What type of pellet in electric smoker?

[Bummed]

I've been wanting to try pellets in place of wood chips in my Char Broil electric smoker but all I see are fuel pellets. I'm not looking to cold smoke but use in place of wood chips. Can I use any type of pellets in my smoker? Walmart has some Pit Boss pellets but I'm not sure if I can use these or not.

I would appreciate any help here as I am having a brain fart on pellets.

Thanks!

Mike

 

[daveomak]

Dust is the best fuel to use in an electric when they are heated on an element in a pan....   Reason......  Chips and pellets will flame if in the right conditions...   Dust will smolder and give great smoke....    If you have pellets, you can turn them to dust in a blender and they work great.....

Flame in a smoker can overheat the meat and fat...   the dripping fat can cause a fire...   big hot fire....   not good...   I've had a smoker burn and ruin 200-300#'s of salmon....  try explaining that.... 

I have used slices....  "cookies" in an electric with great success...   use only 1 slice....  2 slices could burn and flame...   

67502bb8_Hotplatecookiespan.jpg

• daveomak
• Sep 26, 2016

 

[Bummed]

I hadn't thought about using dust, that might work too. Any recommendations where I can get some good dust for smoking?

Below is the smoker box that mine has, with good dry chips it can smoke for over 6 hours without adding any more. Not all chips last this long that's why I was wondering what else I could use.

Thanks!

fdes301093_smoking_box_vertical_smoker_digital_725

• Bummed
• Sep 27, 2016

 

[daveomak]

That box may work well using pellets, as there is not  much in the way of air inlets...   I don't think you could get a fire (flame) in that box...  but I could be wrong....   keep an eye on it....

 

[yahoot]

I gave up on the tray in my masterbuilt electric. Too many times it flames up, it never produces enough smoke.

I started using a smoke tube ( made by A-MAZE-N ) and later a smoke maze (from the same guys). Fill it with pellets (any cooking pellet will work - the pit boss pellets will work fine), light it with a propane torch and put it in your smoker. It will put out a huge amount of smoke for hours (I actually light both ends of mine to get more smoke). Added a whole new life to my masterbuilt ( I have/had several pellet smokers I use as well.)

I sometimes use a smoke chief smoke generator (from Smokehouseproducts) on my masterbuilt too, when I want a LOT of smoke. I had to build an adapter for it to mate up with my masterbuilt ($3 in parts, 20 minutes to build). It is very easy to use. You put about a cup of pellets in it, plug it in, and it puts out an incredible amount of smoke. Works for cold smoking too (heat stays outside the smoker). Be sure to leave all the vents open to let out the huge amount of smoke or you will get bitter flavors. Only reason I don't use the chief all the time is that (a) it requires attention every 15 minutes (to push down the pellets-no real effort, but has to be done) and (b) it is a pain to clean the creosote out of the output tube/adapter. I am serious about the amount of smoke. I only need to smoke butts about 2-3 hours.

So, the maze is far easier, the chief puts out huge smoke but require attention.

 

[Bummed]

Thanks for your response, I did pickup a AMNPS. I've only used it for cold smoking but it's good to know I can use the pit boss pellets in my smoker. Eventually someone is going to make a smoker that can truly do it all without all the extras!