Bull Bad experience with Knotty Wood pellets…

[Jfdiguy]

I absolutely love the smoke flavor from the Knottywood pellets. I have been using them for a while now and after contacting them and some discussions, I have settled on a 30% Plum/ 70% almond mix. According to them, because the plum is a smaller diameter tree, they have a higher ratio of bark in the pellet and are more prone to clinkers and problems in the firepot. I recently did a 13-hour smoke on some pork butts with no problems and amazing flavor. I just make sure I pull any clinkers out of the smoke pot after any cook.

They recently introduced a premixed version called the PIUMMOND that keeps you from having to guess about the mix along with a wine barrel mix that I've purchased but haven't had a chance to use it yet.

 

[vsteel]

My problem when I tried them, the almond, was an auger jam, so many of the pellets were 3+ inches long they got jammed up. Looking at some of the newer bags it looks like they might have reduced the length some. After trying several different kinds I just settled on lumberjack and have not really tried much else. Maybe I should go back and see if they are any better now but I am happy with what I have so not a lot of reason to change.

 

[Wayne1118]

Due to the high ratings and recommendations, I decided to try Knotty Wood (KW) pellets in the Bull. NEVER AGAIN!

Wild temp swings, warped diffuser, mini explosion, grease fire, and a ton of ash, including chunks building up in the fire pot that KW calls ’clinkers’. All with only KW pellets and one rib session.

The clinkers form in the fire pot, which I read about in the media they sent with the pellets, but didn’t realize how fast they formed in the fire pot. I believe (can’t prove) this is the cause of mini explosion. The igniter was buried in ash and clinkers over the course of my last rib cook. I also had smoke back flowing through the hopper. Now my hopper is tinted some weird color. Just unbelievable.

None of this happened with any other brand. Additionally, I never got any decent bark, color, or flavor. Left a pair of ribs on for six hours unwrapped and never got the color and bark I’d get from three hours with other brands.

Waste of money. I guess I’ll use the KW pellets in a smoke tube, but they’ll never enter the hopper again. Lumberjack (LJ) pellets (my go-to pellets over the past year or so) only from here on out. I did some deep cleaning, put the LJ pellets in and the Bull runs like a champ. Live and learn I guess…

I had the exact same experience