Bull Who uses Req Tec pellets?

[Wslayer]

Still, Walmart has PB at $8 for 20 lbs. Still best pricing. I've never had pellets that were the golden egg of smoke supreme flavor.

Just referring to the math... Personally a LJ guy for $9.99 or BM $8.99

 

[Lilbullowner]

Yeah, I am used to smoking with charcoal and chunks or full on sticks in my offset or ugly drum smoker, and there it is easy to get smokey flavour even at 350. This may be why I find the rec teq blend so "weak" but I also notice that many who like the recteq ultimate blend also like using additional smoke tubes, which is telling me that they also feel that the blend is only good for heat and not really smoke.

I have a smoke tube but have been testing what I can do with just pellets before i decide to use it, and so far I get good smoke results from bear mountain and the pitboss pellets, though I prefer the mesquite bear mountain over the hickory pitboss so far, but that might just be because I generally prefer mesquite.

I just filled my hopper with 25 lbs of rec teq ultimate so ill be using that the rest of the week and maybe some of the weekend then next in my rotation is a bag of bear mountain blend, ill see how the blend compares.

Yeah, thought about smoke tube but decided against it. I lived on a wood smoker for 25 yrs. & always used misquette from my tree. Pellets vs wood smoker is the latter is high maintenance but excellent smoke flavor. Pellet smoker is a set it & forget it but I'm finding out you're sacrificing that good smoke flavor. Somehow, I just cant get a good smoked brisket or slab of rib. Just a hint, nothing more.

 

[tuxrox]

Yeah, thought about smoke tube but decided against it. I lived on a wood smoker for 25 yrs. & always used misquette from my tree. Pellets vs wood smoker is the latter is high maintenance but excellent smoke flavor. Pellet smoker is a set it & forget it but I'm finding out you're sacrificing that good smoke flavor. Somehow, I just cant get a good smoked brisket or slab of rib. Just a hint, nothing more.

You know, thats what I thought untill recently.
my brother got a cheap pitboss smoker at lowes, and I helped him build it then using the pellets he bought I produced some delightfully smokey chicken thighs.

This got me thinking maybe I was wrong about pellets and led to me buying a RT590 and their pellet combo.
I think the issue is a few things
1) pellets have lower moisture content and so burn cleaner, this can result in less smoke
2) wood such as oak is naturally a light smoke flavor, when we use it in a stick burner we use large chunks and a small hot fire, and there is a smoke, you can get a nice blue smoke using sticks or charcoal all the way up to 350 degrees by adjusting your fire.
3) the smoke ring is caused by the dirtier bits of the combustion process to some degree and the smoke flavour comes from those bits as well

so I think the key is to get a similar smoke profile we have to make sure we are avoiding traditionally light smoke woods like oak, alder, and maple and using stronger smoke woods, and that a clean burning higher btu pellet doesn't help at all, we want a dirtier burning more moist pellet, but moisture makes the pellet crumble so ... you can't have the moisture right?

so I havn't done brisket on my pellet smoker yet **have only owned one myself for a bout 2 weeks*
but I have cooked 3 pork buts, and a dozen chickens, and ... way too many thighs** start with the cheap meat I say, learn to smoke pork and chicken on your pit first.

** feeding my neighbors for science right?

and so far what I can say is the longer you keep the meat sub 140 the better, so start with cold meat right out of the fridge, then do 180/LO for an hour or so , then 225 and let it bring up to 140 ish before you think of raising the temp, This has produced decently smokey pork with rec teq ultimate, and very good smoke rings when using a pure smoking wood bear mountain mesquite pellet.

For chicken thighs I used to cook them in a stick burner at 275-350 depending on fire swings, but now I do 30-45 minutes on 180/LO, then 1-2 hours at 275, and this has produced good results with recteq pellets, and great results with bear mountain.

but again, I am a computer scientist not a food scientist, so this is just my experimentation after burning through half the pellets I swore would last me the winter when I talked my wife into this purchase LOL

 

[Roaniecowpony]

Just get a smoke tube or two. Fill it with pellets or chips as you like.

The reason a pellet grill doesn't produce as much smoke as a wood burning charcoal or stick burner is that we are pumping air into the burn pot and the pellets are burning much hotter across essentially all the surface of the pellet as opposed to a stick burner or charcoal grill, where the wood is burning slowly, with only a draft without pumped air, and burning across a "front". That is, the wood is not burning in some areas and it is therefore colder in front of the burning area and produces a line of inefficient burning, which causes smoke. If you look into the burn pot on a pellet grill when the fan is running, it burns like a blast furnace. It IS a blast funace. One that runs on wood pellets.

 

[Chevys10zr2003]

Yeah, thought about smoke tube but decided against it. I lived on a wood smoker for 25 yrs. & always used misquette from my tree. Pellets vs wood smoker is the latter is high maintenance but excellent smoke flavor. Pellet smoker is a set it & forget it but I'm finding out you're sacrificing that good smoke flavor. Somehow, I just cant get a good smoked brisket or slab of rib. Just a hint, nothing more.

I'm the same way. I'm going to be adding a homemade cold smoke generator to my 1250 to try and get the flavor back. I will have to tend to that every hour or two so it won't be true set it and forget it but I won't have to watch the temps at all.

I've noticed that most people that come from other types of smokers are disappointed by the smoke flavor that pellet grills put out while people that are coming from a normal grill think that it's more than enough smoke and amazing tasting. Everyone has their own opinion though.

 

[Lilbullowner]

I'm the same way. I'm going to be adding a homemade cold smoke generator to my 1250 to try and get the flavor back. I will have to tend to that every hour or two so it won't be true set it and forget it but I won't have to watch the temps at all.

I've noticed that most people that come from other types of smokers are disappointed by the smoke flavor that pellet grills put out while people that are coming from a normal grill think that it's more than enough smoke and amazing tasting. Everyone has their own opinion though.

Guess it depends if they were oldschool smokers with wood & chips where you had to manage & add wood vs just bought a pellet grill & was 1st ever grill.

 

[JGW]

I have had stick burners and other various grills and smokers over the years. Nowadays I prefer to just use either my Bradley smoker ( relegated to smoking homemade sausage nowadays) or a pellet grill.

I have no issues with the level of smoke with the reqteq. Everything I have cooked on it has been fine as far as smoke levels go.

 

[Lilbullowner]

I have had stick burners and other various grills and smokers over the years. Nowadays I prefer to just use either my Bradley smoker ( relegated to smoking homemade sausage nowadays) or a pellet grill.

I have no issues with the level of smoke with the reqteq. Everything I have cooked on it has been fine as far as smoke levels go.

Well, to me I'm getting a slight smoke flavor on my RT-700. For the flavor meter, it's almost disappointing.

 

[opus]

My Walmart only has the 20 lb bags.

Do you have another Walmart near by? I have 3 within 5 miles of me. They each seem to stock a different selection of pellets.

You could also order online and have it shipped to your store for free if you get your total over $35.

 

[opus]

Well, to me I'm getting a slight smoke flavor on my RT-700. For the flavor meter, it's almost disappointing.

That is why for my 2 long smoke items, pulled pork and brisket, I do around 10 hours on my stick burner and then move to the RT to finish the process. I've tried doing it for 10 hours at 200 on the RT but I still don't get the smoke flavor I desire.

 

[opus]

Tractor Supply sells Bear Mountain for $9.99 for 20 lbs, so 40lbs is $40.

If you live near one, it's the cheapest game in town, and Bear Mountain pellets are really good.

Unfortunately those types of stores usually only carry a couple of the flavors. I like pecan and they never seem to have it.

I try and stock up when BM runs their BOGO offer. Last year when they ran it they didn't exclude the 40# bags so I was able to get 2 40# bags delivered for around $50. I would have bought more if I would have known they would start excluding them from the offer.

I will be watching Tractor Supply and the other stores like them in the area during Black Friday. Some of them will run the BM and LJ 20# bags for $5. Someone had them for $4 last BF if my memory is correct.

 

[opus]

Just referring to the math... Personally a LJ guy for $9.99 or BM $8.99

Unfortunately around me the only ones that seem to have any inventory of LJ are the gourmet BBQ stores and they want $15 to $20 a bag.

 

[Lilbullowner]

Do you have another Walmart near by? I have 3 within 5 miles of me. They each seem to stock a different selection of pellets.

You could also order online and have it shipped to your store for free if you get your total over $35.

Well, the next closest one is an hour away. I live in rural America. Walmart near me is the main hub for everything (groceries, clothes, garden, etc). No, they have the same inventory. I'll probably just order online since they do have that option.

 

[opus]

Well, the next closest one is an hour away. I live in rural America. Walmart near me is the main hub for everything (groceries, clothes, garden, etc). No, they have the same inventory. I'll probably just order online since they do have that option.

Probably a good thing. When I moved here in 2000 the population of the town was like 5000 and we had to go to the next town to buy anything. There were no stores here other than mom & pop grocery store. Now the population is 40k and still growing.

 

[Lilbullowner]

Probably a good thing. When I moved here in 2000 the population of the town was like 5000 and we had to go to the next town to buy anything. There were no stores here other than mom & pop grocery store. Now the population is 40k and still growing.

Yeah, this is a small mormon town and they pretty much control the politics here. Population is about 5.6k and hasn't grown much over the last 30 years. No, I'm not mormon. Just live here and land is cheap. I bought 42 acres for $16k.

 

[JGW]

Yeah, this is a small mormon town and they pretty much control the politics here. Population is about 5.6k and hasn't grown much over the last 30 years. No, I'm not mormon. Just live here and land is cheap. I bought 42 acres for $16k.

See you soon then...I want to buy about 500 acres.

 

[sdynak]

Yeah, this is a small mormon town and they pretty much control the politics here. Population is about 5.6k and hasn't grown much over the last 30 years. No, I'm not mormon. Just live here and land is cheap. I bought 42 acres for $16k.

Umm.. 42 acres is a town in itself!

 

[C. Keeper]

Umm.. 42 acres is a town in itself!

$16K won't even cover my taxes here.

 

[Lilbullowner]

Umm.. 42 acres is a town in itself!

Lol

 

[Lilbullowner]

See you soon then...I want to buy about 500 acres.

I have another 42 acres across the street from me. Trying to keep population down.