Pellet Dust

[Jersey Jimbo]

I just got my CC Smopke Pro 24 pellet smoker, did a rack of ribs, They came out different then on my Smoke Hollow but they were really good. what I want to ask is there was pellet dust everywhere is this normal I was using CC Apple pellets. Is there pellets that don't do so much dust or is this normal

 

[SmokinGame]

I see pellet dust, but it normally isn't evident until after a couple smokes. I don't have experience with Camp Chef pellets in my Smoke Pro. I tend to use Bear Mountain and Lumberjack. I normally vacuum mine out after 3-4 smokes, depending what I see as a build up. I run an A-Maze-N tube most of the time.

 

[Jersey Jimbo]

I see pellet dust, but it normally isn't evident until after a couple smokes. I don't have experience with Camp Chef pellets in my Smoke Pro. I tend to use Bear Mountain and Lumberjack. I normally vacuum mine out after 3-4 smokes, depending what I see as a build up. I run an A-Maze-N tube most of the time.

do different pellets produce different amounts of pellet dust

 

[SmokinEdge]

The high quality all flavor wood pellets such as Lumberjack, Bear Mountain, Green Mountain Gold, Pellet Head, produce much less dust. Other lesser brands I have tried, Treagar, Pitboss can be more granular and dusty and no matter the flavor wood stayed, they are mostly Alder wood.

 

[Jersey Jimbo]

I guess me assuming to use CC pellets was not a good idea. will have to use up what I bought then move on to a better pellet. Guess this is a learning curve to me, I like it that I don't have to keep adding chips. And recovery time when I open the lid is amazing happens fast, unlike the Smoke Hollow

 

[SmokinGame]

The high quality all flavor wood pellets such as Lumberjack, Bear Mountain, Green Mountain Gold, Pellet Head, produce much less dust. Other lesser brands I have tried, Treagar, Pitboss can be more granular and dusty and no matter the flavor wood stayed, they are mostly Alder wood.

Good info. Personally haven't tried the Green Mountain or Pellet Head. Used a bag or two of Traeger when first started smoking and have noticed more dust with it versus the Bear Mountain & LJ.

 

[BandCollector]

Regardless of what pellets you buy you will always find dust in the bag and your smoker. It's the result of bags being bounced around in delivery trucks and in the hands of those who stock the product. Depending on how they are manufactured determines the quality of the pellet and the amount of dust they give off.

Pellets made from Alder seem to be the worst.

John

 

[dubob]

I suspect that what you are talking about is pellet ASH (residue let after burning the pellets), not pellet DUST (residue from unburned pellets found in the bag when empty or the pellet storage container of your choice). Picky, I know, but there is a difference.

There will always be ash covering the bottom of whatever cooker brand you are using. CC advertising easy clean out not withstanding, this does include the CC products. You WILL need to vacuum out your CC periodically. I do mine about every 2 or 3 cooks bassed on what was cooked. The longer the cook time (briskets for example) the more ash you will find in the bottom. Smoking chicken or pork chops would leave way less ash and you could go longer between vacuum clean outs. The removable ash cup on the CC is useless and nothing more than advertising hype. A lot of us have already learned to cover the smoke diffuser plate with foil for easier clean up of the diffuser plate. And no, you don't have to poke holes in the foil to get your smoke flavor.

Good luck with your new toy and good eats to you and yours in this fast approaching new year.

 

[bill1]

I suspect that what you are talking about is pellet ASH (residue let after burning the pellets), not pellet DUST (residue from unburned pellets found in the bag when empty or the pellet storage container of your choice). Picky, I know, but there is a difference.

There will always be ash covering the bottom of whatever cooker brand you are using. CC advertising easy clean out not withstanding, this does include the CC products. You WILL need to vacuum out your CC periodically. I do mine about every 2 or 3 cooks bassed on what was cooked. The longer the cook time (briskets for example) the more ash you will find in the bottom. Smoking chicken or pork chops would leave way less ash and you could go longer between vacuum clean outs. The removable ash cup on the CC is useless and nothing more than advertising hype. A lot of us have already learned to cover the smoke diffuser plate with foil for easier clean up of the diffuser plate. And no, you don't have to poke holes in the foil to get your smoke flavor.

Good luck with your new toy and good eats to you and yours in this fast approaching new year.

Agreed. I just have a dedicated 3" paint brush I use to clean mine up every time. Quicker than hauling out a vacuum. (Used to have a gallon vacuum for the job but it's been re-purposed for DIY Covid haircuts.)
In my experience, the ash you generate depends mostly on how much time your fan is at high speeds. In general higher temps make the controller run the fan faster which whips up more ash. I can attest that since I've slowed down my fan I'm getting less mess.
I also believe this fan speed issue dominates over the amount of dust in the pellet bag. At least I don't think I have more when cooking from the bottom of a 40# bag than from the top. Like Dubob says, when you burn a pellet down to ash in a cup full of rushing air, you're bound to get some "ash dust" accumulating at the bottom. It's not unburned pellet dust.

 

[Jersey Jimbo]

And yes I am talking about ash dust, sorry new to the pellet system. After I use up these cc pellets I will try lumberjacks. thanks for this info I didn't know if the smoker had a problem. One thing I like is not having to refill the chip tray, And I learned about using foil on the tray for a lot easier clean up