Sparkly, sharp edged "slag" in pellet cup of Camp Chef pellet smoker...

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stiege

Newbie
Original poster
Jun 3, 2015
3
10
Hi, new to the group with a couple of questions.

I bought a Camp Chef pellet smoker and two types of pellets.  Barbecuer's delight and Louisiana Grills brands.  Both claim to be 100%hardwood.

After initial success smoking some ribs, and without cleaning out the pellet cup after first usage, I had trouble keeping the smoker's temperature up then the fire went out.  I checked the cup and it was filled with brittle, sparkly, sharp edged slag, as though something had not burned but in fact melted together.  I vacuumed out the cup and the temp seemed to stay up ok the second time.  Today I vacuumed out the cup (not so much slag) and fired it up.  It ran ok, then went out.

I checked the pellet cup and sure enough, there were a couple large chunks of this slag mixed with the ash.

The trouble is, I mixed the two brands of pellets, but I believe there was mostly the Louisiana Grills brand in the hopper today.  Has anyone seen this with these two brands or any other brand of pellet?  BBQ Delight seems to get almost universal praise on this forum.

Thanks in advance,

Jason
 
Never had this happen with any kind of pellets I've bought, Might have gotten a bad batch of one of them, sounds like metal filings from the dies or excruters they use....
 
Did it look like this:

http://pelletheads.com/index.php?topic=32060.0

There are a few other threads with similar problems. Folks seem to think it could be plywood or other foreign objects at the mill. BBQ Delight pellets were involved in a few cases. I'm not sure if anything more was determined. 

Is it possible the pellets or hopper got wet?
 
Last edited:
THAT'S IT!!!!  I love the interwebs someone somewhere is always going to have your problem.

Pellets were right out of the sealed bag.  This stuff was glittery and sharp.  I really don't think it was "incomplete" combustion... I just don't think this stuff was EVER going to burn.  It was like mineral.

Oh well, I'll try using the BBQer's delight on it's own and see how I do.

Thanks again for your effort,

Jason
 
To me..... which don't mean much...... Looks like someone is using "used lumber" to chip and make pellets..... screws, nails etc....

I would burn each pellet separately and see what residue is in the ash pot.....
 
Was doing an internet search for this very thing and look where I ended up over 7 years after the OP. Second bag of Knotty Wood Plum and now it starts doing this. First bag not a problem. I emptied the hopper and took the auger completely out to look for anything out of the ordinary and found nothing. I wonder what's in these pellets? Later today if I haven't had too many cold ones I'm going to put some in my amazn tray and burn them to see if I can reproduce the slag like stuff.
 
Been a few posts of Foreign Object Debris (FOD) in the pellets.
Metal banding is my second guess after daveomak daveomak first reply on used lumber.

The food pellet game has changed so much in the 6+ years since OP.
Lumberjack is still my go to flavor in pellets. After many trials and errors and errors, I only dump Bear Mountain Oak in the hopper.
 
So.... Knotty Wood just emailed me a response to my inquiry about this. Here's the body of the message:

Yes, we have seen this come up before and it sounds to me like the sharp slag like substance is what we refer to as clinker. This clinker is from the bark of the tree and the knots in the wood. The knots are where all the minerals collect, and bark is where the fugitive dust collects. When burned, the dust mixes with the minerals and crystallizes with the dust to form the clinker. Did you clean your grill before starting your cook with the Plum pellets? We recommend frequently cleaning your fire pot as this will help to prevent clinker from forming.

Huh.... well it was nice of her to write back, and now I know.
 
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