Smoke yield from pellets

[JWFokker]

Wood chips in the smoke tube makes good smoke, but as others have mentioned, they don't last nearly as long filling the tube with pellets. And the chips need to be actual small chips, not chunks or they won't burn right. The aroma is much better than pellets though.

I strongly recommend running as low as slow as possible to get the heaviest smoke. Pellet smoke gets thin starting at 225F and is essentially gone by 300F. 160-180F will put some decent smoke on the meat, after two to four hours turn up the heat, depending on the size and internal temp of the meat. Add a smoke tube with wood pellets and you can get a good amount of smoke on the meat in the first half of the cook.

 

[chiransmith_000]

Today I got myself a new smoker Pit Boss Wood Vertical Food Smoker from walmart, Till today is wasn't aware of walmart price match policy. I got it to buy doing price match when told me about it when I was on call..... really price matching saved my extra money

 

[1MoreFord]

Many big box stores will price match. Never hurts to ask.
I used to get Petsmart to match their own internet prices in person in their store. Did that with CVS Pharmacy too. Never hurts to have a smartphone with ya.

 

[OldSmoke]

Many big box stores will price match.

Except Lowes. They match UPC to UPC. And, their custom UPC is one or two digits different for the same product than other stores.

 

[bill1]

I won't necessarily say it automatically gives you more smoke flavor but any wood/pellet that's mesquite will give a stronger smoke flavor.

 

[fxsales1959]

Won’t happen with pellets. Pellet machines burn very clean because of the forge fan that runs constantly. You can add a smoke tube, that helps, but the airflow is high and moves the smoke more that a fired pit. Might want to consider a gravity fed cooker like the Master Built.

I'll second that. I get good bark and smoke ring. on my MB560 (bigger available) once you get the knack of wood placement works like a charm and the only moving part is the fan. nd unlike other MB electronics, I've had no issues. I get a better steady temp on my gravity measured and graphed w/inkbird than on my old MES30.

 

[Smoking Audi]

I am still learning this whole pellet smoker thing but I can say that as temp goes up then amount of smoke goes down. I have a tube that I can burn to help with the smoke since it will basically smolder like a fireworks punk and i can get about 4 hours on a full tube of pellets.

As far as which brand give more smoke, I am not sure. Some like Traeger will use oils to flavor their pellets while others like Lumber Jack will use all natural wood and no oils. I guess the question is which style of pellet will give better smoke.

 

[Nefarious]

Another way to get more smoke is to mix chips in with the pellets. OldSmoke uses this technique.

 

[OldSmoke]

Another way to get more smoke is to mix chips in with the pellets. OldSmoke uses this technique.

I got the idea from the folks here and it works great. Additionally, many of the pellets are now blended with a base wood like alder. Using chips gives you the option of a more intense or truer flavor. Since the burn time is shorter when mixing, I have two tubes loaded and ready to go for long smokes.

 

[Smoking Audi]

Hmmm great idea about the chips. I still have a few pounds of chips from when we were smoking with a chip tray on a gasser

 

[eaglewing]

These work awesome mixed with a fruit pellet.

The chip size don't really matter for me, I have had tubes this way last 4+ hours easy and the smell is unreal. I "tap" pack them then get a good hot lite and I prop mine on a wood chunk to keep the tubes at an angle to burn a little more 'top to bottom'

 

[bill1]

...Using chips gives you the option of a more intense or truer flavor...

The immediate context was smoke tubes and this is a great comment for that. but the bigger thread context was pellet machines so just want to give a warning that chips in your pellet hopper could really jam up your auger and its drive system if you were thinking of trying that. Now with that caveat aside...

I add a little extra smoke in my pellet machines by placing a cast iron pan over the crucible with pellets inside. Although it's true that the ignition point of wood (and paper books!) is "Fahrenheit 451" it is a bit dependent on the "surface area to volume ratio" of the wood on that hot pan surface, since the bulk of the wood is at a lower temperature. So for a cook (setpoint) temp of ~300F, I put just pellets in the pan...they smoke nicely down to little charred version of the starting pellet. For higher temps (~350F) I use chips with just a few pellets to get them going. For lower temps (250F) I make something more like sawdust from the pellets...that smokes at the lowest temps. (Wood chunks at the highest.)

My point is just that in choosing wood for smoking, the size is also a consideration so if your flavoring wood is burning more than it's smoking, try a larger size. If it won't even smoke, try a smaller size.

 

[eaglewing]

but the bigger thread context was pellet machines so just want to give a warning that chips in your pellet hopper could really jam up your auger and its drive system if you were thinking of trying that.

WOOOAAAA WOOOOAAA... AGREED, No way putting chips in your hopper.
Some "charcoal" pellets have already caused certain damage because they are hard as a rock.
Known to jamb the auger to a stop. (earlier versions mind you, I cannot speak for latest ones)

 

[bill1]

Some "charcoal" pellets have already caused certain damage because they are hard as a rock.

Good to know EW. I've been meaning to try a bag and maybe wouldn't have considered their hardness before filling the hopper.