Guitar Gear Forum

What brand pellets you using? My RecTeq RT700 will be here tomorrow. This is my first pellet grill. Been a charcoal guy forever.

This seemed to come well recommended. Had a few buddy’s with Traegers and they all complained about lack of consistent and constant temp control as well as 2 erupting in flames!

I have a Traeger and I haven’t had any problems. I clean it out every 3-4 cooks. B&B pellets are pretty good and so are all of the Traeger pellets I’ve tried. I know some guys have said that some pellets brands use more filler than others…. I haven’t done the research to verify. If you don’t already own a shop vac buy one. Makes cleaning it out much faster/easier. Wondering if there’s a reason the Traeger comes with an order of operations. As in it states to turn it on and put it in smoke mode before upping the temp. I haven’t had mine catch on fire but I have heard the tales.

I've been rocking the same propane grill for the last 5 years and I've been pondering a pellet situation. I want to be able to smoke some shit.

Stratsouldier wrote:I have a Traeger and I haven’t had any problems. I clean it out every 3-4 cooks. B&B pellets are pretty good and so are all of the Traeger pellets I’ve tried. I know some guys have said that some pellets brands use more filler than others…. I haven’t done the research to verify. If you don’t already own a shop vac buy one. Makes cleaning it out much faster/easier. Wondering if there’s a reason the Traeger comes with an order of operations. As in it states to turn it on and put it in smoke mode before upping the temp. I haven’t had mine catch on fire but I have heard the tales.

Thanks man. I'll check the B&B. I have heard the "Cookin'" brand is good for pellets as well. I do NOT own a shop vac but will grab one for sure. I asked around as many places as I could, and the RecTeq and Treager stuff seemed to be the ones to look at. The only other issue I heard on the Traeger was that the customer service with issues was a challenge. I dunno. They're a hugely popular brand, so much like anything, they'll have their duds.

How much of a smoke flavor do you find you get? I have heard the pellet smokers don't necessarily impart as much smoke as say, a traditional wood/charcoal smoker. I am not too concerned overall but definitely want a good smoke flavor.

_ej_ wrote:I've been rocking the same propane grill for the last 5 years and I've been pondering a pellet situation. I want to be able to smoke some shit.

Yeah man, I have been smoking for years. I had a Weber Smoky Mountain 22" and it was great. Want something a little more "set it and forget it".

I’ve heard a lot of people say the Bear Mountain pellets are really good . I haven’t been able to find a store locally that sells them so at some point I’ll order some from Amazon.
I’ve used the kingsford and traeger brand just because everyone sells it. Between the two , I think the kingsford burned slower but the traeger had more smokey flavor .
I usually buy cherry but the last bag I bought was a blend of maple, cherry and hickory and I liked that.

My favorites so far have been Bear Mountain. I've used their hickory, mesquite, pecan, cherry, and apple. The apple was too subtle for my liking, but the rest have been great. For beef, I like doing a 50/50 mix of mesquite and pecan with a handful or two of cherry thrown in. For chicken, I like cherry or a mix of cherry or hickory. For pork, I just use 100% hickory.

If you have a Sam's Club membership, I took a chance on a bag of these over Memorial Day, and they're actually pretty great. You can't beat them for the price https://www.samsclub.com/p/premium-hardwood-bbq-pellets-smokehouse-blend-40lbs/prod22631792

I also bought a bag of Kingsford pellets just to try them, but I haven't opened it yet.

One thing to look out for, avoid brands that use "flavored" pellets like Traeger. They "flavor" their pellets with oils from mesquite or hickory, but they aren't actually made with those woods.

I also highly getting an A-Maze-N tube or maze for smoking on a pellet grill. They make a world of difference IMO.

I have a pitboss austin xl. I usually use pitboss pellets, cause they are readily available. I use a smoke tube sometimes. I don’t find a big difference between the different brands/flavors. I usually get hickory or mesquite, because they seem to put out more smoke flavor

All the groceries out here in the country seem to stop Kingsford and Bear Mountain pellets. I'll get a bag of each and see what's what.

I love my traeger. I've been using it every week for about 15 months.

I've had one fire, but that's because it had a bunch of burger grease in it. My own fault.

I've tried tons of pellets. THey're all fine, but two that stood above the rest because they seemed drier, and smokier, and more flavorful =

CookinPellets Perfect mix



and

Whatever the cheap mesquite bag was at Sportsman's warehouse.

Spritzing is also supposed to help aid the smoke flavor stick to the meat.
When I do ribs and pork butt I spritz it every 30 minutes with a mixture of apple cider vinegar and apple juice. I’ll do it until it’s time to wrap them.
For ribs, read up on the 321 method , it’s a pretty popular way to do them for fall off the bone moist ribs.
Try this recipe some time too, really tasty way to smoke a cheaper cut of meat. https://pitboss-grills.com/recipes/poor-mans-burnt-ends

BroSlinger wrote:I love my traeger. I've been using it every week for about 15 months.

I've had one fire, but that's because it had a bunch of burger grease in it. My own fault.

I've tried tons of pellets. THey're all fine, but two that stood above the rest because they seemed drier, and smokier, and more flavorful =

CookinPellets Perfect mix



and

Whatever the cheap mesquite bag was at Sportsman's warehouse.

These CookinPellets seem to be getting a lot of mention elsewhere as well. I'll have to Gove them a go.

Nothing really to add, other than I have a ProQ/WSM clone and that shit slaps and it's not hard to use.

Got it built and did my initial burn-in. Time to cook!

First real cook! 10lb pork butt and then one of our friends brought some 2.5” thick loin chips.

whoa....