what do you mean pellets and pucks aren't really the wood they claim and essence oils

[crusty ol salt]

okay educate me, i dont use pellets or puck but i understand these quotes correctly there are companies out there that do not use whole wood?

As Mentioned by Todd some brands of Pellets aren't 100% Flavor wood.Pit Row brought up Luhr-Jensen Chips and Chunks.The Luhr-Jensen Brand is cut with Alder on all the different flavors,Other than Alder ObviouslyAnd would Traeger Pellets work for Savannah Smokers method?Being flavored with oil

At $.52/lb., you're getting a "Blended Pellet" from BBQr's Delight. These pellets are 70%-80% Oak or Alder and 20%-30% Flavor Wood. Your Cherry Pellets are Mostly Oak with some Cherry added. In other words, your mostly smoking with Oak.

(the above quotes are from this thread http://www.smoked-meat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=19306)
i know the answer why is to keep the costs down.

my next question are they required to tell you on the packaging?

i wonder how many know this and understand this when they are buying a pellet or puck smoker?

thank you all for helping with my smoking education

[PitRow]

Yeah the luhr jensen stuff has always been a mix with alder, and it says it on the bags. Can't comment on the other stuff or the use of oils, as I have no experience with it.

sent from my super cool internet enabled pocket watch.

[Critterhunter]

Marcus,I don't use Pellets.I have always heard that Traeger Pellets are flavored with oilhttp://pelletheads.com/index.php?topic=8181.30 Thats what I found.For what it's worth.He said He said

[Richtee]

Marcus- I think the pellets/pucks are mixed for better heat production? Some of the "flavor" woods don't burn very hot, but the oak does.

[curious aardvark]

can't speak as to composition - but the bradley pucks, generally do not conform to how the wood itself is perceived.

ie: the bradley apple pucks give a strong almost bitter flavour smoke.
Apple wood itself tends more towards mild and sweet.

Maybe composotion, maybe just the fact that bradleys kick out way too much smoke for the volume of the unit.

I find the idea of wood flavour oils mixed with pellets interesting.

Brings back the idea of mixing herbs with the dust for cold smoking.
To flavour foods yourself.
Anyone know of a list of good herbs for mixing with dust (no I don't want a list of the relative merits of different cannabis species )

Just thinking out loud - but planning on trying to flog smoked garlic, which is fairly commonplace - if expensive (yay !) but, for example, rosemary smoked garlic has a VERY expensive sound to it that I kind of like :-)
And give that we have a 30 ft bay tree in the garden, bay smoked goods would be a given

[Richtee]

Try some peppercorns CA.

[curious aardvark]

thought about that, thinking maybe it would be bitter ?

[TJohnson]

The whole BBQ Pellet thing came as a offshoot from the Heating Pellet Industry. This is how the original Traeger BBQ Pellet Smoker/Grill started.

BBQ Pellets need to produce BTU's(Heat) for cooking. The more efficient they burn, the more heat they produce. A BBQ Pellet produces smoke by burning inefficiently. This is why Pellet Smokers/Grills have fans behind them, and a controller for controlling temp, auger speed & time and fan speed & time.

Pellets are really sawdust, that been compressed in a pellet mill, under extreme pressure and heat. The natural "Lignin" acts as a glue, to hold the sawdust together. Some woods will form a pellet better than other woods, just because of the natural lignin. Woods that do not produce a good pellet alone, are mixed with woods such as Oak or Alder, to produce a good quality pellet. Some pellets like 100% Apple Pellets are expensive to produce, and cost prohibitive for some pellet manufacturers, so some will use a "Filler Wood" like Oak or Alder, along with the Apple Wood, to produce a cost effective pellet.

Some pellet manufacturers produce a "Blended BBQ Pellet". This type of pellet is mostly Oak or Alder, to produce good BTU's for heat. Since Oak and Alder produce a very mild smoke, these manufacturers add some "Flavor Wood" to the mix, in order to add more smoke flavor.

Oil is added to "Lubricate" the dies, during the manufacturing process. This is where the term "Our Pellets Are Made With Food Grade Oils" comes from. I'm not aware of any manufacturer who uses "Flavored Oils" during the pellet making process. Food Grade Oil is expensive enough, and I would assume "Flavored Food Grade Oil" would be too costly. The alternative would be a petroleum based oil, and I don't think manufacturers want a lawsuit because of someone getting sick!

I know of no regulations regarding the Labeling of BBQ Pellets. If a bag is marked with the term "Flavored Pellets", you can bet it's not full of 100% of the Flavor Wood on the label. Some pellet manufacturers will use the term "100% Hardwood" on the bag. It's kinda like McDonalds claiming their burgers are 100% Beef. It's true there's "100% Hardwood" in the pellet, but if you're buying a 20# bag of "Apple Pellets" for $20, it's mostly Oak or Alder wood in the pellet.

BBQr's Delight is very upfront and open with their labeling. If you read the descriptions on the BBQr's Delight Website, they do a great job explaining the differences in their pellets.

I spent hundreds of dollars testing different brands of pellets in my little gadget, and found that some pellets performed better than others. I'm after smoke, not BTU's, so 100% Flavor Wood Pellets are all I'm after. I asked a lot of questions, and learned a lot about pellets and pellet production during testing.

Hope this helps!


Todd

[barkonbutts]

Thanks Todd!! That is great information.

[cowboysfan]

The whole BBQ Pellet thing came as a offshoot from the Heating Pellet Industry. This is how the original Traeger BBQ Pellet Smoker/Grill started.

BBQ Pellets need to produce BTU's(Heat) for cooking. The more efficient they burn, the more heat they produce. A BBQ Pellet produces smoke by burning inefficiently. This is why Pellet Smokers/Grills have fans behind them, and a controller for controlling temp, auger speed & time and fan speed & time.

Pellets are really sawdust, that been compressed in a pellet mill, under extreme pressure and heat. The natural "Lignin" acts as a glue, to hold the sawdust together. Some woods will form a pellet better than other woods, just because of the natural lignin. Woods that do not produce a good pellet alone, are mixed with woods such as Oak or Alder, to produce a good quality pellet. Some pellets like 100% Apple Pellets are expensive to produce, and cost prohibitive for some pellet manufacturers, so some will use a "Filler Wood" like Oak or Alder, along with the Apple Wood, to produce a cost effective pellet.

Some pellet manufacturers produce a "Blended BBQ Pellet". This type of pellet is mostly Oak or Alder, to produce good BTU's for heat. Since Oak and Alder produce a very mild smoke, these manufacturers add some "Flavor Wood" to the mix, in order to add more smoke flavor.

Oil is added to "Lubricate" the dies, during the manufacturing process. This is where the term "Our Pellets Are Made With Food Grade Oils" comes from. I'm not aware of any manufacturer who uses "Flavored Oils" during the pellet making process. Food Grade Oil is expensive enough, and I would assume "Flavored Food Grade Oil" would be too costly. The alternative would be a petroleum based oil, and I don't think manufacturers want a lawsuit because of someone getting sick!

I know of no regulations regarding the Labeling of BBQ Pellets. If a bag is marked with the term "Flavored Pellets", you can bet it's not full of 100% of the Flavor Wood on the label. Some pellet manufacturers will use the term "100% Hardwood" on the bag. It's kinda like McDonalds claiming their burgers are 100% Beef. It's true there's "100% Hardwood" in the pellet, but if you're buying a 20# bag of "Apple Pellets" for $20, it's mostly Oak or Alder wood in the pellet.

BBQr's Delight is very upfront and open with their labeling. If you read the descriptions on the BBQr's Delight Website, they do a great job explaining the differences in their pellets.

I spent hundreds of dollars testing different brands of pellets in my little gadget, and found that some pellets performed better than others. I'm after smoke, not BTU's, so 100% Flavor Wood Pellets are all I'm after. I asked a lot of questions, and learned a lot about pellets and pellet production during testing.

Hope this helps!


Todd

awesome information! love the knowledge that everyone possesses on this sight! points for your time spent on understanding pellets and pucks.

[crusty ol salt]

Hope this helps!


Todd

i did, i got an education thanks a million Todd. I know i had another question a was pondering upon earlier today... but one of my three functioning brain cell seems to have dropped the pellet

[gwapogorilla]

Todd, you are spot on! It's hard finding correct information in forums these days, but you nailed it. I don't have the business you do, but I decided to do a lot of research before I jump into this pellet grill thing. After a bunch of BS on chat rooms and forums... I contacted Jerry at Great Lakes Renewable Energy and picked his brain awhile. He is a great guy to talk with, and here is what I found out.


Wood, by nature, has different densities. A cubic foot of Hickory actually weighs more than Oak. A cubic foot of Oak weighs more than pine. Therefore, as nature makes them, Hickory puts out more BTU's than Oak, and Oak more than Pine. But, running the sawdust through the pellet machine at 40,000psi levels the playing field...as far as weight goes. What you end up with are pellets that weigh the same, and take up the same amount of space. Have you noticed the 40lb. back of Pine pellets to heat your house are the same size as your 40lb. of Hickory pellets?

So, now you have pellets that weigh the same and take up the same amount of space. But, "pelletizing" does not change the chemical composition of the wood. The amount of resins in the woods at this point is what gives your heat,and the amount of ash you have. Now, Pine burns hotter than Oak, and Oak puts out slightly more BTU's than Hickory...and Apple sucks for BTU's now.

This is where flavor comes in to play. Oak has very little flavor, as Todd pointed out. But, Oak burns nicely with little ash. So, Oak is blended with a flavor wood to give both heat and flavor...like Oak/apple blends.Also, some manufactures do not use bark in their pellets...some do. I can attest to this...the flavor is from the tree bark. If you use a pellet with no bark in it...the flavor will be reduced.


On to oils. Some manufactures do use flavored oil in their pellets, Traeger is one of them. But, since wood pellets are NOT regulated by the FDA or inspected in anyway...no labeling is required...PERIOD! That oil also reduces the BTU output of the pellet by not burning as efficiently as the wood. Some also use oils to clean their machines, mostly vegetable oil. Very few use water.

Now, I want to state this.... I am in no way connected with, invested in, or related to manufactures of wood pellets....PERIOD. I did my research.

GLRE does not use oils of any kind. They DO have bark in the wood. They make blends 70/30 and also 100% flavor woods too. They use water to clean the machines out. They are easy to work with.

I suggest if you really want to find out about pellets, do your homework like Todd and I did. You won't be sorry.

[DDave]

Hope this helps!

Very informative.

Dave

[Richtee]

Thanks Todd. The voice of knowledge!

[ExhaustedSpark]

Contacted traiger

[QUOTE=gwapogorilla;291380]Todd, you are spot on! It's hard finding correct information in forums these days,

On to oils. Some manufactures do use flavored oil in their pellets, Traeger is one of them. But, since wood pellets are NOT regulated by the FDA or inspected in anyway...no labeling is required...PERIOD! That oil also reduces the BTU output of the pellet by not burning as efficiently as the wood.

Here is some info i got from Traeger live chat less then 5 min ago.
I cut and pasted it.

Please wait for a site operator to respond.

You are now chatting with 'Mark'

Mark: Welcome to our live chat service, my name is Mark how may I assist you?

you: Mark. My name is Karl. On the smoking meat forum there is a statement about u guys using flavor oils in you pellets for higher BTU

you: Is this correct

Mark: Our pellets are 100% wood of the flavor listed on the packaging.

Karl: Ok. So no oils to assist in burning?

Mark: No oils are added to make them burn better.

Karl: Thank you Mark. I did not think so but i figured it would not hurt to double ck.

Mark: You're welcome. Is there anything else I can assist you with today?

Karl: Nope. Tnx again and have a great day.

Mark: You're welcome. Thank you for using Traeger Grills Live Chat and have a nice day!

Allways ck info even from them yu trust. We all get things mixed up in our minds now and then.
Me mor now and now then then.