How long to smoke an 8 pound brisket? (Explained)

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How long to smoke an 8 pound brisket

It can be quite common to ask how long an 8 pound brisket may take to smoke fully. 

What you’ll want to look out for is how hot exactly you’re cooking the 8 pound brisket for. Specifically, an 8 pound brisket should take about anywhere from 4 to 8 hours to fully cook through. 

There is a wide array of temperature ranges that you can smoke any brisket of any size or weight. The most common two temperature ranges that many seem to understand, are low and slow and hot and fast.

If you are smoking low and slow and have an 8 pound brisket, then you should have an estimated cook time of about eight hours. That is because at 225°F, you have a cook through rate of about 1 pound per hour.

225°F to 250°F is known as low and slow, which is what a 1 pound per hour cook through rate is noted as.

If you are smoking hot and fast and have an 8 pound brisket, you should expect an average cook time of about 4 to 5 hours. That’s simply because you have a cook through rate of about 2 pounds per hour at a temperature range of 275°F or above.

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Final thoughts

Once you understand how different temperatures can impact briskets of different weights, then you can start to plan ahead accordingly. If you’re looking for a shorter cook time, consider smoking your 8 pound brisket at around 275°F or hotter. 

That should render it complete at around the 4 to 5 hour mark.

If you don’t really mind a substantially longer cook time, then consider smoking it low and slow between 225°F to 250°F. That should be rendering the brisket complete at around the 8 or 9 hour mark.