I decided to pick some up at my Lowes since this now is the 4th brand I can actually go pick up locally. I've tried a lot of pellets and while I have been able to measure/quantify the benefits of the more expensive pellet brands, I usually can't justify the price vs what I can by locally even if they are less consistant or produce more ash.
My current go to is the comp blend that Sams club sells, it burns pretty good, smokes well from 160 to around 375 and gets to max temp on my MAK in about 20-30 minute (500+ degrees) as long as it's above 40 outside.
My not so in depth test was with the Weber Hickory, I haven't got around to testing their comp blend yet, but the reviews have been pretty good for that. We also didn't have the fruit wood available at my store, I think it's Cherry but I forget.
So here's some bags, and some dogs curious about said bags. The Sams stuff is currently 14 bucks for 40lbs. Weber was 16.95 for 20lbs, but I do get a 10% discount there so that more or less washes out the tax.
The first 2 obvious things are that the bag didn't smell strong like other pellets I've used before. Usually when you pour a fresh bag into the hopper you get the aroma of wood. This may be due to it being Hickory and Oak and nothing else, I'll comment when I get around to the Grillmaster Blend in a few weeks. The next thing is the size, these are roughly half the diameter of any pellet I've ever tried. These things are about rabbit pellet size and most are broke down to 1 inch length or less where some other brands can have excessivley long pellets. For some grills this doesn't matter, but for others the Weber will be nicer to your auger I suspect.
Sams Smokehouse pellets on the left, Webers hickory on the right. I did take some pics on a different surface for better contrast but the focus wasn't even for both brands.
Performance: On the first startup we had an issue, the pellets stopped feeding. On closer inspection I think it's because the pellets are smaller they were able to to teepee and create a temporary keystone preventing the other pellets from dropping. I think this was because I dumped the whole bag in then pressed down to close the hopper lid. I was able to reproduce the effect in my hand making a fist, the Weber pellets compact together very close compared to the larger pellets. However, my hopper issue may have been a fluke, there were a few random long pieces and they happened to be at the bottom. This also never happened again.
I don't know if it's the hickory or Webers mix, but these pellets don't smoke all that great at the 165-180 zone that MAK runs in smoke mode, however they really crank out the smoke at 225-240. The time to temp for everything under 375 was in line with all but BBQD and CookinPellets that I've used in the past which ramped up to temp a bit faster than most. I didn't grill until today and the Weber pellets couldn't get above 570 after 40 minutes, the Smokehouse got me to 590 but wouldn't go to 600. It was in the low 50's with heavy wind today though. The pellets deal very well with changing temps up AND down. Some pellets like to flame out when you drop the temp back to smoke, the Weber pellets did very well.
Taste: I smoked veggies for salsa at 260, then cold smoked queso fresco and olives. Today I cooked some chicken thighs at 325 and then dropped back down to smoke to melt cheese on nachos. These pellets don't smoke very heavy at higher temps, but do produce very faint smoke the entire time, not just during the cycling the MAK does to generate smoke. There was a pleasant smoke taste to every ingredient, not too strong, not too weak. Though I could taste smoke still after I finished my meal. So I'd say they perform very well.
I'll try to remember to update when I try out the comp blend, that mix has very good reviews across the web and it's different woods than my Sams brand so may end up being something I throw into my mix if I like them.
At the end of the day, these are a bit pricier compared to the Pittboss they sit next to the shelf on, but I do like the Weber offering a bit more than the experience I had with the PB stuff. *EDIT* That was until I saw the ash production. PB are better than the Weber Hickory in my book now.
I hope they end up making a charcoal pellet at some point as I do like to blend those into my comp blend of choice. At the current price of the hickory and blend though, many will likely choose to keep buying their mail order pellet of choice, but I am happy to have another quality option I can pick up instore.
My current go to is the comp blend that Sams club sells, it burns pretty good, smokes well from 160 to around 375 and gets to max temp on my MAK in about 20-30 minute (500+ degrees) as long as it's above 40 outside.
My not so in depth test was with the Weber Hickory, I haven't got around to testing their comp blend yet, but the reviews have been pretty good for that. We also didn't have the fruit wood available at my store, I think it's Cherry but I forget.
So here's some bags, and some dogs curious about said bags. The Sams stuff is currently 14 bucks for 40lbs. Weber was 16.95 for 20lbs, but I do get a 10% discount there so that more or less washes out the tax.
The first 2 obvious things are that the bag didn't smell strong like other pellets I've used before. Usually when you pour a fresh bag into the hopper you get the aroma of wood. This may be due to it being Hickory and Oak and nothing else, I'll comment when I get around to the Grillmaster Blend in a few weeks. The next thing is the size, these are roughly half the diameter of any pellet I've ever tried. These things are about rabbit pellet size and most are broke down to 1 inch length or less where some other brands can have excessivley long pellets. For some grills this doesn't matter, but for others the Weber will be nicer to your auger I suspect.
Sams Smokehouse pellets on the left, Webers hickory on the right. I did take some pics on a different surface for better contrast but the focus wasn't even for both brands.
Performance: On the first startup we had an issue, the pellets stopped feeding. On closer inspection I think it's because the pellets are smaller they were able to to teepee and create a temporary keystone preventing the other pellets from dropping. I think this was because I dumped the whole bag in then pressed down to close the hopper lid. I was able to reproduce the effect in my hand making a fist, the Weber pellets compact together very close compared to the larger pellets. However, my hopper issue may have been a fluke, there were a few random long pieces and they happened to be at the bottom. This also never happened again.
I don't know if it's the hickory or Webers mix, but these pellets don't smoke all that great at the 165-180 zone that MAK runs in smoke mode, however they really crank out the smoke at 225-240. The time to temp for everything under 375 was in line with all but BBQD and CookinPellets that I've used in the past which ramped up to temp a bit faster than most. I didn't grill until today and the Weber pellets couldn't get above 570 after 40 minutes, the Smokehouse got me to 590 but wouldn't go to 600. It was in the low 50's with heavy wind today though. The pellets deal very well with changing temps up AND down. Some pellets like to flame out when you drop the temp back to smoke, the Weber pellets did very well.
Taste: I smoked veggies for salsa at 260, then cold smoked queso fresco and olives. Today I cooked some chicken thighs at 325 and then dropped back down to smoke to melt cheese on nachos. These pellets don't smoke very heavy at higher temps, but do produce very faint smoke the entire time, not just during the cycling the MAK does to generate smoke. There was a pleasant smoke taste to every ingredient, not too strong, not too weak. Though I could taste smoke still after I finished my meal. So I'd say they perform very well.
I'll try to remember to update when I try out the comp blend, that mix has very good reviews across the web and it's different woods than my Sams brand so may end up being something I throw into my mix if I like them.
At the end of the day, these are a bit pricier compared to the Pittboss they sit next to the shelf on, but I do like the Weber offering a bit more than the experience I had with the PB stuff. *EDIT* That was until I saw the ash production. PB are better than the Weber Hickory in my book now.
I hope they end up making a charcoal pellet at some point as I do like to blend those into my comp blend of choice. At the current price of the hickory and blend though, many will likely choose to keep buying their mail order pellet of choice, but I am happy to have another quality option I can pick up instore.
(seriously though I don't recall LJ being this small diameter)
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