KnottyWood Pellet Issue

[Sven Svensson]

I'm just hopping back on the forum after being off the grid for a couple months busy with a DIY kitchen remodel.

The other day I was doing a long smoke of a 20 lb chunk of beef and I ran into an issue with KnottyWood Almond pellets. The smoke was over 14 hours and I needed just a couple more hours for my beef chunk to hit a shreddable 210. But at that point I went outside to do a probe test with my Thermopen and I noticed a ton of smoke pouring to of the pellet hopper. Fearing a hopper fire I started to remove the pellets by hand as fast as I could. Probably not the smartest move but I'm not too bright. It turned out not to be a fire. I still had a couple hours to go on my cook and I could not transfer to my oven because my oven is not connected yet due to the kitchen remodel. I've been using my Yoder as an outdoor oven for a couple months. The beef chunk was already wrapped up in an aluminum tray so I put it in the Cambro overnight in hopes it would be okay in the morning.

The next day, after it all cooled down and I was able to get at the innards I found this giant pile of rather firm ash that I suspect was blocking the fan sending the smoke backward. I've done much longer smokes with Lumberjack pellets but I ran out and it's a 1.5 hour trip to get new ones so I default to KnottyWood I can get locally.

My first question is, has anyone else had this issue with KnottyWood? I've seen it discussed with Plum and I've always used plum blended with LJ cherry or apple.

My second question is procedural. Now that I know what to look for, I'm wondering if I could have cleared the ash when I took it out to wrap it to get thru the stall? If my kitchen oven was operational, maybe I could have just brought it indoors to finish or put it in the oven to hold until the smoker cooled enough to clear the ask and relight? Has anyone stopped their cooking process mid-cook in order to clear out the ash?

Thanks for the advice and opinions.

By the way, I started with a clean smoker and all this ash was from this one event.

 

[DRKsmoking]

Good to see you back Sven, hope the remodel went well.

That sounds like a big piece of meat and I am sure some one with a pellet smoker will give you some help.

Sorry I can't just wanted to say glad to see you back.

David

 

[SmokinEdge]

Nice to see you, Sven. I hope your beef is delicious.

Ive had my 640 since 2017. The picture reminds me of some issues I’ve had with mine over the years. Most of which usually has to do with pellet brand, and the fact that, in my opinion, the Yoder feeds pellets to heavily to begin with. For example if I try to burn the Cuisinart brand plumb pellets, I see an ash pan much like your picture. Also not sure which control board you have, the older style or the newer Fireboard? Mine is the older control board and it must be unplugged to electricity for at least 30 seconds to 1 minute then plugged back in before starting a cook. This is especially true on longer cooks. The unplugging hard resets the board. Otherwise it will get to feeding pellets to fast as well as other problems can occur.

Thats just a couple thoughts from my experience. Hope this helps.

 

[Sven Svensson]

I think I have the newer board but that's good advice to unplug it. I've done it before but I've been neglecting that lately. It did seem to run hot and above what I set it for. Thanks for the good advice SmokinEdge .

 

[BigW.]

Glad your back Sven. Not much help. How/what did you end up doing with the meat?

 

[JLeonard]

Good to see ya back with us. Hope the kitchen remodel goes smoothly.
No help on the pellet question.
Jim

 

[Sven Svensson]

Glad your back Sven. Not much help. How/what did you end up doing with the meat?

I injected it with a Brisket injection like crazy. I smoked it a bit higher due to time constraints at 250. Wrapped at about 170-175. It turned out dry. My last one was beyond perfect so it was a bit of a disappointment but everyone else loved it.

 

[Sven Svensson]

Good to see ya back with us. Hope the kitchen remodel goes smoothly.
No help on the pellet question.
Jim

One of the critical cabinets on a peninsula arrived damaged so I'm still waiting on the new one. So we still have no countertops or sink/dishwasher. We're using a bathroom as a kitchen which R RevSmoke calls a "Bitchin" and turns out to be a great descriptor. Hopefully it will arrive in the next 2 weeks and I'll have some pictures to post.

 

[kevin james]

I have heard of what you describe before with the Nottywood pellets. In fact, I think Mad Scientist BBQ mentioned it in one of his Youtube Videos a while back, as he prefers the Knottywood pellets over other brands when he uses a pellet smoker.

My understanding is they are a great pellet, and they put more smoke flavor on your meat than a lot of other pellet brands, but the way they do can also cause this exact side effect under the right circumstances. It has to do with the makeup of the pellet. Most pellet manufacturers remove the bark from the wood they use, while Knottywood does not. The bark actually produces more smoke than the heart wood, hence giving you better smoke flavor. This makes sense to me as someone who is primarily an offset stick burner guy (although I do have a pellet smoker for weeknight duty), because early in my cooks I will use splits that still have bark on them and they definitely put out way more smoke, which is exactly why I use those pieces early on... to get more smoke on the meat early in the cooking process. I believe the company even mentions the fact that they use the bark in some of their ads, and that their pellets give you a richer smoke flavor as a result.

The problem is the bark does not burn down the same and can cause a thicker somewhat hard deposit in your firepot. There is a name for it, but I can't think of it at the moment. It sounds like this is what happened to you, and because you did such a long smoke, it built up to the point that it blocked the fan and caused the smoke to go backwards in to the hopper.

Lumber Jack pellets also use the bark and they also give off a better smoke flavor which is why many pellet smoker guys love them including myself, but they can have this same problem. It seems they may use less of the bark than Nottywood though, as I haven't heard of people having this problem as much as with Nottywood.

 

[SmokinEdge]

The smoke coming out of the hopper is a curious thing. The Yoder gravity drops the pellets onto the firebox from a few inches above the pot , much like the Fast Eddy pellet cookers. My guess would be that the ash blocked off the fan air flow and the smoke filled the firebox area then pushed out at the auger hole. Maybe a good way to catch this is to watch the exhaust. I’m guessing not much of any exhaust flow was present for a while at the end of the cook because there was no air flow through the cook chamber.

 

[Sven Svensson]

I have heard of what you describe before with the Nottywood pellets. In fact, I think Mad Scientist BBQ mentioned it in one of his Youtube Videos a while back, as he prefers the Knottywood pellets over other brands when he uses a pellet smoker.

My understanding is they are a great pellet, and they put more smoke flavor on your meat than a lot of other pellet brands, but the way they do can also cause this exact side effect under the right circumstances. It has to do with the makeup of the pellet. Most pellet manufacturers remove the bark from the wood they use, while Knottywood does not. The bark actually produces more smoke than the heart wood, hence giving you better smoke flavor. This makes sense to me as someone who is primarily an offset stick burner guy (although I do have a pellet smoker for weeknight duty), because early in my cooks I will use splits that still have bark on them and they definitely put out way more smoke, which is exactly why I use those pieces early on... to get more smoke on the meat early in the cooking process. I believe the company even mentions the fact that they use the bark in some of their ads, and that their pellets give you a richer smoke flavor as a result.

The problem is the bark does not burn down the same and can cause a thicker somewhat hard deposit in your firepot. There is a name for it, but I can't think of it at the moment. It sounds like this is what happened to you, and because you did such a long smoke, it built up to the point that it blocked the fan and caused the smoke to go backwards in to the hopper.

Lumber Jack pellets also use the bark and they also give off a better smoke flavor which is why many pellet smoker guys love them including myself, but they can have this same problem. It seems they may use less of the bark than Nottywood though, as I haven't heard of people having this problem as much as with Nottywood.

Thanks for jumping in. This is very good to know. I really like the flavor of the almond and prefer it to LJ Oak. Maybe I'll have to consider putting down a layer of almond and then fill the rest with LJ?

 

[Sven Svensson]

The smoke coming out of the hopper is a curious thing. The Yoder gravity drops the pellets onto the firebox from a few inches above the pot , much like the Fast Eddy pellet cookers. My guess would be that the ash blocked off the fan air flow and the smoke filled the firebox area then pushed out at the auger hole. Maybe a good way to catch this is to watch the exhaust. I’m guessing not much of any exhaust flow was present for a while at the end of the cook because there was no air flow through the cook chamber.

You're right on the exhaust as I could not see any TBS nor could I feel any "wind" coming out the pipe. It was all venting back into the hopper.

 

[mr_whipple]

I didn't experience the level of failure that you did, but I did in fact have the same type of issue with Knottywood. Lemme see if I can find the thread

Sparkly, sharp edged "slag" in pellet cup of Camp Chef pellet smoker...

Hi, new to the group with a couple of questions. I bought a Camp Chef pellet smoker and two types of pellets. Barbecuer's delight and Louisiana Grills brands. Both claim to be 100%hardwood. After initial success smoking some ribs, and without cleaning out the pellet cup after first usage, I...

www.smokingmeatforums.com

 

[smokngun]

My main pellet of choice is Lumberjack, but after seeing the video MadScientist did with Knottywood pellets I gave them a try. 1st was plumwood doing STL ribs, about a 5hr run. A few days later I did a shoulder. Turned the smoker on and went inside 1/2hr later came out the smoker was off and had an err message. Reset and refired 1/2 hr later same thing, took the grates and drip pan out and had this hard "slag" in the firepot chipped it up and vacuumed out then refired worked fine. The next time I used the smoker I got the err message again, I scooped out what pellets I could and went back to Lumberjack. After 10 bags of Lumberjack I have not had any issues. Not sure where you get your Lumberjack pellets but I shop the sales and buy in bulk when I can. Last sale was $8 per 20lb bag so I bought 50.

 

[Sven Svensson]

My main pellet of choice is Lumberjack, but after seeing the video MadScientist did with Knottywood pellets I gave them a try. 1st was plumwood doing STL ribs, about a 5hr run. A few days later I did a shoulder. Turned the smoker on and went inside 1/2hr later came out the smoker was off and had an err message. Reset and refired 1/2 hr later same thing, took the grates and drip pan out and had this hard "slag" in the firepot chipped it up and vacuumed out then refired worked fine. The next time I used the smoker I got the err message again, I scooped out what pellets I could and went back to Lumberjack. After 10 bags of Lumberjack I have not had any issues. Not sure where you get your Lumberjack pellets but I shop the sales and buy in bulk when I can. Last sale was $8 per 20lb bag so I bought 50.

I’m a very long way from LJ HQ so it’s not easy to find. The closest dealer is over an hour away and I’m happy to pay $15 a bag on sale. KnottyWood is local and it’s everywhere in NorCal and, ironically, the same price.

 

[kevin james]

I'm in Nor Cal and haven't seen the Knottywood pellets in stock in too many places, but it was kind of funny because I went to a grocery store tonight that I never go to, because I was looking for something I can never seem to find and heard this place had it, and low and behold, they had a HUGE pile of Knottywood pellets on display right outside the door a long with Kingsford charcoal. I thought that was pretty funny in light of seeing this thread today.

 

[Sven Svensson]

I'm in Nor Cal and haven't seen the Knottywood pellets in stock in too many places, but it was kind of funny because I went to a grocery store tonight that I never go to, because I was looking for something I can never seem to find and heard this place had it, and low and behold, they had a HUGE pile of Knottywood pellets on display right outside the door a long with Kingsford charcoal. I thought that was pretty funny in light of seeing this thread today.

They're made in Woodland, just NW of you. It's a bit maddening their price isn't better for being local.