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How long to smoke brisket on pit boss
If you’re wondering how long it should take to smoke a brisket on a pit boss pellet smoker, then you have come to the right place.
Regardless of what type of smoker you have, whether it be a vertical smoker, pellet smoker, or an offset type of smoker, briskets will generally all take the same amount of time to cook through to an internal temperature of 200°F.
On average, depending on the temperature you are smoking your brisket at, expect a cook time of about 1 pound per hour or 2 pounds per hour.
This means for briskets at an average weight of 10 to 15 pounds, can expect around a 10 to 15 hour cook time overall.
Let’s take a quick look at how long Pitmasters should be using the smoke setting for on their pit boss!
How long to use smoke setting on pit boss
You should be using smoke as much as possible on your brisket since it is such a large course piece of barbecue, this also applies to seasoning the meat.
Brisket’s shouldn’t be under seasoned or under smoked, and as a matter of fact I have seen an over-seasoned or over smoked brisket but I certainly have seen under seasoned and under smoked briskets.
In that regard, always make sure to apply as much smoke flavor as early as possible and for as long as possible on your brisket.
If you are becoming concerned about the overall smoke flavor, then you can certainly turn the smoke setting off and perhaps even wrap your brisket to make it a little bit more soggy than it currently is.
If you don’t know what the smoke setting is used for on your pit boss, keep reading.
What is the smoke setting used for on a Pit Boss?
The smoke setting basically applies smoke to your meat.
It activates the pellets in a certain way, and loads them in increments to allow for adequate smoldering, causing a lot of smoke to be admitted more so than usual.
I personally recommend using the smoke Setting for perhaps only an hour or two and not the entirety of the cook.
You can get that nice smoke flavor for whatever your flavor pellet you happen to have, then start cranking up the ambient temperature thereafter.
Can you cook on smoke mode on Pit Boss?
Since pit boss actually mentioned that the smoke setting is only at around 210°F, it is not really recommended to be smoking brisket on that setting alone.
Instead, perhaps just have that smoke setting at that temperature for about an hour or two to obtain as much smoke as you possibly can, and then start cranking up the ambient temperature to whatever matches your style.
This can be just at 225°F are all the way up past 300°F.
What temperature is the smoke setting on a Pit Boss grill?
Pit boss actually mentions on their website that the smoke setting temperature range is between 180 and 210°F.
This is way too low and slow in my opinion. It’s even slower than 225°F, which is probably the lowest I’ve seen a lot of people recommend smoking any type of brisket at.
If you do happen to attempt to smoke a brisket on the smoker setting, then you will certainly be smoking your brisket for quite some time.
It’s always recommended to cook brisket at hotter temperatures just so you can save the overall cooking time and basically cut it in half compared to those low and slow temperatures.
What P setting on Pit Boss gives more smoke?
To be able to find a pit boss that can give you that great smoke flavor through the p-setting, you’ll want to make sure that the particular grill you have actually has that setting to begin with.
Pit boss calls this out their website as well, and says to make sure to check the manual and the grill itself to ensure that it does have that setting.
As far as what specific setting can give plenty of smoke flavor, it’s usually recommend it to just leave it on the default.
This prevents a backlog of pellets from being input it into the fire pot without being lit.
You don’t want a backlog of unlit pellets because when you happen to light it, it may cause a temperature swing and perhaps even a fire that you don’t want.
So to keep things very consistent, just use the standard p setting or smoke setting for your pit boss and then try and adjust it from there as you become a little bit more experienced.
Tying this back into how long you should be smoking your brisket on a pellet smoker specifically, you don’t want to be fiddling around with all of these different settings just to get a little bit more smoke flavor.
Set it at that default temperature, let it get it smoke, then start cranking the ambient temperatures up to the overall cooking temperature that it takes to finish your brisket.
This should take no more than about 10 to 15 hours overall for a 10 pound or 15 pound brisket.
How to smoke a brisket on a pit boss
Smoking a brisket on a pit boss pellet smoker is quite easy.
All you have to do is season and throw the brisket onto the smoker itself, and then properly turn the pit boss on.
Set your specific temperature range, and you’re good to go.
The temperature range that you should be selecting is really dependent on your own personal preference as well as how quickly you want to be done with your particular brisket.
You also want to try and figure out how much your brisket weighs and correlate that with the overall temperature that you will be smoking a brisket at.
This can give you a cooking rate of about 1 pound or 2 pounds per hour overall.
Adjust from there in accordance with the weight.
Final thoughts
The length of time it takes to smoke a brisket on a pit boss pellet smoker is dependent on how much it weighs and how much you are cooking it at in terms of temperature.
All you have to do is calculate either a 1 pound or 2 pound cook through rate to determine the overall length of smoking time needed.
This cooking rate is derived from low and slow temperatures and hot and fast temperatures.
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.