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How long to smoke brisket at 180 degrees
If you’re wondering how long you should be smoking any brisket that you have at around 180°, then you have come in the right place.
Most of the time, Pitmasters will never smoke any meat at that temperature range.
That simply because it is too low and does not allow for proper cooking of your brisket or meat.
Since most briskets are at an average weight of about 10 to 20 pounds, then you’re looking at more than 10 to 20 hours of total cook time.
That however is assuming you’re cooking at least at 225°F.
If you happen to be smoking your brisket at a lower temperature than that, then you’ll have a an extremely long cooking process.
It just simply doesn’t make sense, really.
One of the only reason why you would want to smoke a brisket at that low of a temperature, is to perhaps just let the smoke start permeating the meat appropriately, then after a couple of hours crank up the ambient temperature.
On average you could probably expect a cook through rate of about half a pound per hour.
Just take that into consideration because that is an extremely slow rate to be cooking any size of brisket at.
Final thoughts
You should never consider smoking your brisket fully at an ambient temperature of about 185°F.
That is simply too low of an ambient temperature to be smoking any size of brisket.
It’s going to certainly take you quite a bit of time then it otherwise would have, and really for no other type of gain.
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.