Smokehouse Pellets


 

LMichaels

TVWBB 2-Star Olympian
I am officially done with Smokehouse pellets. I had bought them at Sam's and Menards so I cannot blame the retailer for the poor quality. So tired of the little "fines", constantly needing to clean out the auger, sift out the fines and the useless little tiny pieces. Early this PM was the last straw. Even with careful sifting today I decided to do some beef short rib (AKA dyno rib) in Big Z so, sifting and adding became a 15 min job just to add pellets to the hopper. STILL I ended up with an auger "clog"! Had to dump everything I'd just sifted and put in, re-vacuum the auger out, hold the prime button to get all their junk out. Thank heaven I'd bought a bag of Kirkland pellets. They're nice, full sized, not little broken bits and pieces and dust. No sifting required. Got them in, re-primed the auger and bam, grill up to temp and doing what it normally does so well. I think I still have about 200lbs of Smokehouse left in bags and in buckets.
I have to figure out how I'll dispose of them. Not gonna keep fighting with them. That is FO SHO!
 
I've never seen them. Being BP Shops are nowhere near me, I'd need to constantly mail order. Also apparently they're made by the same company as Smokehouse (Lumberjack). I'm unsure if the parent company has differing quality levels or what. But, given all the issues of late Smokehouse branded ones were causing me I'm leery. Someone on a FB group went on how Kirkland pellets are made by Pit Boss (which is Danson's) and they're total trash. This so called expert went on the totally trash the product because "the pellets are too long to work correctly in a Z Grill" Well gimme some longer solid pellets than teeny tiny little pebbles that break apart and clog my auger up with tiny particles and leave me like yesterday with a grill that won't "light off" properly, feed correctly or stay lit.
Yesterday I had to dump my freshly sifted and filled pellet hopper precisely because the little particles (even after sifting) were clogging my auger up. Meanwhile I had my dino rib on the counter waiting for the grill. I was actually able keep the grill somewhat going, performed a full dump, vacuumed the auger, placed the new Kirkland in the hopper, and use the "prime" button to "flush" out all the bits and pieces on the fly. Quite the feat.
Once the Kirkland pellets hit the burn pot, they lit right off, grill temp came up, smoke came out and meat went on. Yum! At $12.99 for 40# they're a fantastic bargain. Now oddly I did on a whim try these pellets in the Members Mark https://www.menards.com/main/outdoo...642874371718941-c-1461078035991.htm?exp=false and even though from the same parent company as Smokehouse the quality difference is night and day.
So perhaps Smokehouse is a "budget brand" made from inferior product leftover from their premium lines? IDK but, now I have to figure a way to get rid of the Smokehouse product I sadly stocked up on when Menards was letting them go at $7.99 per 40# bag
Maybe I'll stop into Menards and get some more of that Chop House blend. At $8 per 20# it seems like a well made product (no sifting needed), and it's conveniently in 20# bags (giving my aging old back/shoulders) a break
 
Larry - do you have a smoke tube? Perhaps you can burn up some that way although 200 lbs is a long way to go via smoke tube.
 
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Larry - do you have a smoke tube? Perhaps you can burn up some that way although 200 lbs is a long way to go vis smoke tube.
No I don't. I may place a FB Marketplace ad and dump them at a good price. Because I've been fighting these issues thinking it was my grill's fault. Life's too short. At first too I thought it was because some of them were in 5 gal buckets sealed up on my deck, but I even used freshly opened bags kept inside with same issues.
 

 

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