Are all pellets created equal?

[okie52]

Ding....Ding.....Ding!!!!
We Have a Winner!
You totally "Get It!"

When your pellet grill gets to temp, it's just not producing much smoke.  The pellets are burning more efficiently, in-order to produce higher BTU's, so they produce less smoke.  Let the pellets in the hopper produce heat, and the Tube produce smoke.  Best of both worlds!

An Oak Based pellet like BBQrs Delight actually produce pretty darn good smoke in the Tube Smoker.  It may not be as strong as Hickory, but oak still has a good flavor.

I was very pleased with BBQ delight and B & B pellets. Good smoke flavor and low ash output. And for $12 a 20lb bag on B & B pellets it's a great deal. I like oak as a base wood much better than alder and I also think it's a good flavor wood too.

I have a PID on my traeger so it is very efficient and doesn't produce enough smoke for my tastes...hence the Amazn tube and 100% flavor wood like hickory, cherry or mesquite.

 

[welshrarebit]

Another happy Cookingpellets.com customer here. I use the Perfect Mix and the 100% Hickory. My only complaint is that the shipping cost is almost the same as the cost of the pellets. 

As to SeenRed's description above, some folks have said that the Traeger pellets use alder with added oil to flavor one way or the other. I asked a sales guy at Costco who was hustling Traeger grills and he claimed that they were all natural. Have no idea who's right but I've chosen not use the Traeger ones even though I have two 20 pound bags sitting in my basement. It would be nice to get a definitive answer on how they're made. 

Traegers pellets do use a 70% alder 30% flavor wood blend west of the Mississippi which is why the pellets smoke/flavor is not very strong.

Yes traeger is "all natural" wood its just not the wood they say it is? Most of their blends are 70% alder and 30% flavor wood (west of the Mississippi) with the exceptions of hickory and mesquite which are 100% alder with some flavor wood oil added!

I bought 60 lbs of traeger "hickory" pellets when my local Costco had them on sale for under $10! I figure that I usually use them to smoke fish at home and alder goes great with fish...

 

[gary s]

I just learned a lot about pellets 

Gary

 

[okie52]

Yes traeger is "all natural" wood its just not the wood they say it is? Most of their blends are 70% alder and 30% flavor wood (west of the Mississippi) with the exceptions of hickory and mesquite which are 100% alder with some flavor wood oil added!

I bought 60 lbs of traeger "hickory" pellets when my local Costco had them on sale for under $10! I figure that I usually use them to smoke fish at home and alder goes great with fish...

$10 a bag is a pretty good price even if you just use it for fuel.

Kind of makes me laugh when traeger insists that you use only traeger pellets or you'll void your warranty.

 

[backyardsmokin]

After a year of smoking I finally cleaned the inside of my smoker (I know I am horrible), and there was about 5 to 6 cups worth of ash in the smoker.  This was with running only Bear Mountain pellets, but I did have it up to 425 a few times to do pizzas.

 

[mrshep70]

I don't want to ask a stupid question, but here it is: Where do you place the tube smoker during the cook? I like the idea of using cheaper pellets for fuel and heat, and better pellets in your tube smoker for flavor. I'm new to pellet smokers and I just purchased a Camp Chef PG24LS and I'm looking forward to eating some of my mistakes along the way. 

 

[seenred]

I don't want to ask a stupid question, but here it is: Where do you place the tube smoker during the cook? I like the idea of using cheaper pellets for fuel and heat, and better pellets in your tube smoker for flavor. I'm new to pellet smokers and I just purchased a Camp Chef PG24LS and I'm looking forward to eating some of my mistakes along the way. 

Not a stupid question at all...I place the tube across the grates along the back of the smoker, opposite the exhaust stack. Every pellet cooker is a little different, so play with it to decide where is best for your rig. Just don't put it too close to the RTD probe...the heat from the tube could mess with the PID's temp reading

Red

 

[tjohnson]

Red's Got You Covered

 

[mrshep70]

Thanks Red and TJohnson. I've never used a pellet smoker before and I'm sure I will have lots of questions. I'm hoping that the smoker I bought is a fairly descent one. Does anyone on this thread have an opinion on a Camp Chef PG24LS? It lists for $660, but I found one for $379, so I thought it would be a good place to start.

 

[tjohnson]

I know a few guys who own them and have no issues.

Enjoy!

 

[wade]

I am about to buy a Fast Eddy FEC120 but whilst ordering it last week I picked up a Green Mountain Grills "Davy Crockett" and have been playing with it over the weekend. I have written a short post on it here. This was my first play with a pure pellet smoker and I am now hooked. If you are looking at the Camp Chef then the Davy Crockett will be too small for you, however I know someone with the larger "Daniel Boone" model and they are really pleased with that too.

If the pellet burners are similar in the Camp Chef then you will not need any additional smoke. I smoked a pork shoulder and 4 racks of ribs over the weekend and there was plenty of smoke without needing an additional smoke generator. The thing I liked most about the Davy Crockett was that it was WiFi connected - and how easy it was to control it from my mobile phone/tablet. You can set the temperature you need remotely and then walk away and forget about it (though a stir of the pellets in the hopper every couple of hours is recommended to keep them moving). Below is the temperature log from over the weekend. The top (lighter) line shows just how steady the cooking temperature remained over the 11 hour cook (from position "3")

Temperature Profile 2.JPG

• wade
• May 4, 2015

The cost of cooking was great too - about 59p per hour.

 

[Chuck Willis]

I'm Presley using lumberjack smoking pellets and I use predominantly Hickory and Mesquite 100% on each one but I found that smoking brothers has a much better flavor than Lumberjack does, of course the price of Smokin Brothers is little higher than Lumberjack but its flavor is a lot better, you can surely taste the difference and I do a lot of briskets babybacks St Louis ribs chicken turkey.

 

[wingrider]

Todd - Sure appreciate both of your posts here. I've only had a MES 30 for many years, and produced some good stuff I think. I long ago got your regular A-maze-n and pretty much used it exclusively. A couple of years ago I move it from the MES into a mailbox feeding into the MES and that's my rig. Mounted a computer fan onto the door of the mailbox to provide more air if I needed it.

Now I'm about to embark on the next chapter of my smoking career - I just placed an order for a Camp Chef Woodwind with the sear station. Needless to say I'm excited for it to come in. I understand the point of getting more smoke out of lower temperatures. Guess my initial thoughts have been that I'd probably use the "Low Smoke" setting the most. Of course that could all go out the window when I actually get the grill. Who knows.

Where I'm headed with all this is: Was given one of your tubes a couple of years ago that you had gifted to the NC SMF annual get together. Thank you so much. I must admit, however, that I haven't ended up using it all that often, and for pretty much the reason that with my current setup it seemed to just use up pellets so much faster, and you couldn't really stop it if you reached temperature prior to using up all the pellets. (I can take a knife and separate the pellets in the "channel" pellet rig if that happens.)

So I'm getting the Woodwind hoping to: 1) Get a smoke ring after all these years. Pure aesthetics, I know. 2) Hopefully get a more intense smoke flavor into a pork loin. 3) Not risk so much running out of pellets in longer smokes, i.e., not have to pay as much attention to it. But if I then use the tube, in say a 15 hour plus smoke, wouldn't I have to be loading it all the time, and going through a good bit of pellets using the tube?

 

[bregent]

Congrats on the new Woodwind, have fun with it:

1) Get a smoke ring after all these years. Pure aesthetics, I know.

Sure it's only aesthetics, but we eat first with our eyes. Good smoke ring is rarely a problem with pellet grills.


2) Hopefully get a more intense smoke flavor into a pork loin.

Not sure if you're aware, but pellet grills have a reputation for creating food with an extremely light smoke profile. The smoke flavor is nice, but it can be so light that some folks cant detect any. Smoking low (180-200) for a few hours will help, as will burning a strong flavored wood like 100% hickory pellet. Many folks add supplemental smoking devices like tubes.

3) Not risk so much running out of pellets in longer smokes, i.e., not have to pay as much attention to it. But if I then use the tube, in say a 15 hour plus smoke, wouldn't I have to be loading it all the time, and going through a good bit of pellets using the tube?

The tube supplies supplemental smoke flavor. One tube is probably enough for most smokes but you may want to reload it once. I wouldn't worry about how many pellets you burn up in the tube - it's a drop in the bucket compared to what the grill will use. Depending on the grill, set point, and ambient temps, you could burn 1/2 - 2 lbs an hour.

 

[WaydeG]

Todd - Sure appreciate both of your posts here. I've only had a MES 30 for many years, and produced some good stuff I think. I long ago got your regular A-maze-n and pretty much used it exclusively. A couple of years ago I move it from the MES into a mailbox feeding into the MES and that's my rig. Mounted a computer fan onto the door of the mailbox to provide more air if I needed it.

Now I'm about to embark on the next chapter of my smoking career - I just placed an order for a Camp Chef Woodwind with the sear station. Needless to say I'm excited for it to come in. I understand the point of getting more smoke out of lower temperatures. Guess my initial thoughts have been that I'd probably use the "Low Smoke" setting the most. Of course that could all go out the window when I actually get the grill. Who knows.

Where I'm headed with all this is: Was given one of your tubes a couple of years ago that you had gifted to the NC SMF annual get together. Thank you so much. I must admit, however, that I haven't ended up using it all that often, and for pretty much the reason that with my current setup it seemed to just use up pellets so much faster, and you couldn't really stop it if you reached temperature prior to using up all the pellets. (I can take a knife and separate the pellets in the "channel" pellet rig if that happens.)

So I'm getting the Woodwind hoping to: 1) Get a smoke ring after all these years. Pure aesthetics, I know. 2) Hopefully get a more intense smoke flavor into a pork loin. 3) Not risk so much running out of pellets in longer smokes, i.e., not have to pay as much attention to it. But if I then use the tube, in say a 15 hour plus smoke, wouldn't I have to be loading it all the time, and going through a good bit of pellets using the tube?

As a four year Camp Chef PG 24DLX owner, it’s been rock solid dependable. It’s given me lots of great brisket, chicken, fish, etc. etc. as far as pellets are concerned, I’ve not noticed a marked difference in any of them. My only complaint on the CC was the lack of bark. And I admit it could be user error on my part. I started with the Perfect Mix but the cost went up 25% at Amazon. Yesterday, I picked up a new WiFi GMG Daniel Boone and the owner talked me into a 20# bag of Lumberjack 100% mesquite pellets. So we’ll see. The DB is supposed to produce better smoke and if I add the smoke tube, I have high expectations.

 

[schlotz]

In the end you are looking for a low ash pellet that provides the smoke flavor and amount that meets your taste. BBQr's Delight has been the best choice for me as it fits both those requirements. Mainly smoke with hickory and get great flavor. If more is needed (rare occasion) I'll add a tray or tube with either hickory or mesquite pellets. YMMV

 

[sandyut]

The best pellets, absolutely, are Cookingpellets.com. Their 100% hickory are one pellet I can actually taste a difference with and the Perfect Mix is nearly as good. Low ash and high heat/weight ratio make you use fewer pellets each cook and make cleanouts farther apart.

I agree with cookingpellets.com. got a few bags of the perfect mix with my rec tec. It would be difficult to change. Burn good taste good. their website says there is a local retailer around where I live. I need to call them. But I am kinda lazy and like delivery service too...so we will see.

 

[sandyut]

so i called them... same price as delivery. that's just ridiculous why waste the gas and time. they must not have heard of the internet.

 

[mike243]

Spritzing with apple juice or any thing wet will help with the smoke profile imo ymmv