What are your favorite pellets and why?

hallsofmontezuma

Well-known member
Messages
203
Location
Raleigh, NC
Grill(s) owned
  1. Bull
Title says it all. What do you like best and, and why? Flavor? Low ash? High/accurate temp?
What would you stay away from?

In my RT-700 I've only used the RecTeq Ultimate Blend, Lumber Jack Competition Blend, and Lumber Jack Pecan. I honestly don't know that I could tell you the difference between any of them.
 
Depending where you are in Canada, good quality pellets can be hard to find. For me Lumberjack supreme blend and I am really liking the char-hickory. I also really like PitmastersChoice Pellets which are Canadian company and a little more accessible. Pretty much in Canada only choice most have is online order. I’ve been experimenting a fair bit this summer and think I am settling favourite on blend of LJ Char-Hickory with the PMC competition. Good flavour and burns clean.
 
@hallsofmontezuma I have been very happy with the Recteq and Lumberjack brands. Both have provided me a great flavor, burned without any issues and with little ash remaining.
That's been my experience with those as well. I'm contemplating Cookin Pellets since people are saying that's what RecTeq brand ones really are.
 
Cookinpellets. Local distributor in KC so $10 cheaper than online. I just purchased kingsford bag to try. I will say just looking through the clear bag and comparing the two brands, Kingsford looks to have a lot more dust, at least in the bag I have.
 
Cookinpellets. Local distributor in KC so $10 cheaper than online. I just purchased kingsford bag to try. I will say just looking through the clear bag and comparing the two brands, Kingsford looks to have a lot more dust, at least in the bag I have.
Unfortunately the only local dealer here charges significantly more. $34 vs $22 for the 40lb bag.
 
Our son has a 700 and only uses Pit Boss and he does a lot of long cooks. I just started using Pit Boss so can't comment yet.
 
I just switched from Pittboss to Bear Mountain BBQ. I kept getting a hard large chunk forming in the burn pot after I had used a 20lb bag of Pittboss. There was a sale on Bear Mountain so I got a few bags to try. So far I think there is more smoke but haven't noticed a huge difference in the taste of the food. I haven't cleaned the grill since I switched so I don't know if the Pittboss was causing the large chunk of whatever it was in the burn pot.
 
This year I’ve tried a lot of different brands and flavors of pellets, including Bear Mountain, Kingsford, Lumber Jack, recteq, Cookin’ Pellets, and Camp Chef. For the most part, I’ve been fine with most of them, the notable exception being the LJ CharHickory which I had problems with. I also had 100# of them, which made it worse.

I still have a large inventory of recteq pellets and once those are gone, I expect I’ll be using Lumber Jack‘s competition blend and 100% hickory most of the time. I also want to try their pecan, which I hear good things about. The Lumber Jack gets the nod because they are good quality, but also important is the fact that I‘m reasonably close to a Rural King and the price is right-normally $8.88/20# bag, and sometimes on sale (now, for example) at $6.99 a bag.
 
What sort of issues did you have with the Char-Hickory? I have a bag I've been waiting to try.
It’s by far the dirtiest pellet I have ever used, which alone would not be a deal breaker, but just the same I’d like a cleaner burning pellet. The bigger issue is that the pellet length is inconsistent, some of them up to 2-1/2# long. This created bridging in the pellet hopper of my Bullseye, so I was getting inconsistent temps at first, then the Bullseye stopped heating entirely. I was already having other issues* with the Bullseye, and while troubleshooting with the recteq folks they helped me find that the problem was with the pellets. They gave me a tip to drop my unopened bags 1-2 times on pavement to help break up the extra long pellets.

About a week after this happened, I was watching one of the recteq videos where one of the viewers asked Chef Greg if he recommended using a charcoal pellet. He responded quite emphatically absolutely not. His reason for that was due to the fact the pellets have already been charred once, they are dryer and easier to ignite, which he indicated could lead to a hopper fire as pellets burn in the auger. Then I remembered a day when I was burning them in my Bull and I started getting some smoke out of the pellet hopper. I was just about to shut it down and start vacuuming out the hopper when it stopped. I don’t know if that was related to the pellets, but that is the only time I’ve ever seen that happen.

* I’ve discussed the pellet issue and other issues with the Bullseye in other discussions here, and I’ll go into more details later, but I’m taking it back to recteq when I go to Academy next month. I just had one problem after another, and while I never got upset with recteq, they could tell I was frustrated with it to the point they have offered to replace it. I’ve never experienced a grill that I want to hug on some days and throw it off the deck on others. I’m not sure yet if I’m going to replace it, or ask them if they will give me credit towards the purchase of a Wyldside.
EED2991C-0B60-43C0-BE50-2099501B93E2.jpeg
 
It’s by far the dirtiest pellet I have ever used, which alone would not be a deal breaker, but just the same I’d like a cleaner burning pellet. The bigger issue is that the pellet length is inconsistent, some of them up to 2-1/2# long. This created bridging in the pellet hopper of my Bullseye, so I was getting inconsistent temps at first, then the Bullseye stopped heating entirely. I was already having other issues* with the Bullseye, and while troubleshooting with the recteq folks they helped me find that the problem was with the pellets. They gave me a tip to drop my unopened bags 1-2 times on pavement to help break up the extra long pellets.

About a week after this happened, I was watching one of the recteq videos where one of the viewers asked Chef Greg if he recommended using a charcoal pellet. He responded quite emphatically absolutely not. His reason for that was due to the fact the pellets have already been charred once, they are dryer and easier to ignite, which he indicated could lead to a hopper fire as pellets burn in the auger. Then I remembered a day when I was burning them in my Bull and I started getting some smoke out of the pellet hopper. I was just about to shut it down and start vacuuming out the hopper when it stopped. I don’t know if that was related to the pellets, but that is the only time I’ve ever seen that happen.

* I’ve discussed the pellet issue and other issues with the Bullseye in other discussions here, and I’ll go into more details later, but I’m taking it back to recteq when I go to Academy next month. I just had one problem after another, and while I never got upset with recteq, they could tell I was frustrated with it to the point they have offered to replace it. I’ve never experienced a grill that I want to hug on some days and throw it off the deck on others. I’m not sure yet if I’m going to replace it, or ask them if they will give me credit towards the purchase of a Wyldside.
View attachment 7274
Wow, didn't expect that. Kinda glad I have just the one bag of them. Wondering if the hopper on the RT-700 would be as susceptible to bridging. It's not an issue I've seen yet despite some long pellets.
 
@Greg Jones, I know several fellow members don't care for the Pit Boss charcoal flavor, but, you know stubborn me, just have to find out for my damn self. Got me a bag and going to grill baby back ribs for Thanksgiving on my Bullseye. I learned from bad experience that I need to use a drip pan. Since I have to use one should I go ahead and put some water in it for a little moisture cooking the ribs.? Thanks for your help.
 

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