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I’m exploring whether different brands of pellets really make a difference when it comes to smoke flavor.
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Get the MAVERICK 1250 and SMOKE CAGE from Pitts & Spitts here: https://bit.ly/3MMuDYH
The only way I've personally found to get close to an offset smoke flavor in a pellet grill is to use a cold smoker setup or smoke tube. I use close, loosely.
I tend to do chicken and ribs on my pellet smoker and pork butts and brisket on my Masterbuilt gravity smoker where I stand up splits of hickory in the charcoal shoot. Produces more smoke flavor but not like an offset.
You know a BBQ fan when someone wakes you up and says "Try these briskets and tell me what you think." and they do it… 🙂
Great episode! I've been using Knotty Woods Almond wood for about 6 months on my Traeger and really like the result. I'm about to try my first brisket and you mentioned over night. The recipe I saw said about 2 hours at 200 per pound. Is that a similar ratio to your recipe?
Great video and I appreciate your honest review. I just bought a Traeger Timberline 1300 and now having some regrets since I haven't detected much (if any) smoke flavor on the meats I've cooked so far. I ordered a smoke tube and hope that helps. If not, I think I'll use the Traeger as part of a hybrid approach where I'll start off on my Offset smoker, or WSM for the initial part if the cook, then move the meat over to the Traeger for the "set it, forget it" portion. Thanks again for making this video – very informative.
Very good video. I use a Pit Boss upright smoker and I agree I cant tell the difference between different brands. I did try Knotty Wood brand and had flame out issues. The pellets were quite a bit longer than the other brands so not sure if that was the issue or not. I currently use Kirkland Signature pellets from Costco
I have never said this before but I think you might missed the biggest reason that makes wood & pellet’s different & that’s the moisture content. Wood splits will have a far higher moisture content & it’s those chemicals that’s I think add a lot of flavour when the wood burns. Pellets on the other hand have to have a very low moisture content for them to be able to be sat in a bad & not break down & be unusable. Perhaps you could compare moisture content between the 2 & see if you can make pellets out of real wood & compare those results against brand T 😊
Is the t brand traeger?
Great video and very informative. I've used a pellet smoker for years now. I think the brands make a difference. That being said, it is no where close to my charcoal smokers. Use a reputable brand such as lumberjack, B&B, cookin pellets and bear mountain that use a 100% hardwoods with no fillers such as hickory or mesquite. Fruit woods and blends will produce way less smoke. I've never used knotty wood so I can't say anything about them.
I'm glad I watched your whole video cause I was going to say try it the next day. Being in that smoke the whole day it is hard to taste it sometimes.
Man i have hundreds of hours of pellet smokers and thousands of pounds of all different pellets and i can't tell a difference in brands or different woods. Thats why i usually just buy whats on sale or cheap aka Expert Grill pellets from walmart. And you really cant compare a pellet grill to the King aka offset stick burner. That is literally comparing apples to oranges.
I see pellet smokers are dominating the bbq competition scene the last couple of years.
Is there a change in flavour preference for this little to no smoke flavour for brisket?
One brand I used always gave a bitter result. The rest are fine. I will not mention names because of Karens.
I understand your assessment on how Pellet Grill briskets do not have a lot of smoke flavor, but compare a Pellet Grill brisket to an oven brisket where there is no smoke and then see if you really do not taste any smoke flavor with the Pellet Grill. Under that comparison, i'm sure you would definitely taste the smoke flavor then. An oven brisket tastes like a very good roast, but a Pellet Grill brisket then tastes like marvelous smokey BBQ. Just my humble 2 cents. Great job on the video.
Try the Jack Daniel Whiskey Pellets. They are my go to. Everyone who has tried my smoked meat says its super smokey and sweet. Its literally double the normal price of a typical pellet bag… but its worth it. In my humble opinion.
I can definitely tell a difference between pellets I feel some brands burn faster and catch fire easier and some that last long and have more flavor
I only own a weber kettle and a pellet grill. The kettle will make a noticeably smokier brisket (or pork butt, or likely anything else), and it only takes about a double-handfull of wood chunks to do so.
Have you tried a pellet smoke tube during the cook? I've been meaning to try it but haven't gotten around to purchasing one… going to now while it's on my mind…
The only pellets that I could tell a difference were mesquite pellets. All the others I’ve tried seem the same. Anymore I just buy the 40 pound bag of Pit Boss competition blend from Lowe’s or Menards. They cost less than a 20 pound bag of Traeger pellets.
the Traeger Ironwood has a “super smoke” button
Excellent video. Can you do the electric gravity feed next 🙂
I can’t give an honest answer on flavor but I have a Traeger and I’ve tried other brands of pellets and had heat issues. Couldn’t get the other brands to burn as good. Anyone else have that issue?
I'm honestly not sure it even makes a difference if the "pellets" which resemble some sort of livestock feed or something even need to be made out of mostly natural wood. Call me a purist but these devices aren't smokers.
I use knotty wood in a smoke tube, and this is what makes a big difference to me. It would be cool if you did a video with pellets in a smoke tube, as opposed to without.
Yes pellet brand makes a difference Traeger brand uses FIR as the base wood then ADDS oils and other fillers to create the "FLAVOR" as necessary they even have a patent for it. Then there is brands like Knotty Wood showing them using the entire tree.
Finally a video where your not trying to expose someone else’s secrets. (Great work there)Can’t help wondering if you were snorting brisket and eating cocaine while filming hahahahahaha?
I have a Traeger Ironwood 650 and have used many different types of pellets. I have found good success with Bear Mountain Bold Blend pellets and Bear Mountain Gourmet Blend. You can really taste the difference. Bold blend has a deep smokey flavor and gourmet blend has a sweet flavor. I prefer them over the traeger brand of pellets. I have tried Lumberjack pellets too but I like Bear Mountain better because I can taste the smoke. I have heard Knotty Wood is good and plan to try them
Love your educational approach to BBQ. Especially fire management. I got my okj longhorn reverse flow a few weeks ago. I've only had clean burns because of watching your videos. Ever wanna see my set up, let me know.
Is eating too much smoked bbq cancerous? Should I be scared? 😱😨
Thank you for the test and taking the time to do this! Great info as always.
I agree. Only so much a pellet can do
Good stuff, as usual. In my experience, the knottywood pellets do produce a noticeable flavor. I really enjoy the plum. I mix plum and almond. What I’ve found though, is that they produce about 10x the amount of ash that the Recteq brand pellets do, and they also produce a lot of clinkers, so between the ash and the clinkers, I have to clean out the pot between each use. I love the flavor though.
Have tried them all, including the Jeremy promoted Knotty Wood pellets. Absolutely NO DIFFERENCE compared to Traeger and the rest. In fact the Knotty Wood gets clumpy in the firebox. Mad Scientist is a sellout. It’s too obvious. My choice is Lumberjack as it’s flavor profile is slightly better than the others.
Surprised you didn't do a blind taste test. Might have eliminated any unconscious bias.
Great video! As a pellet smoker owner I can agree with the T brand. Trying out some pecan shell pellets this weekend and hope it ads some more smokey flavor. Cheers!
Without watching this vid I can tell you that pellets make a difference!
Your videos are fire! I learn so much from your videos. Thank you for pushing BBQ to another level.