Pellet smoking

[JGo37]

As you've gathered by now, desirable smoke profile is a subjective opinion of the consumer, and some folks like it heavy, and some like it light. I'm more in a camp where I think certain meats or dishes do well with a heavy smoke profile and some with a light hint of smoke. For the lighter smoke profiles a pooper is ideal, although I don't have one yet (but many buddies do).

For some things, I think a permanent bath of heavy smoke is the only way to go.

GOOD NEWS! This all comes down to MCS! Too many of every way is just enough.

[dubob]

BPP (before pellet pooper), I did all my smoke cooks on a Bradley electric w/PID. One of my fishing buddies has always produced the very BEST smoked fish I've ever eaten and he uses a Big Chief with absolutely no temp controls what so ever. So I called Luhr Jensen and asked them what is the average temperature inside their smokers. The answer was 160F average with an ambient air temp in the 50F to 80F range. So I learned to set my Bradley to 160F and the smoke profile was ideal for MY tastes. YMMV. My Woodwind SG has 2 smoke settings; 160F & 220F. And there is plenty of smoke with either setting. My rib & brisket cooks have been at 225F and have been very good and a smoke profile (mild) that we really like. I over cooked some trout on my one and only smoked fish attempt, but the smoke profile was good even though the meat was too dry and tough. Same thing with my pheasant jerky; too dry and too tough. I'll cut done the cook time next time for both. I'll be doing a lot of trout/salmon smokes this summer, but the pheasant jerky will have to wait until next fall. If your a heavy smoke profile lover, then you probably will want to invest in some sort of smoke tube to enhance that for you because from my limited experience, heavy smoke profile is not one of the pellet poopers strong points regardless of brand.

[IowaGirl]

The other thing I've noticed is when I do the smoking, I don't taste the smoke flavor as much as when someone else does the smoking. I think my nose gets overwhelmed. If there are any leftovers eaten the next day or so, I notice the smoke flavor of the food more.

[CandySueQ]

Take a shower before you eat. Always works for me.

[CandySueQ]

Y'all knew I'd have to weight in on this one, right?

My pellet cookers are FEC100 (5/2004 model with Traeger pellet fire system), MAK 2 star, Original Grilla, GMG Daniel and Davy, Woodmaster Mini Hog, Yoder Cimarron and homemade pellet fire for my Jambo J3. I have a pellet fire add-on for a WSM 22 and I've owned and used other pellet grills not in my current arsenal.

I use a 50/50 mix of pecan and cherry always (even when burning sticks). Best smoke flavor is on the Yoder, worst is the homemade Jambo pellet-fire. I've found the GMG Davy to produce more smoke than the Daniel Boone. I use the Original Grilla more than the others and it does have light smoke . Other cookers I'd describe as in the middle smoke wise.

Beware of smoke tubes! IF your pellet cooker is air tight or the fan push to efficient, the tube won't smoke even at higher temps (not enough oxygen).

My brother worked up a new blend, 2 parts pecan, 2 parts sugar maple and 1 part black walnut. This is a very nice smoke flavor.

[ItsAllGoneToTheDogs]

Candy, I'm assuming your 2 star has all the newest guts? I was really leaning hard towards the YS640 which I assume uses the same controller as the Cimarron, but ultimately I wanted as much SS as possible because I'm lazy Read so many great things about their smoke output though. I'm also currently playing around with pellet mixes, but I don't know if I'll ever get it dialed in to something worth the effort of all the logging

[RAGBBQ]

Agree on the smoke tubes! Even at lower temps, mine puts out very little smoke on my Rec Tec RT 680.

[Troutman]

Oh hail the pellet queen CandySueQ. I'd love to hang out and pick your brain on pellet smoking. Regardless (or until that time ) I do have some questions or comments on what you said;

• Agree 100% on the combustion gases snuffing out the Amaz-N tubes and trays. My custom pellet won't let the tube stay lit no matter where I put it. Best I got it to work was by the stack, at which point all the smoke just escaped !!
• I'm running a Pitts & Spitts that has a Pellet Pro hopper and PID controller attached. It's a hybrid stick burner conversion like your Jambo. Do you think the size of the Jambo has something to do with smoke dispersion? I'm thinking that's the problem with mine, it's a large chamber so in order to get up to temp the burn process gets to efficient to produce smoke.
• Surprised you said the Yoder made more smoke than the MAK. Why do you think that's true?

I'm generally trying to wrap my head around how to up the smoke profile in a pellet cooker. My theory on the PID controllers is they may be too efficient, burning pellets completely without letting them smolder. Could better modulation help with that?

Anyway I do love to cook on a pellet and have actually grown accustomed to the lower smoke profiles. Just wish when doing briskets or pork butts I could up the smoke, if that were the case I wouldn't cook on anything else.

[Potkettleblack]

Candy sent me some black walnut samples, which I find VERY strong, when burned in a well positioned tube. Hickory to the Max.

I kind of prefer the mesquite, but it is a different flavor.

[Potkettleblack]

The Grilla swing was supposedly engineered to produce more smoke flavor. It seems to work, which is why I find the Alpha controlled puzzling.

[Troutman]

I’ll try the B&B mesquite, thanks for the heads up. I actually love mesquite with beef. Unfortunately with Lumberjack mesquite you get a little more, maybe B&B is better, who knows. As I’ve stated, I’ve just learned to live with what it is. I don’t exclusively pellet cook anyway.

[Timbo54]

On my Traeger "lil Tex " I'll put a couple of small chunks of smoking wood on top of the heat diffuser plate above the fire box. They will up the amount of smoke to give a stronger smoke profile. I also agree that the Amaz-N Tube doesn't really work in my Traeger and I get a lot of creosote. I have also found pellet selection is important. Traeger for example advertises 100% hardwood = part named hardwood (mesquite, Maple etc.) and filler wood ( alder or oak). Some pellets even contain oils for flavor.

[Troutman]

I have a very tight clearance between my deflector and the grease tray, like less than an inch. I tried squeezing some thin wedges of wood in there but it didn't do much.

[Timbo54]

Yah the same here, not much room. Sometimes the chunks lift the grease tray is raised a little bit and eventually settles down.

[Johnny Big Time]

Imo, it's all in the unit. I've used 4 different brands of pellets, used smoke tubes, wood chips...still nothing compared to my stick burner. Maybe if I would have bought a Yoder YS640 or a Traeger Pro 780, then possibly I'd have had the results I wanted. When I eat smoked food, I want smoke on it. It should taste like it was cooked on a camp fire. Anything less you might as well just brush it with liquid smoke and throw it on a charcoal grill.

[Ricorocks]

Not Wine & Onions together, but Wine then Onions, biggest triggers for GERD.

One of my fav's is Apple

recently tried 2/3 oak & 1/3 mesquite. Very good!

Very nice for storing pellets, is "Pellet Can" pricey but functional, I had sewn 'canvas' a cover

The cover covers the hopper & with cover in place, can still have access to pellets

[Ricorocks]

Pulled the trigger & 7 - 10 days Grilla Alpha will arrive. Excited

[dubob]

From all I've read about Grilla, I think you made an excellent decision. Good eats are just around the corner. And remember, its not a good cook without pictures. 😁

[Nate]

Welcome to the Grilla family. Just broke mine in yesterday!

[Potkettleblack]

Welcome to both of you. As an OG Grilla owner, my first advice is to trust the swing. Let the Grilla, in pro mode, do it's thing around your set temp.

[RAGBBQ]

Let us know how it works out and send pictures.

[Slice169]

Has anyone found pellets that are noticeably better than other brands? I've only had my GMG Daniel Boone for about a month and a half, but have used our Jim Bowie (spelling?) GMG at the Fire station quite a few times. Thus far, I have had the best results with Traeger pellets. I've tried GMG and Pit Boss and was less impressed with those two. I wish I could remember the brand, but a neighbor of mine was selling hardwood pellets (allegedly) really cheap. I will never buy those again. Half the bag was sawdust before I even got them home. I also think they may have been made with some treated wood. Several friends have had a near "explosion" from our GMG's due to the pellets not igniting, and then when they do they basically blow up.
At any rate, I have found a ceramic square bowl looking thing with a slotted lid. I simply fill it up with pellets and set it on the hot-box and it seems to be good for a couple hours at least. Let's me get decent smoke even when cooking above 250 degrees.

[Sweaty Paul]

BBQ Delight makes awesome pellets.

[Ricorocks]

BBQr's Delight

[BigCountryQ]

This was all some good reading as I'm just entering my 4th week with my Silverbac Alpha. I've only been using the Grilla pellets as I bought several bags when I went to pick up at their showroom. I hope to expand more and this made for a good read.

[MBMorgan]

Has anyone found pellets that are noticeably better than other brands?

I'd say that BBQr's Delight and Lumberjack are the two top brands. I've been using Grilla Grills Competition Blend (reportedly made by Lumberjack) with very good results in my Original Grilla (OG) ... and keep a decent supply of BBQr's Delight flavor pellets on hand if needed.

[Slice169]

The BBQr's delight does seem to be the consensus, I'll have to get a bag ordered. I've been using Traeger pellets and they're working really well for me, but with all the rain and probably a month straight of humidity readings over 85%, I'm only able to get about 2/3 out of the bag before they end up as swelled up sawdust! I suspect I'm gonna have this issue no matter which pellets I try, simply because it's so dang humid here all the time right now!

[Sweaty Paul]

We’ve had rain for our rain. My BBQr Delight pellets have had no problems.