Best Pellets?

[chet8888]

What is the group's opinion as to the best pellets (quality or even best value). I am getting a new pellet smoker for Christmas. It will be 100% used for lower temp cooks, I'm keeping my KJ for grilling/searing. Thanks for the help!

 

[SmokeOCD]

I like Bear Mountain Bourbon for extra flavor, I'm fine with the big ol' bag of Costco Pellets for half the money on most of my cooks. They're made by PitBoss, never an issue - just not as great smelling as Bear Mountain.
Depends on you and your guests. Some can tell there's smoke, some can tell which wood has been used. If it's going into tacos cheap smoke is OK, if it's Prime Rib - splurge on a better pellet.

 

[Bury Me In Smoke]

Other than the bag that came with my Mak (which seemed pretty good) I've only used Bear Mountain. Readily available, cheap, good flavor.

 

[Vision]

Bear.

 

[4ever3]

Lumberjack is my go to, but there probably as many different answers as there are people that will read this thread.

Find some that you have locally available and try them all.

 

[ttkt57]

Buy several bags from several brands. Cook with all of them before letting any of us prejudice your thinking.

My prediction is that you won't be able to reliably tell the difference.

I've done this myself, letting someone else load the hopper and seeing if I can identify what I cooked with. Can't do it. Doubt others can either.

 

[ssv3]

Lumberjack is all I've used. Pretty happy so haven't bought anything else really with the exception of a few bags of pitboss pellets just for comparison. Lumberjack FTW.

 

[16Adams]

Pit Boss Freedom Blend
50-50 Charcoal & Hickory

I.have and have tried many many brands. Here is link to Pit Boss Boss
Freedom Blend. There are probably some still out there.

https://shop.pitboss-grills.com/products/20-lb-freedom-blend-hardwood-pellets

Is it the best over all the others I've tried and will try? Probably not but it is good, and I got my bags on closeout $2-5 per bag

 

[larry4406]

I had been using the Bear Mountain exclusively up until I had smoke pouring from the hopper. On another occasion I had an explosion which blew the door off the smoke box breaking the welded hinge and popping the lid on the smoker. Recteq RT1250.


I found that the hopper and auger tube had quite bit of dust in it. I just dump the bag of pellets in the hopper, so the dust accumulation finally built up? When this occurred, I inspected the partial open bag of Bear Mountain pellets and it had a lot of dust and the pellets crumbled; perhaps a fluke faulty bag?


Since then I have been using Cookin' Pellets PM40. They have a much harder pellet by feel, a bit longer compared to Bear Mountain, and virtually no dust in the bag. They burn well, smell great, and the food tastes good. I have to buy them online as there is no local retailer near me.


I want to find a small hand scoop with slots in it for filling the hopper vs dumping the bag in. Thought being it would leave any and all dust behind.

 

[16Adams]

I had been using the Bear Mountain exclusively up until I had smoke pouring from the hopper. On another occasion I had an explosion which blew the door off the smoke box breaking the welded hinge and popping the lid on the smoker. Recteq RT1250.


I found that the hopper and auger tube had quite bit of dust in it. I just dump the bag of pellets in the hopper, so the dust accumulation finally built up? When this occurred, I inspected the partial open bag of Bear Mountain pellets and it had a lot of dust and the pellets crumbled; perhaps a fluke faulty bag?


Since then I have been using Cookin' Pellets PM40. They have a much harder pellet by feel, a bit longer compared to Bear Mountain, and virtually no dust in the bag. They burn well, smell great, and the food tastes good. I have to buy them online as there is no local retailer near me.


I want to find a small hand scoop with slots in it for filling the hopper vs dumping the bag in. Thought being it would leave any and all dust behind.

Pet Store litter box scoop. I don't but have read folks that use them. I just kind of toss last couple inches in the bag. Guessing every bag I have, probably close to 20@#20 bags of various makes was purchased at a good sale price.

 

[PatAttack]

Used Bear Mountain for the past year with good results.

I bought one of those "buckethead" vacuum cleaners from HD for a 5 gallon bucket.

Every couple of cooks, I'll vacuum everything out and do a good cleanout.

So far, so good...

 

[kevinstaggs]

SmokeOCD is right - unlikely many people can tell the difference.
Jeremy is also right - ask 10 people, get 9 answers...

My rating is:
1. BBQR's Delight Pecan is my go-to
2. Cookin Pellets
3. LumberJack

 

[mike243]

Lumber Jack and Kingsford, they give you 100% hickory without any fillers, i think i get smoke at a little higher temp with the Kingsford, have ran a bunch of different types but these are my favorites

 

[Pulmah Finger]

Lumber Jack and Kingsford, they give you 100% hickory without any fillers, i think i get smoke at a little higher temp with the Kingsford, have ran a bunch of different types but these are my favorites

So when you say a little higher temp, what temp is this? 275? I have been running Bear mountain. Only gone through 3 bags in total as my smoker is new, but i can still get some smoke close to 300F.

 

[Gore]

Usually, whatever is cheapest. The major issue for me is the ash. Some produce a lot more than others. I bought a bag of Costco pellets one time and I had to clean out every farkin' cook. That was really annoying. Others have said they haven't had a problem and maybe I got a bad bag. I'm a bit hesitant to try them again. I primarily do Lumberjack with a bag of Bear thrown in now and then when they have a 2-for-1 sale. Some wood types are very distinct to me, like the mesquite, hickory and cherry, but I'm not fussy. I do find it interesting that the Lumberjack hickory smells very different than the Beam hickory. That caught me by surprise. While most people cannot tell the difference or really don't care (like myself), others can really discriminate.

 

[Headgear]

I use Lumber Jack 100% hickory because some years ago I did a few searches for what mid-range pellet smoker put the most smoke on meat and what were the favorite pellets of everyone at the time. I got a MAC One Star and it seemed to be a consensus that BEAR Mountain and Lumber Jack were most liked. Lumber Jack was available locally, but now I see that Bear Mountain is also. I will have to try them.

I also am concerned with the amount of ash I end up with. When I was searching for a pellet smoker that actually put smoke on the meat, I saw a lot of complaints that the MAC did at first but then the amount of smoke flavor seemed to subside. I noticed it as well. The fix was to empty the ashes from the fire pot after every cook. Bingo! Now I could not be happier with the smoker... except for having to completely disassemble it to empty the fire pot every time. But like most things, I learned. I got the optional large top shelf that I now cook on, and put a large foil steam pan below it to catch the drippings so I don't have to clean the lower wracks every time. Then I covered the drip shield below with foil so I did not have to clean it so often should anything miss the steam pan. All of this made it much easier to take everything apart to empty the fire pot.

So the long and short of it is, If Bear Mountain produces less ash, I may get more or a better smoke flavor on the meat. I will give it a shot.