it at 300°F. You will be pleasantly surprised.
Just make sure to pay close attention to the carryover here, as I mentioned in other articles, it can start to really exponentially increase the internal temperature passed when you had expected it.
So in other words if you pull the brisket off at 200°F while cooking at a high temperature such as 300°F. The carryover heat may push it way past 200°F without a second notice. So just keep that in mind!
How long does it take to cook a 5lb brisket at 300 degrees?
If you have a 5 pound piece of brisket and are kicking it at 350°F, expect a cook time from around 2 to 3 hours. That is basically because at hotter temperatures like 300°F, the cook time per pound of meat is substantially decreased.
In other words, the amount of pounds of meat you can expect it fully cooked through walking at hotter temperatures is increased.
Is 325 too hot for brisket?
325°F is not too hot for a brisket, but it’s definitely on the hotter end than what you would normally expect to cook with that.
For most cooks, regardless of what type of barbecue it is, whether it be brisket, pork shoulder, or even ribs, you never really want to go past 350°F.
So if you’re cooking at 325°F, just know that if you happen to add a little bit more fuel or if you open the vans little bit too much than they currently are, then you really well risk run the risk of over cooking a brisket at a hot enough temperature.
Is 300 too high for brisket?
300°F Kirks for briskets are definitely not too hot.
They are just right in the range of being considered hot and fast style cooks. It saves plenty of time while also producing the same or even better results than you would otherwise get during a low and slow cook of around 225°F to 250°F.
Hot and fast brisket vs low and slow
A hot fast style brisket is one that is smoked at anywhere between 275°F to 350°F.
This is becoming very popular, as many Pit-masters are realizing that they can basically cut their cooking time in half while still maintaining quality results then they would otherwise get at a low and slow type of cook.
For low and slow low types of brisket you can expect a temperature range of 225°F to 250°F in ambient temperature.
This frankly takes a ton of time to cook a brisket all the way through, while only producing average results compared to a hot and fast style of cook.
Personally, I am a strong advocate for hot and fast cooks for your briskets. Briskets are tough and finicky cuts of meat as they stand, and if you were to smoke one at too low of a temperature, that’s just adding another variable of work that you have to do that it’s really not even necessary.
You waste a ton of time, and are using potentially even more fuel over the long run to try and maintain a low burning fire.
Final Thoughts
If you’re wondering how long you can expect to cook at 300°F type of brisket, just know that it will kick through at a rate of about 2 pounds per hour.
As always though, use this as a guideline more so than a fact. The tried-and-true method of pulling a brisket off at the right point in time, is to only pull the brisket off the smoker when it reaches an internal temperature of around 200°F.
Do you also want to make sure that the brisket toothpick if you have one, slides in and out like butter with zero resistance.
That is truly how you know a brisket is done and you can expect to reach this point generally, and about the 5 to 10 hour mark depending on the size of your brisket and how fast and hot you cook it.
Robert is a certified Pitmaster, with over a decade of experience in smoking the best meats you’ll ever feast upon. He also has a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Texas at San Antonio. When he’s not researching technical topics, he’s most likely barbecuing in his backyard.