Quick Answer
Most smoking happens at 107–135°C (225–275°F). Low and slow breaks down collagen into gelatin, turning tough cuts tender. Always cook to internal temperature, not time alone.
How Smoking Works
Smoking uses indirect heat and wood smoke to cook meat slowly over hours. The low temperature (typically 107–135°C / 225–275°F) breaks down connective tissue in tough, collagen-rich cuts — transforming them from chewy to melt-in-your-mouth tender.
The smoke itself adds flavour through a process called adsorption, where smoke compounds bind to the meat's surface. The best smoke is thin and blue (almost invisible), not thick and white. Thick white smoke contains creosote, which makes food bitter.
Beef Smoking Times
| Cut | Smoker Temp | Internal Temp (Target) | Time (Approx.) | Best Wood |
|---|
| Brisket (whole packer) | 110°C (225°F) | 96°C / 205°F | 12–18 hours | Post oak, hickory |
| Brisket (flat only) | 110°C (225°F) | 93°C / 200°F | 8–12 hours | Post oak, cherry |
| Beef Short Ribs | 135°C (275°F) | 96°C / 205°F | 6–8 hours | Oak, mesquite |
| Beef Chuck Roast | 110°C (225°F) | 93°C / 200°F | 6–8 hours | Hickory, oak |
| Beef Cheeks | 110°C (225°F) | 96°C / 205°F | 8–10 hours | Oak, cherry |
| Tri-Tip | 110°C (225°F) | 54°C / 130°F then sear | 1.5–2 hours | Red oak, cherry |
| Beef Jerky (sliced 5mm) | 80°C (175°F) | Dried, bendable | 4–6 hours | Hickory, mesquite |
The stall: Large beef cuts (especially brisket) hit a "stall" around 66–71°C (150–160°F) where the internal temperature plateaus for hours. This is caused by evaporative cooling. You can wait it out or wrap in butcher paper (the "Texas crutch") to push through faster.
Chicken & Poultry Smoking Times
| Cut | Smoker Temp | Internal Temp (Target) | Time (Approx.) | Best Wood |
|---|
| Whole Chicken (1.8 kg) | 135°C (275°F) | 75°C / 167°F (breast) | 2.5–3.5 hours | Apple, cherry |
| Chicken Thighs | 135°C (275°F) | 76°C / 170°F | 1.5–2 hours | Cherry, pecan |
| Chicken Wings | 135°C (275°F) | 75°C / 167°F | 1.5–2 hours | Apple, cherry |
| Turkey Breast | 135°C (275°F) | 75°C / 167°F | 3–4 hours | Cherry, maple |
| Whole Turkey (5 kg) | 135°C (275°F) | 75°C / 167°F (breast) | 6–8 hours | Apple, pecan |
| Spatchcock Chicken | 150°C (300°F) | 75°C / 167°F | 1.5–2.5 hours | Cherry, maple |
Poultry tip: Smoke poultry at a higher temperature (135°C / 275°F minimum) than beef or pork. Lower temps can produce rubbery skin. For crispy skin, finish at 175°C (350°F) for the last 15–20 minutes or flash under a hot grill.
Seafood Smoking Times
| Type | Smoker Temp | Internal Temp / Doneness | Time (Approx.) | Best Wood |
|---|
| Salmon Fillet (whole side) | 80–93°C (175–200°F) | 63°C / 145°F | 2–3 hours | Alder, apple |
| Trout (whole) | 80°C (175°F) | 63°C / 145°F | 1.5–2 hours | Alder, cherry |
| Prawns (large) | 110°C (225°F) | Opaque throughout | 30–45 min | Apple, alder |
| Oysters (in shell) | 110°C (225°F) | Shell opens | 30–45 min | Apple, cherry |
Note: Seafood absorbs smoke quickly. Use mild woods (alder, apple) and shorter smoke times. Over-smoking makes fish bitter and unpleasant.
Wood Pairing Guide
| Wood | Flavour Profile | Intensity | Best For |
|---|
| Hickory | Strong, bacon-like, slightly sweet | Strong | Pork, beef, ribs |
| Mesquite | Intense, earthy, bold | Very strong | Beef brisket, jerky (use sparingly) |
| Oak (Post/Red) | Medium, nutty, versatile | Medium | Everything — the all-rounder |
| Apple | Sweet, mild, fruity | Mild | Chicken, pork, ribs, fish |
| Cherry | Sweet, mild, rosy colour | Mild–Medium | Pork, chicken, lamb, duck |
| Pecan | Nutty, sweet, mild hickory | Medium | Pork, poultry, beef |
| Maple | Sweet, delicate, light | Mild | Poultry, pork, bacon, vegetables |
| Alder | Light, delicate, slightly sweet | Very mild | Seafood, especially salmon |
| Ironbark | Intense, hardwood, distinctive | Strong | Beef — popular Australian native wood |
Australian tip: Ironbark and red gum are excellent native Australian smoking woods. Ironbark gives an intense flavour suited to beef, while red gum is milder and works with pork and lamb. Source sustainably from BBQ wood suppliers rather than collecting from the bush.
Frequently Asked Questions
What temperature should I set my smoker to?
Most meat smoking is done at 107–135°C (225–275°F). Beef and pork benefit from the lower end (110°C / 225°F) for maximum tenderness. Poultry should be smoked at a minimum of 135°C (275°F) to avoid rubbery skin.
How long does it take to smoke a brisket?
A whole packer brisket takes 12–18 hours at 110°C (225°F). Plan roughly 1–1.5 hours per 500g. The internal temperature should reach 96°C (205°F) and the meat should probe like butter.
What is the best wood for smoking?
Oak is the most versatile and works with everything. Apple and cherry are mild and suit pork and poultry. Hickory gives a strong bacon-like flavour for ribs and pulled pork. Match wood intensity to the protein.
Do I need to soak wood chips before smoking?
No. Soaking delays combustion and produces steam, not smoke. Dry chips and chunks produce cleaner, more consistent smoke. Use chunks for long smokes and chips for shorter sessions.
What is the stall when smoking meat?
The stall is a temperature plateau around 66–71°C (150–160°F) caused by evaporative cooling (the same principle as sweating). Large cuts like brisket and pork shoulder can stall for hours. You can wrap in butcher paper to push through it faster.
How we work this out
Every time on this site comes from one place: a cook profile for each cut, holding a pit temperature, a rate, a rest time and a doneness target. You pick your cut, your smoker setting and your weight, and we do the arithmetic — rate times weight for the big cuts, a fixed window for ribs and snags, thickness for steaks. That's it. There's no secret formula, and there's nothing clever going on behind the curtain.
The honest bit is what the arithmetic can't do. Your fire isn't our fire. A brisket that stalls at two in the afternoon doesn't care what a calculator said at breakfast. Wind, lid-lifting, a fatter flat, a colder bird straight from the fridge — all of it moves the number, and none of it is something we can see from here.
So treat what we give you as a guidance window, not a guarantee. It's the answer to "roughly when should I light this thing", not "your brisket will be ready at 4:47". Cook to feel and to temperature, never to the clock — the probe slides like butter, the ribs crack when you bend them, the bone pulls clean. That's what tells you it's done. We're just here to help you work out when to get up.
What we assume
- You're cooking one cut at a time, unless you've added more to the plan.
- Your smoker holds the temperature you picked, give or take the usual.
- Your meat starts near fridge temperature, not sitting out on the bench.
- Weights are raw, before trimming.
- Rest time sits on top of the cook time, not inside it.
Change any of those and the number moves. Change a few and it moves a lot.
Where these numbers come from
Every safe internal temperature on this site comes from an Australian food-safety authority, and we link to the exact page. Not a summary of it, not our reading of it — the page, so you can check us.
Last checked: 19 September 2026.
Food safety — Australian authorities
Cooking times are a different thing, and we'd rather be clear about the difference. Where we could find a named reference, we've used it and linked it. Where we couldn't, we say so on that cut instead of filling the gap with a guess.
Of the 20 cuts behind the calculator, all 20 carry a safe internal temperature from an Australian food-safety authority, 15 carry a cooking window from a named reference and 11 carry a cooking rate. The remaining 5 say so on the cut rather than borrowing a number from somewhere else.
Whole Chicken, Chicken Wings, Chicken Thighs and Turkey Breast — 4 of the 20 — carry a sourced safe temperature but no cooking-time reference we could find at all. Their times are still our original figures, and we would rather tell you that than let a list of citations imply otherwise.
Cooking times — named references
Australian figures, not American ones
This matters more than it sounds. Australia and the United States disagree on several meats. A sausage is 75 °C here and 71 °C there. A pork chop is 70 °C here and 63 °C there — and more than that, Australia treats a whole cut of pork the way it treats a steak, while the United States mandates a minimum the way it does for chicken. We publish the Australian figure, we say it's the Australian figure, and we record the American one alongside rather than splitting the difference. Nobody is served by an average of two countries' food-safety advice.
Still use a thermometer
None of us can tell whether something is cooked by looking at it. Cook to the temperature, not to the clock — and if our time and your thermometer disagree, your thermometer is right.
The times on this page came from the site's original cooking data. They have not all been reconciled against the sourced cook profiles above yet, and where the two disagree the sourced profile is the one with a citation behind it. That work is under way.
