Pellet fuel discussion


 
The price for the Weber pellets doesn't seem out of line with the others. I'll pick up a bag to see if the extra cost is worth it.
 
The Weber pellets will have to be REALLY good before I would abandon LumberJack that you can get for $9.99 for 20lb bag (although not readily available in my area:(). Still, I will definitely try our their GrillMaster blend. I need some cherry, but I was a little disappointed to find that Weber's "Cherry" is actually 40% cherry and 60% maple. Not that this is a bad blend, but I use cherry as part of my own blend. I would rather buy 100% cherry like LumberJack sells for that purpose.
 
Found out Home Depot carries the Kingsford brand of pellets for $20 a 20# bag, a little pricy but I'll try a bag to see if their significantly better than the other brands.
 
Ok, so basically there are three types of pellets.
One for pellet stoves ( for heating )
One for strictly smoke flavor ( 100% of the wood species ordered ) You typically add a handful in a foil pouch or cannister on top of a charcoal or gas flame. https://bbqrsdelight.com/product-category/flavor-pellets/
And one for pellet smokers, which should be a blend? Part oak or something similar for the BTU's ( heat ) and part nut or fruit wood for flavor. https://bbqrsdelight.com/product-category/pellet-grill-fuel/

Does that sound about right? I know certain fruitwoods like apple have a high BTU rate so you can probably run that for fuel and flavor.

Tim
 
timothy said:
Ok, so basically there are three types of pellets.
One for pellet stoves ( for heating )
One for strictly smoke flavor ( 100% of the wood species ordered ) You typically add a handful in a foil pouch or cannister on top of a charcoal or gas flame. https://bbqrsdelight.com/product-category/flavor-pellets/
And one for pellet smokers, which should be a blend? Part oak or something similar for the BTU's ( heat ) and part nut or fruit wood for flavor. https://bbqrsdelight.com/product-category/pellet-grill-fuel/

Does that sound about right? I know certain fruitwoods like apple have a high BTU rate so you can probably run that for fuel and flavor.

Tim
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I used strictly apple for a steak cook because that's all I had at the time and after I cooked the steak I let it run wide open and it hit 540 degrees before I shut it down
 
Anyone have experience with pit boss competition blend? Lowe’s has 40 pounds for $15 and it seems like a good deal.
 
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I found this at Smokin Meat Forum. I have no idea if it is true, and a number of people on that older thread said they had positive experiences with Pit Boss Competition Blend:

Just now ran into this thread and just discovered Pit Boss Pellets. From what I understand, the blends of flavor woods used don't include the filler wood used. For instance, the Competition Blend says maple, hickory, cherry, but those only make up 30% of the total wood used. The other 70% or filler wood, is either Alder or Oak, depending on where they are sourcing the filler at the time. So actually, you're getting 30% flavor wood and 70% filler. I assume it's the same with, for instance, the Hickory pellets...they are 30% hickory and 70% filler wood. When they say 100% Hickory, they're just saying that there is no other flavor wood being used, but they're not telling you that there's 70% filler wood in the pellets. This was info I got from calling Pit Boss.

https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/pit-boss-pellets-a-good-deal.273257/
 
Good info John because I hadn’t seen any mention of a filler wood.

Rich went to Safeway this morning and they still have the Z grill pellet smokers for $349, what was it you were saying about a possible Memorial Day sale? $249?? That would be hard to pass up, I’d have to make my friends buy them.
My wife would smoke me if I bought one after the smokefire gets here.
 
How does alder compare to oak as a smoking wood, I would rather go oak if I had a choice.
 
Bruno said:
Good info John because I hadn’t seen any mention of a filler wood.

Rich went to Safeway this morning and they still have the Z grill pellet smokers for $349, what was it you were saying about a possible Memorial Day sale? $249?? That would be hard to pass up, I’d have to make my friends buy them.
My wife would smoke me if I bought one after the smokefire gets here.
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Barb who works there told me that her boss told her that there was to be a coupon for $100 off around Memorial day. We discussed picking one up for a flip will have to see if it happens.
 
Well I was bored with Barb at work and the Lowes web site said our store had 59 bags of the Pit Boss Comp Blend so I drove over and picked up a bag. For $14.99 I felt it was worth the risk.
Also our store here didn't have any SmokeFires, at least out on the floor.

Edit: Went back to Lowes web site it says none of the SmokeFires or the Weber pellets are available at our store.
 
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Ditto on that, Rich. I will be very interested. Lowe’s is probably making room for the Weber pellets!

I used my Rec Tec again this afternoon, just to do some burgers and hot dogs, fueled with the Weber GrillMaster Blend pellets. Wow, does that grill smell good! In our mild temperatures, I actually experienced reasonable pellet usage for the two high heat cooks in a row I have done. Definitely liking the Weber pellets so far.

I am wondering about the % thing. Hard to believe they can say it is made of those three woods when the majority is oak or Adler. I know some other brands clearly state that they do not use other woods and that their pellets are ONLY the woods they list. I would tend to believe that is the case with Weber’s new pellets, too, and that the percentages they state are the actual total composition.
 
Jon Tofte said:
Ditto on that, Rich. I will be very interested. Lowe’s is probably making room for the Weber pellets!

I used my Rec Tec again this afternoon, just to do some burgers and hot dogs, fueled with the Weber GrillMaster Blend pellets. Wow, does that grill smell good! In our mild temperatures, I actually experienced reasonable pellet usage for the two high heat cooks in a row I have done. Definitely liking the Weber pellets so far.

I am wondering about the % thing. Hard to believe they can say it is made of those three woods when the majority is oak or Adler. I know some other brands clearly state that they do not use other woods and that their pellets are ONLY the woods they list. I would tend to believe that is the case with Weber’s new pellets, too, and that the percentages they state are the actual total composition.
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Yeah I’m a little surprised that the comp blend could be 70 percent alder. I’m pretty sure the $14.99 is Lowes everyday price on those pellets and they only had one bag last time I was there, today they had a good 40 bags.
No one in my Lowes has even heard of the smokefire so we shall see how big of a footprint they get in our particular store.
 
Bruno said:
Anyone have experience with pit boss competition blend? Lowe’s has 40 pounds for $15 and it seems like a good deal.
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I've been using it for 2 years and it's become my choice. With the blend I calculated my pellet cost per hour is 36 cents cooking low and slow. I tried GMG blend, Lumberjack Hickory, and one other brand. Last month I tried a bag of Pit Boss Apple and it gave a sweeter taste to ribs. With the Pit Boss blend I oversmoked some beef Jerky so it definitely gives plenty smoke flavor when cooking at 250 and below. My taste buds are 78 yrs. old and consumed Navy coffee for 29 years so I do not possess a refined palate. That said, the cost differential is so great that I'm sticking with Pit Boss pellets and I get 10% off for military service.

One thing I haven't compared is how much heat the blend generates. Jon can reach high temps with his Rec Tec that I could not reach with mine and he uses higher quality pellets than I do. The difference could be in the very different pits or the BTU output of the pellets.
 
That's an interesting thought, use different pellets for different heat requirements, kind of like charcoal types.
 
Oak and Alder tend to be pretty neutral woods so for filler IMO there shouldn't be too much issue
 
The different woods will affect top temps,I burn LJ pellets for the most of the time but have tried several different brands, all have been decent and less flavor with the Kingsford I bought on clearance last year.
 
My Lowe's has plenty of the 40lb Pit Boss Competition Blend at $14.99 and 20lb Apple at $9.99. I have a lot of pellets right now, but at some point I would like to try and see for myself. Have to say that the new Weber SmokeFire GrillMaster Blend left my grill smelling like very real barbecue, even two days later!
 
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