I currently have a GMG lodge and it has been the best and worst bbq I have ever owned. Worst I'm assuming because of my humid climate location, and I have constant pellet ash issues, and auger jams. Let's just say it goes beyond not buying traeger pellets from a big box store.
So anyone have any recommendations on pellet smokers that handle pellet moisture a bit better and have less issues with ash clumping? Wouldn't be too bad if I also didn't have simultaneous auger jams.
Welcome, I’m sorry to hear about your problems. I’ve had a Grilla Silverbac for two years, and haven’t had any problems here in humid Illinois. My ash is like sand when I empty it out. I’m still using the Grilla pellets that came with my smoker. I hope you get your problem solved!
Retired, living in Western Mass. Enjoy music, cooking and my family.
Current cookers Weber Spirit 3 burner with a full insert griddle added. A 22" Kettle with vortex, SnS and a Smokey Joe. The most recent addition is a Pit Barrel Jr with bird hanger, 4 hooks and cover. ThermoWorks Smoke 2 probe, DOT, 2 ThermoPops and a Thermapen MK4. A Thermoworks RFX Gateway 2 probe meat thermometer.
I live surrounded by three marine coastal bays and we are also about a 1/4 mile from the Atlantic Ocean. While we have lots of humidity generally I really don’t have humidity issues with my pellet cooker for several reasons. 1 I store my pellets in 5 gallon buckets with lids. 2. I only fill up my Yoder when I’m going to cook something. 3 Once everything has cooled down after the cook I use a 5 gallon bucket top vacuum to empty out my cooker’s pellet bin. Luckily never had a jammed auger or issues with moisture in my pellets.
I do know that my Yoder does do a shutdown routine which tries to clear unused pellets from the auger. I think that helps too.
MAK 2 Star pellet
Big Green Egg
Fuego gasser
Pitboss ceramic griddle
Eastman Outdoors wok burner
Ooni 16 pizza oven
Cast iron chimenea with pizza steel
Breeo smokeless fire pit, with Titan rotisserie and Titan Santa Maria style adjustable grate
Oklahoma Joe Bronco
Here in a low humidity desert, I found that pellet storage is still an issue. Bought my MAK in about 2018, bought extra bags, stored them on my covered but open deck. Had to throw out several unopened bags. Pellets stored in the hopper have never been a problem. Go figure.
I don't have an issue with pellet storage, I keep mine outside in a rolling pet food bin.
However, I have had issues with humidity and my auger. Easily resolved as if I'm not going to use my grill for a few days, I use MAKs pellet dump feature and put the pellets back in the bin and then crank the grill to "grill" mode (max setting). Pellet tub is cleared out and the nice temp bump makes my grates easier to clean post meal. Yeah you waste maybe 2 or 3 cups of pellets every time, but it's better than beating your head against the wall when you have to remove a jammed auger.
As to the grill to pick, I'd go towards something like MAK that is more rust proof than others or something like LSG or Yoder that just needs a little elbow grease and some touch up paint every few years. A few more budget options would be the stainless options from Cookshack (I forget if they have a pellet dump feature). If you gotta stay under $1K then Grilla or Weber offerings would be just fine.
I'd say Recteq since they have some stainless options now, but they refuse to add a pellet dump and claim it's a feature that they don't have one... which is BS.
Do you have a cover for your pellet grill? I live in SE Texas on the ship channel, the seawall is my back fence, can't get much more humid than that. The pellets in the hopper of my Traeger stay fine even if I leave them for a few months (I have a cover for the Traeger). Otherwise I store them in their original plastic bags in the garage and so far they have been fine.
the humidity here, a cover doesn't help. We have that weird humidity where water condensates on every surface in the morning and then the more normal sticky icky stuff through the day. Not sure which humidity type OP has, but the only solution here was to burn out the auger tube between cooks if it was gonna sit a while.
I had a lot of problem with my Camp Chef when I ran larger diameter pellets like Pit Boss, For some reason the Camp Chef didn't like them. It also didn't care for the Camp Chef branded pellets. After trying several brands I switched to Lumber Jack brand and that issue went away. Then I switched to a LSG pellet smoker, and that solved all the other issues I had with the Camp Chef. So my suggestion is to either get a different brand of pellets, or a LSG pooper. Pellet length will also play a part.
Gear includes: Char-Griller's Grand Champ off set stick burner/smoker, SnS Kamado Deluxe, Weber 22, PBC, Victory gasser, Victory 36 griddle, Smoke Hollow electric smoker. ThermoWorks Thermapen Mk4, Smoke, Signals, and RFX4, Meater+, SNS-500, roti fits 22 n gasser, Emeril countertop TO, InkBird Sous Vide, Potane Vac/Sealer. Fire&Ice griddle/cooler ensemble.
3-pkg of Collapsible Prep Tubs
Junior, Original, Xtra Lg. SS D. Norcross
Complete set (Tx PJ!) Wusthof Knives n block.
Dalstrong:
Phantom Series Paring knife
Shogun SeriesX 6" Chef knife
Gladiator Series 12"Cleaver knife
Just got into charcoal Dec ‘21 (PBC)
fav is brisky. Love Turkey on PBC. also Turkey in the glass,(any nice bourbon)
Bud has always been my barley pop.
Been smoking a handful of years, just got serious in the last two or three years. Thanks to AR n @glemn picked up an SnS Kamado for appx 1/3 price of new. I dont think he used it twice. Love AR! keep calm n smoke on! Miss you Bonesy.
Low humidity here, only had it happen once. One bag of pellets was damp and tons of smoke. Maybe damp from purchase. I can store left over pellets in the hopper with no issues, never had a jam or an issue except that one bag.
WI Bubba I've been using GMG pellets in my GMG the last year, because the bbq boutique store here carries them, and whatever I buy from a big box store has issues... Broil king pellets have worked well too. But shouldn't be having jams from the wrong sized pellets using GMG's own brand.
I agree that you shouldn't be having the problem, but I thought the same thing using Camp Chef pellets in a Camp Chef smoker. The fact was that I quit jamming the auger and having wild temp swings once I switched tried several brands of pellets and found one that works.
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