Question for those with pellet grill/smokers.

[shtrdave]

Do you use the pellets you use in your stove to cook with or by the $40.00 a bag cooking pellets?

Thinking about getting another smoker, and was going to go bigger electric, but been thinking about a pellet grill/smoker also. But at 1.5-2 pounds an hour it would cost $30-40 to smoke a turkey.

 

[Woody1911a1]

i have a GMG daniel boone and i can smoke a turkey for @ $6-7 using GMG gold blend @ 28 lbs for $20 . i spend less to cook with pellets than i used to on my charcoal/wood offset .

that said , many do and there are several brands of heating pellets that many in the pellet grill community swear by .

 

[pell it]

I've got burgers on the Traeger running Barefoots as I type this. You have to check with the mfg to see if there are any additives used in the process.

 

[StihlHead]

I would never use softwood pellets in a smoker, and they are about all you can buy for heating around here. Actually I never use anything but hardwood pellets made for smokers. Here there are many brands and types of wood available, as well as blends. A 20# bag of Cascade, Bear Mountain or better smoking pellets is $8-12 from several places locally. I use mostly alder and apple, but I also burn pecan, oak and maple. I have an early model USA made Traeger lil' Texas and it cranks out some mean BBQ. Actually it is too good and I tent to eat too much of the stuff. I also smoke on low heat, so the smoker does not go through that much in the way of pellets. If I want to cook on high or finish something off, I move it to the oven inside. Studies show that the most smoke gets into the meat when the meat is cold or cool, and once it heats up the smoke effect is greatly reduced. So at that point you may as well use an electric or gas oven.

 

[shtrdave]

This is the pellet grill/smoker I was thinking of, I have read good things about it in the BBQ Forums, and what I like is it is big enough to do probably a 50 pound pig.
(broken link removed)

I have a small Cookshack electric smoker, had it for about 12 years and love it, just wold like to find something larger.

 

[343amc]

I use cooking pellets in mine. BBQ Delight, 20 pound bag for $15. Smoking on low doesn't use many pellets at all. I've done a lot on my smoker since I got it earlier this summer and am about 1/3 of the way through my second bag.

I've read on some meat smoking forums that folks have successfully used oak hardwood pellets such as Somerset, Greenway, etc. I thought about it but haven't tried it yet. Maybe someday, but as mentioned above, even when using cooking pellets, it still costs less than charcoal.

 

[Lousyweather]

Turmans, Mak 2 star

 

[ScotL]

I use stove pellets from the 40lb bags in my Louisianna Grills CS680 - but only because I know exactly what's in this particular brand and more specifically, what's NOT in it.
There are a lot of different additives that are used in some pellets. From what I've heard, one brand even uses plastics, or polystyrene. It's a very small amount and they seem to be keeping it a secret so they probably wouldn't tell you about it. I've only heard it through common vendors so I won't say who because it's only hearsay and I can't prove it.
I'd be very careful about what pellets I cooked with in a pellet grill.

 

[Lousyweather]

I'll hazard a guess.........Infernals?

 

[ScotL]

I'll hazard a guess.........Infernals?

Not that I know of. I don't know what, if any, additives are used in Infernos.
The pellets with polystyrene seem to be working just fine for everyone and it's not causing any problems with people's stoves. It's even possible that they aren't using the plastics and the several people that told me they are don't know what they're talking about.
All I can say is, I'd use the specialty grill pellets just to be sure.

 

[Lousyweather]

Its my understanding that primarily Infernals are made up of ground up pallets, so, its conceivable that whatever is on those pallets is in the pellets......that being said, I do agree one should check first, which I have, and Turmans do not "add" anything. As for other brands? Well, most are softwood blends these days.....Turman are not.

 

[StihlHead]

Softwood pellets from around here are commonly made from sawdust, saw mill ends and cuts, as well as cut plywood scraps. Plywood typically has glue and polymers in it that I would not want in my food. They are small amounts, and not that you want to smoke anything with any softwoods anyway. Any softwoods of any type (pellets or firewood) are very bad for smoking with. Too much soot. Most all (if not all) of the hardwood pellets made here are for smoking with, and not for heating. So they use virgin woods from logs, mill end cuts and scrap, and not from any processed hardwood plywood or cabinet remnants. Hardwood pellets made for heating are an eastern thing... seems risky to smoke with, unless you know the source.

 

[shtrdave]

I have Hamers sitting in my garage, I sent them a questions about pellet make up and what they used on the dies, and about binders, below is what I got back today.


Dave,

Our pellets are 100% hardwoods. There are no binders used only the natural lignin in the wood binds the pellets together from being pressed through the dye. We use a vegetable oil lubricant for the rolls and dyes processing the dust into pellets.

Let me know if you have any additional questions.
Regards,
Todd Webb
Sales Manager
Hamer Pellet Fuel
304-453-6381 ext. 135

 

[Bioburner]

Ok, I am going to take the word of a salesman that doesn't know the proper use of dye? Dye is a colorant.

 

[stoveguy2esw]

Lori Hamer's gang are a solid group, i'd forgive the misspelling in this case.

personally i only use cooking pellets in my ESW unit, my grill doesn't use as much fuel by far per hour than my heating unit does (which ain't much either) though i haven't timed any measured amounts its easy to see when i check the level of the hopper while smoking. now grilling at high temps it eats a bit more fuel. but even with that considering the cost of the lump charcoal i use in my BGE i don't think the cost is prohibitive.

i would say though echoing an above post, definately check with the manufacturer of the fuel before cooking with it. some companies use plastics for die lubrication, small amounts but still. as for binder in the fuel, lignin is a natural substance found in wood which is the binder for most all pellets, why add anything else when the wood itself has the needed binder already present. lignin BTW has long been used as a book binding substance which is probably why when a paperback gets damp the pages fall out (lignin is water soluble)