Charcoal Pellets

[Jrod77]

Do charcoal pellets produce a good flavor cook? Should they be mixed with wood pellets?

Thanks!

 

[normanaj]

I use them quite often. No need to mix as they are a blend already.

Lumberjack char/hickory are my goto. These produce a great flavor.

 

[Murdy]

If I want a heavier smoke flavor, I'll throw a couple of chunks of wood on top of them.

 

[motocrash]

I don't own a pellet pooper but I saw these and immediately thought that they're gonna change the game. I see new cookers being designed as somewhat of a hybrid between a gravity feed and pooper. Who knows...

Royal Oak® 100% Charcoal Pellets - Royal Oak

www.royaloak.com

 

[bill1]

I think the main complaint with pellet machines is they don't give enough wood smoke flavor. So why replace the wood with charcoal where half the smoke smell has already been extracted in the process of converting wood to charcoal?

Now there are some great cooks on this forum that only use a weber kettle with charcoal. They could throw wood chunks on the hot coals for more smoke flavor but they prefer not to. I'd say those folks are the market for charcoal pellets.

 

[texomakid]

I tried a couple of bags of the Lumberjack Char-Hickory and I didn't like them. It's all personal preference and I've heard a lot of folks rave about how much they like the Char-Hickory pellets. I'm a believer that we should try anything we think we might like to see for ourselves. Personally I love the aroma and flavor I get with normal wood pellets. It's not traditional but it's really good - maybe better than traditional smoke under a few circumstances.

 

[thirdeye]

I don't have a pellet grill, all my equipment is charcoal fired. But..... when pellet cookers hit the competition circuit there was a noticeable (and very pleasant) change in the smells while walking by the cook's camping spots. So good in fact that I started using some pellets mixed in to my lump charcoal. And I use pellets in the cold smoking tubes and trays.

I was intrigued when I saw 'charcoal pellets' because the pellet grills I've been around puff enough smoke I figured the food flavor would be too strong. But it's not. So maybe the charcoal pellets give a hint of the 'charcoal' flavor??

 

[Fueling Around]

Tried the Lumberjack pellets once and wasn't impressed considering I am primarily a kettle cooker.

 

[Mr. Zorg]

I don't have a pellet smoker, but I've read up on the new Royal Oak Hardwood charcoal pellets. One of the primary advantages cited is resistance to swelling with moisture which sounds great for longer cook sessions. I've always enjoyed being able to custom tailor the smoke wood to charcoal ratio in my smokers over the years, and those RO Hardwood charcoal pellets look like a good way to do that.

Do some Google searches on those RO pellets and I'm confident you'll find some user reviews mentioning food flavor when using them.

 

[normanaj]

Like texomakid said its personal preference.I really like the LJ char/hickory dust but then again I'm just loading an Amazen tube with it and putting it my MES.

 

[normanaj]

I don't own a pellet pooper but I saw these and immediately thought that they're gonna change the game. I see new cookers being designed as somewhat of a hybrid between a gravity feed and pooper. Who knows...

Royal Oak® 100% Charcoal Pellets - Royal Oak

www.royaloak.com

View attachment 508892

Didn't know there were 100% charcoal pellets out there.

Definitely have to give those a try.Wonder how they would burn as dust in an Amazen tray or tube?

 

[motocrash]

Definitely have to give those a try.Wonder how they would burn as dust in an Amazen tray or tube?

Dunno, give it a whack and report back.
Though, I doubt they'd would work well as dust. You could try them whole too...

 

[bill1]

be a little careful when making dust of combustible materials. The surface area-to-volume ratio can get large on you and things can get pretty energetic.
Remember sawdust has a dimension based on the width of the sawblade that created it, or about a millimeter. Dust can be 100X smaller.

 

[mike243]

If they are 100% charcoal water wont work like regular pellets, you will have to crush them some how, also would burn rapidly as dust more than likely , I like the charhickory when doing steaks, also good when blended with other flavors.

 

[normanaj]

Dunno, give it a whack and report back.
Though, I doubt they'd would work well as dust. You could try them whole too...

That's the plan.Will try dust and whole.

 

[normanaj]

If they are 100% charcoal water wont work like regular pellets, you will have to crush them some how,

Never used the soaking method anyways when a blender can achieve the same results in just a few seconds.

 

[Jersey Jimbo]

I don't own a pellet pooper but I saw these and immediately thought that they're gonna change the game. I see new cookers being designed as somewhat of a hybrid between a gravity feed and pooper. Who knows...

Royal Oak® 100% Charcoal Pellets - Royal Oak

www.royaloak.com

View attachment 508892

can these be used alone, or do you have to add regular flavored pellets with them

 

[motocrash]

can these be used alone, or do you have to add regular flavored pellets with them

I haven't played with them as I don't have a pellet pooper, but yes, they can be used alone or you can make a custom mix with wood pellets.

 

[bill1]

I wasn't highly motivated to try them but noticed Walmart has PitBoss-branded charcoal pellets at the $8 per 20# price point so you're not out much to give them a try. I'd think one drawback in a pellet cooker is that because charcoal is charred wood, a significant portion of the energy has already been released. So in a pellet cooker, where all the thermal energy comes from the pellets, you'll probably consume more charcoal pellets for the same amount of cooking. But again, if they're cheap, it's not a big deal. And you do get a unique flavor from charcoal cooking whether it's low and slow in a bullet charcoal smoker or a little faster in a Weber. So I'm ready to try a PitBoss bag.

 

[ammjr]

I just had 3 bags of the Royal Oak delivered yesterday from Home Depot. I'm going to clean out my hopper on Saturday and give them a trial. Will report back.