Have never used a pellet grill/smoker before. I’ve always used propane or charcoal and have also never smoked anything before. What brand of pellets should I get? All tips welcome!
by _EssentialNPC_
8 Comments
mtrbiknut
Put it together, buy a bag of pellets, throw a rack of ribs on for dinner.
Most folks online (that I see) seem to prefer Lumberjack or Bear Mountain. I have also used Treager & Pit Boss in my Camp Chef, never had a problem. BM has some blended pellets now that are supposed to be good. I use whatever bag I have open on whatever I am cooking- I have used hickory on salmon before, my wife & I loved it. To be honest, I can tell very little difference in the flavor no matter which pellets I use.
Many folks are extreme, they have to have the right brand and type of pellets, I just toss in what I have open. Some folks clean after every cook, I clean when I think my wife would object to her food being cooked on there. Pick your position, don’t let others influence you a great deal.
There are more sites with recipes than you could ever possibly visit, don’t buy a cookbook. Every recipe will have a little difference, don’t sweat it. If you don’t have a coarse ground peppercorn grinder that the recipe calls for, wing it and call it good.
Because they cook with air they tend to dry meat out if overcooked, even just a little. I usually pull ours off about 20 degrees earlier than recommended.
Don’t overthink it, don’t aim for perfection, just cook your dinner and enjoy it!
Covfam73
I was told by the treager platinum dealer near me to avoid traeger pellets said they were ok but over priced, said pit boss pellets were cheap but bad, he recomended i go with bear mountain pellets as a baseline to begin with then try out different pellets from there untill i find 3 that i liked, when i asked about that here it sounded like its because bear mountain pellets are a good baseline pellet that can usually be found everywhere
Embarrassed_Ad_3432
Nice. Congratulations. My advice… 1) find a 3-2-1 rib recipe, there are a ton of them out there. Some will argue it isn’t the best way to cook ribs (and there probably right) but for us amateurs/beginners, it’s the best we will get at home. (Or period if you don’t have a good BBQ place near by.) 2) if that is anything like my *horizontal* Traeger, I use it place of my oven for most things when I am grilling meat on a charcoal. Try potatoes, back beans or search for recipes like bacon wrapped (filling in the blank).
Watch YouTube BBQ channels like How to BBQ Right with Malcolm Reed. Most things he does are geared to the home cook and can be done of a pellet grill.
Oh and spatchcock chicken.
zach_151288
I use mine two or three times a week. Constantly smoking ribs and briskets or grilling steaks and burgers. No issues
Fabulous-Operation51
Only advice I have is don’t be disheartened when things don’t come out right. We’ve all messed up some meat at one point or another. Play with it, have fun, and keep on cookin. I use the Kirkland pellets which some will hate on. Work just fine for me. I’d get some pork butts to start or some ribs. Cook cheap meats until you get a feel for it. Tons of info out there and a million different ways to smoke a good rib. I just did some fish on mine as well as some chicken breasts. This weekend it’ll have roughly 25 lbs of corned beef on it. Good luck out there. Most folks here are more than happy to help and lend helpful advice.
woodworkingguy1
I have a Grilla Grill Silverbac and love using my pellet grill. Once you smoked a pork butt or salmon, or even cooked a frozen pizza on it, there will be no going back. Get a good temp probe, I use Thermoworks, and cook to temp, not by time. I use Bear Mount pellets, the difference in blends is subtle that you won’t really notice too much difference in most meats. Costco has pellets too but I did notice the less smoke flavor compared to Bear Mountain.
TimboFor76
I make the best pastrami on mine I have ever tasted. I buy corned beef in the packets. First I soak the meat in fresh water for 12 hours, changing the water twice. Then I coat it in pastrami seasoning. Smoke on low for two hours, turn it up to 250 for an hour, then foil wrap for another hour. This year I plan to reduce cooking time a bit to make it more rare and tender. This weekend im experimenting with beef jerky.
stratj45d28
I’ve had the same one for almost a year I love it. I for now just use Cuisine Art Apple pellets only because they were the ones I started with. They don’t break down. Good luck
8 Comments
Put it together, buy a bag of pellets, throw a rack of ribs on for dinner.
Most folks online (that I see) seem to prefer Lumberjack or Bear Mountain. I have also used Treager & Pit Boss in my Camp Chef, never had a problem. BM has some blended pellets now that are supposed to be good. I use whatever bag I have open on whatever I am cooking- I have used hickory on salmon before, my wife & I loved it. To be honest, I can tell very little difference in the flavor no matter which pellets I use.
Many folks are extreme, they have to have the right brand and type of pellets, I just toss in what I have open. Some folks clean after every cook, I clean when I think my wife would object to her food being cooked on there. Pick your position, don’t let others influence you a great deal.
There are more sites with recipes than you could ever possibly visit, don’t buy a cookbook. Every recipe will have a little difference, don’t sweat it. If you don’t have a coarse ground peppercorn grinder that the recipe calls for, wing it and call it good.
Because they cook with air they tend to dry meat out if overcooked, even just a little. I usually pull ours off about 20 degrees earlier than recommended.
Don’t overthink it, don’t aim for perfection, just cook your dinner and enjoy it!
I was told by the treager platinum dealer near me to avoid traeger pellets said they were ok but over priced, said pit boss pellets were cheap but bad, he recomended i go with bear mountain pellets as a baseline to begin with then try out different pellets from there untill i find 3 that i liked, when i asked about that here it sounded like its because bear mountain pellets are a good baseline pellet that can usually be found everywhere
Nice. Congratulations.
My advice…
1) find a 3-2-1 rib recipe, there are a ton of them out there. Some will argue it isn’t the best way to cook ribs (and there probably right) but for us amateurs/beginners, it’s the best we will get at home. (Or period if you don’t have a good BBQ place near by.)
2) if that is anything like my *horizontal* Traeger, I use it place of my oven for most things when I am grilling meat on a charcoal. Try potatoes, back beans or search for recipes like bacon wrapped (filling in the blank).
Watch YouTube BBQ channels like How to BBQ Right with Malcolm Reed. Most things he does are geared to the home cook and can be done of a pellet grill.
Oh and spatchcock chicken.
I use mine two or three times a week. Constantly smoking ribs and briskets or grilling steaks and burgers. No issues
Only advice I have is don’t be disheartened when things don’t come out right. We’ve all messed up some meat at one point or another. Play with it, have fun, and keep on cookin. I use the Kirkland pellets which some will hate on. Work just fine for me. I’d get some pork butts to start or some ribs. Cook cheap meats until you get a feel for it. Tons of info out there and a million different ways to smoke a good rib. I just did some fish on mine as well as some chicken breasts. This weekend it’ll have roughly 25 lbs of corned beef on it. Good luck out there. Most folks here are more than happy to help and lend helpful advice.
I have a Grilla Grill Silverbac and love using my pellet grill. Once you smoked a pork butt or salmon, or even cooked a frozen pizza on it, there will be no going back. Get a good temp probe, I use Thermoworks, and cook to temp, not by time. I use Bear Mount pellets, the difference in blends is subtle that you won’t really notice too much difference in most meats. Costco has pellets too but I did notice the less smoke flavor compared to Bear Mountain.
I make the best pastrami on mine I have ever tasted. I buy corned beef in the packets. First I soak the meat in fresh water for 12 hours, changing the water twice. Then I coat it in pastrami seasoning. Smoke on low for two hours, turn it up to 250 for an hour, then foil wrap for another hour. This year I plan to reduce cooking time a bit to make it more rare and tender.
This weekend im experimenting with beef jerky.
I’ve had the same one for almost a year I love it. I for now just use Cuisine Art Apple pellets only because they were the ones I started with. They don’t break down. Good luck