# Interesting wood pellet comparison



## cowboy bbq

Last Thursday I cooked up some spareribs on my Yoder pellet smoker. About 5 hrs into the cook I had a considerable amount of smoke coming out of the pellet hopper. I dug the pellets away from the auger as best I could trying to find anything that may have been causing the smoke to back up into the hopper. Luckily the ribs were done at this point, so I pulled them and let the smoker cool for a few minutes. When I removed the heat plate the burn pot was completely full of ashes, burning pellets, and unburnt pellets. After emptying the hopper out I cleared out the auger and had red hot pellets inside the auger. I contacted Don at Yoder Smokers and he suggested I try a different brand of pellets before pursuing any other courses of action. The results were quite interesting.

I am at 7200ft in elevation here in Laramie. So, thinner air and less oxygen for the combustion process.

Before burning the new pellets, I complete cleaned out the smoker and did a test run with the old pellets with no food in the grill.

The pellets I had been burning were *Deadwood Nuggets Prairie Blend Grill Pellets*. Here are some pictures of my burn pot during this test.

This is about 4 hrs into the burn. At this point the holes in the burn pot for combustion air are already covered and the pile of pellets starts to grow.








This is about 4 1/2hrs into the burn. At this point I turned off the smoker. You can see the pellets and flames are climbing up towards the auger.







Today I picked up some *Louisiana Grills Gourmet Flavored Wood Pellets*  and put the smoker through the same burn.

About an hour into the burn.







2hrs into the burn.







3hrs into the burn.







4 hrs into the burn.







At this point I started getting some snow flurries and shut down the smoker and covered it, but it was clear that the pellets were the problem. Had I been doing a longer cook and not monitoring the smoker, using a low quality pellet could have taken a turn for the worse as the fire worked its way into the auger and the pellet hopper.


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## sprky

It appears and it could just be an optical illusion but the first pellets look larger could this be the difference and cause? Another thought  could the other pellets have more moisture and or fillers?


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## cowboy bbq

Both pellets are the same diameter. 

I don't know any specifics about pellet manufacturing, but there is clearly a difference in burn quality.

I thought for sure the pellets wouldn't make that big of a difference and we would have to tweak the fan speeds to make up for the lack of oxygen and combustion air.

Glad I was wrong, and anxious to do another cook now. I just need this snow storm to blow threw.


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## berninga87

Interesting, I guess you get what you pay for! Thanks for sharing, I never would have thought there was a real difference in pellets.


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## SmokinAl

If you want the best pellets try these.

http://www.amazenproducts.com/


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## cowboy bbq

I just want to throw out a quick disclaimer. These are the only two brands of pellets I have ever used. In this instance the Deadwood pellets are clearly inferior to the Louisiana pellets, but this does not in anyway mean that the Louisiana pellets are a premium pellet. It just means they are better than the Deadwood pellets.

Through a circle of conversations I had, I found out from a former Louisiana pellet retailer that Louisiana Grills does not manufacture their own pellets. They purchase pellets from a manufacturer that relabels their pellets for Louisiana Grills. With this information I would have to assume you could buy several different brand names of pellets, but actually be buying the exact same pellets that came from the same manufacturer. In Louisiana Grill's instance the pellets are manufactured in Oregon. I think the company name was West Oregon Wood Products, but don't quote me on that.
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





I live in a fairly small city, with limited availability of a variety of pellets. I'm just happy I have at least one local source of pellets that burn well in my smoker. And am looking forward to trying Todd's pellets and A-Maze-N Pellet Smoker someday.

Thanks for the link Al.

Brad


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## mossymo

So far with a YS 640 I have used Traeger, BBQ Delight and Lumber Jack brand pellets with no issues, what I can tell is a difference in smoke taste quality and have felt Traeger brand not as flavorful as the other 2 brands.


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## scrappynadds

Now you know why I love this site.................All you smart people in one place giving out free info..............


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## duanes

That is great that you tested them side by side with all the visuals!  I love that kind of data.  On my Traeger, there is an option to increase the dwell time on the feed cycle to extend the number of seconds between feed cycles.  I don't know if Yoders have the same/similar option, but if yours does, you could adjust the dwell time so that there is more time in between feed cycles and that may allow enough time to burn off the pellets before the next feed.  Of course, it isn't worth bothering if the smoke flavor/strength is not what you are looking for.  I am curious as to your opinion on deadwood in terms of smoke flavor and smoke strength.

I agree with Marty that the Traeger brand pellets are not strong enough flavor.  I just bought and tried the Lumber Jack brand (Amazon, 40#'s @$38 including shipping) and the 100% hickory was the best hickory flavor pellets I have tried to date.  I also bought their mixed mesquite and the flavor was good but there was an excessive amount of ash being produced, to the point it was coating the rails and grill rack.  Perfectmix pellets were also very good both in flavor and strength.


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## lee 277

I ordered a Treager Pellet grill and should be here in a couple of days. I live in the F-M area. I see you use lumber jack pellets is that safe? Do you have any experience smoking in cold weather with your treager?

Thanks for any info,

Lee


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## tjohnson

Louisiana Pellets are an "Oak Base" pellet

Your Deadwood Nuggets pellets may be an "Alder Base" pellet

I use LumberJack Pellets in my Traeger Texas(Clone) with no problems

You need to cover your smoker in cold weather.  I use a welding blanket I got from Harbor Freight

TJ


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## show me smoke

I have only been using bbq delight..and have had good luck with them...I know several bbq teams and that is their pellet of choice.  Granted I have not tried others..but why fix what is not broken.


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