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LMichaels said:
An oddball thing I found (accidentally) pellet related (at least on my Z). A while back (Thanksgiving actually) I was doing some smoking and it was loaded up with Kirkland pellets. Up to that point they'd been working fine in the grill. But, I was using it in cold and windy conditions. Though clear and dry. I needed to get my temps up as I was doing a roast. So I wanted to run a L&S and then increase temps to about 400. Well it just would not run past 275 or so. My RTD was perfectly clean, the grill was (had been cleaned) prior to the cook. It ran like a champ 275 or less though. I happened then to notice on Costco web site comments about how their pellets were too hard and too long (no jokes here please G rated) :D So in any case I fired up MM and finished up that way. Now MM runs Smokehouse from Sam's exclusively. So, when the cook was done I cleaned both grills out. I put Kirkland in the MM and Smokehouse from Sam's in the Z. Wouldn't ya know? MM now would not run hot in the cold windy temps, but Big Z did! I had never noticed any issues prior (running in moderate weather). I actually liked that they were harder/longer pellets and seemed to burn just a touch cleaner with slightly less ash. Then the Smokehouse.
Well now I learned something new. For my day in day out work during warm weather months I'll use the Kirkland until they're gone. I have laid in a huge cache of the Smokehouse pellets from Menards. Having bought now 18-20 bags total. If I can find a way to hoard more (especially since they're giving them away for such a great mix at $7.99 40# of the 50/50 oak/hickory blend (no maple in these pellets) I figure how can I go wrong? I may try and get back there tomorrow and lay in another 10 bags or so. I think I am going to break their shopping carts LOL. I'll then transition to only Smokehouse pellets then from now on. Since they're great all around pellets.
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my last cook it was 0c here I used kirkland pellets, grill got up to 450f in no time
so far havnt had issue with kirkland or any pellets but only tried 3 different brands.
 
Yeah, I saw a lot of folks on Costco's web site complaining of the same thing I found. Could Costco have a different formulation for Canada? IDK. But with just a change in brand of pellets problem was solved
 
And quite honestly I had read about this phenomena but totally discredited it. I was like "no way" this could actually happen. Until it happened on not one but both of my pellet grills during my experiment right after TGiving. So, I think come warm weather I will continue to use up the Kirkland pellets and just not purchase more (unless my back is against the wall) and stick to the Smokehouse products. IDK if it's possible for a pellet formulation to perhaps pack "fewer BTU per pound" but, awfully convincing evidence in my cold weather experiment.
 
My Memphis Pro gobbles up all pellets, including Kirkland brand with no discernible issues reaching or maintaining heat levels from 180 to 650 degrees. Smoke is only available at 300 degrees or below. It’s just heat over 300 degrees. My grill is all stainless steel and double insulated and is totally unaffected by weather. It sits in a covered area on my pack patio. There is no humidity here in my area of Idaho, but I moved here from Edmonds, WA, 1/2 block from Puget Sound almost 3 years ago, and had no issues there either.
 
In both cases I had lots of wind to deal with. So I do think had the wind not been up and blowing into both grills from the back into the vents. Though it is still suspicious that so many others report this on Costco site It's loaded with this type of comments
"Unable to get to high temperature in cold weather

Thought I’d try these my first time. Traeger grill does not reach set temperature with these. Grill reaches about 265F max at any set temperature above 300F including max. Temperature outside was 45F. Tried a few times and same result. No issues with Traeger pellets which reach set point temperature. Will be returning them to Costco and going back to Traeger brand pellets."
Frankly I thought it was bunk until I had the same happen on T/Giving. Had no issues in more mild weather wind or not. Only on that particular day. And I waited to to run the experiment on both grills a few days later with the same (very cold and stiff wind) conditions blowing in from the back of the grills into the vents. (neither of my grills has a stack a feature I love on both). Though oddly I think in that condition one with a stack might have not been bothered like these as that cold wind was getting right into the oven chamber. I am sure they needed every advantage a slightly hotter burning pellet may have given it. Which it seems the Smokehouse pellets do burn slightly hotter.
But Costco's site is loaded with people reporting exactly what I quoted above. And all I did was dump the Kirkland pellets, refill with Smokehouse, fire up and give each enough time to "flush" the Kirkland ones out.
Had no issues since. And made no change in either grill except for pellets. YMMV.
I also like the Smokehouse pellets better (the ones form Menards) as they're oak/hickory (my favs). The Smokehouse from Sam's must be a custom blend they make only for Sam's as they don't even show that blend on their web site. Sam's version is Oak, Maple, Hickory and Cherry likely in that order.
While the Smokehouse "Blend" on their web site and at Menards is Oak/Hickory only. Also FWIW the Sam's Club blend burned fine in the cold and wind as it was the one I tested against the Kirkland. But my last brisket (the one we will eat tomorrow) had similar conditions as the day went on of very cold with wind direction entering the back of Big Z I used the Smokehouse Oak/Hickory.
One other thing of note. The Costco pellets have the same blend makeup as the SH from Sam's but look VERY different from the ones at Sam's. Quite a lot darker and also very shiny.


 

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Any chance their was moisture in the peelets, or age? Otherwise, it looks like aome issue with Costco has to be discovered.
 
Tony Coloma said:
Any chance their was moisture in the peelets, or age? Otherwise, it looks like aome issue with Costco has to be discovered.
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No, because I tried it with fresh load of pellets in both grills. Honestly a mystery to me. And really I invite anybody to look on the Costco web site. They work fine in good weather, but I just saw so many complaints on this very thing with them, not only on Costco site but also the FB Group for Z Grill 1100 2B. Just too many to simply pass off as mistakes plus the actual performance I saw on 2 grills. I'll just save them, and use them for warmer weather cooks when the temp/wind conditions are not a real issue. Since they work fine otherwise
 
Do they burn slower? Course the feed would just go faster. Until the cup was past full. Could they be that low on btus?
 
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Tony Coloma said:
Do they burn slower? Coirse the feed wpuld jusy go faster. Until the cup was past full. Could they be that low on btus0 00pm
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Yeah, other than the testing that I did do, I cannot think of another way to test things. I don't know for sure who makes their pellets as I have seen things all over the map in re to that. But, I do know they look distinctly different than SmokeHouse pellets. I have a bucket I did a drain out in and the SmokeHouse and Kirkland are mixed up. And all you need to do is look in that bucket and you can see the Kirkland very distinctly. They otherwise work great. Very low ash (though even in the best of weather) I do notice a noticeably less amount of smoke. SH pellets do give me quite a bit more in that dept.
I have noticed the SH pellets (like the way any pellet grill burns) has periods of more smoke followed by periods of less. But with Kirkland their periods of more are like the others periods of less and their periods of less are almost nothing.
There is enough that I do think there is something about about their "makeup" which makes them perform so differently. I get the same flavor profile with both "blends" if I am comparing the ones of Oak, Hickory, Maple and Cherry. Though one thing I do notice is this. The blend on Kirkland is shown as Oak, Hickory, Maple and Cherry while the blend of the SH from Sam's is listed as hickory, oak, maple and cherry.
I know ingredients are always listed by their "importance" and so while they both have predominantly oak and hickory one lists oak, first and the other hickory first.
So, IDK if there is a different burn characteristic. But, Kirkland pellets are much longer, much darker, and much more "glossy" in appearance,
 
Are equal weights, equal volume? Maybe we can weigh a bucket or such of each. See if one might be a bit denser, or tighter bound.

Maybe one is dryer. Would still think the pellets would be fed until temp reached.
 
Tony Coloma said:
Are equal weights, equal volume? Maybe we can weigh a bucket or such of each. See if one might be a bit denser, or tighter bound.

Maybe one is dryer. Would still think the pellets would be fed until temp reached.
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Yeah, I would too. But forgot who'd mentioned those charcoal pellets and how it made their grill run hotter. The whole thing seems counterintuitive to me. But, then perhaps these PID controllers are designed to only try to achieve temps within certain feed parameters? The whole thing kinda makes my head spin :D
 
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