Need Advice On Choosing Wood Pellets

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and start a foodtruck.

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Did this back in 2015. Do yourself a favor and learn to be a mechanic first. Or be ready to pay for a mechanic on call.


As far as your question, big fan of the 40lb bag of competition pellets at Walmart. I think it’s pit boss but I could be wrong. They work great in my Yoder.

I’ve tried about 5 different brands but keep going back to Pit boss competition blend

I've been cooking on pellet grills for about 15 years, tried everything under the sun, I have NEVER tasted a difference between pellet brands or flavors. At this point, I buy the cheapest I can find, that's Costco. I think it's 12.99 for 40lbs, hard to beat.

I just grab a bag that says made in America. I’ve used them all and can’t tell the difference. If I can find them I like post oak for beef. Apple, cherry, and oak blend work good on pork. Every now and then I’ll see peach and I really like that one on pork but I rarely see peach. Straight hickory is a little strong for my taste buds on long smokes. I’ve used mesquite on steaks, but you better have a way to dump the hopper because those impart a strong smoke flavor quick. The older I get the more I prefer a subtle smokiness to my smoked meats. It’s an acid reflux thing where I taste strong smoke in my and throat a day or two later. Pecan is a nice mild one. Forget about that one. Plain ole oak is my go to for general purpose smoking.

I buy the Traeger Wood Pellets from Amazon. I usually use Pecan or Hickory most of the time.

I do have a pile of well dried pecan logs I can split to use in my upright "Bullet Smoker" when I do pork butts and briskets.

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Pecan is a nice mild one.

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Back when I was cooking on a stick burner, pecan was my absolute go to wood. It's so dense, and burns incredibly evenly and nice and slow. Just seemed you could go longer without having to manage the fire with pecan. But given that pellets are chewed up wood, I don't think you get the additional burn time out of the pellets.

I agree with the guys saying to go with whatever is cheapest. You can cook the same thing side by side and do a blind taste test with two different woods and your shot is 50/50 on determining which one is which. I mostly just avoid hickory for the same reason of having a more prominent/harsh smoke flavor.

Royal Oak charcoal pellets. They don’t absorb moisture from the humid air, as others will do. Once wood pellets get moist you will be prone to fires from buildup in the auger feed tube.

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I have NEVER tasted a difference between pellet brands or flavors. At this point, I buy the cheapest I can find, that's Costco.

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Same.

I can taste and appreciate differences in coffee, wine, whiskey, etc., so this is not an “anti-snob” thing. I can sense SOME difference in the smoke itself, but nothing at all in the finished product.