What kind of pellets do you like for pellet grills??

[jrebel]

Being new to the Traeger Grill Club    I am trying to figure out which pellets are best for what.

My first bag was Traeger Apple.  I cooked chicken, pork and beef....all turned out fantastic.  I really like the amount of smoke the apple pellets provided. 

Next bag was Mesquite.  To be totally honest, I don't like it.  Probably won't buy Mesquite again.

I am really curios about the Hickory, Cherry, Oak and Maple. 

What have you used and what do you like best.  Is there a wood that works better with different kinds of meat or is there a pellet that you prefer for every kind of cooking.   

[jrebel]

Also...what manufacturer do you use and like.  I have only tried the Traeger brand.

[Blacklab]

pecan is a good one for pork an chicken. Alder or fruit pellet for fish. For beef mainly hickory. Been going to cash & carry for pellets. I think they have a pretty good selection an price 

[WCTaxidermy]

 

I have been getting all my pellets from Cash & Carry for years.  They are cheaper and very good quality.  I use 50/50 Oak and hickory for most my meats.  Pecan and Alder for fish and Chicken,  and Cherry or Apple for my pork ribs and Butts.  Your going to love Pellet cooking!

[Taco280AI]

I didn't even know there were pellet grills,  I keep using charcoal BBQs

[jrebel]

I didn't even know there were pellet grills,  I keep using charcoal BBQs

You need to upgrade....you will not be disappointed.

[WCTaxidermy]

Charcoal BBQ's?  What are those.

[Rider]

In competition I use BBQer's Delight & Green Mountain Grills. For practice I use Green Mountain Grills pellets.

Rumor has it Milt's is going out of business. Milts is the top of the line as far as pellets are concerned.
You want 100% species hardwood. Bear Mountain and several others use alder for a filler. Best avoided.
There is a guy in Woodinville that sells pellets at a great price if you are interested.

[nater74]

whose the guy in Woodinville

[Bshiftbc]

pecan is a good one for pork an chicken. Alder or fruit pellet for fish. For beef mainly hickory. Been going to cash & carry for pellets. I think they have a pretty good selection an price 

I do the same, plus apple and hickory for cold-smoking cheese 

[mossyoak arrow slinger]

Haven't purchased one yet but did go to the outlaws yesterday and had salmon and shrimp. They were scrumptious!  We used the treager hickory pellets. Haven't tried enough to know which is the best.

[Halo]

I use mostly Hickory, it just seems the most versatile, but I do use some alder for salmon and apple or cherry once in a while.

[ridgefire]

I like apple pecan and hickory. Green mountain makes a blend that isn't bad and is cheap. Costco has the best prices for traeger pellets that I have found.

[KFhunter]

FYI


80-90% of the wood in most pellets for pellet grills are oak,  then they cut in a little bit of flavor wood.


You can buy pellets with all flavor wood but they're hard to source - I haven't found any other than online.

I'd love to find pellets with mostly flavor wood if not 100% flavor wood.

[kenzmad]

Been getting mine from Cash n Carry as well. Use mainly hickory but i do have a bunch of bags of different flavors. I am not sure too many of us can taste the difference in the wood type used unless its mesquite. Too strong for me.

[KFhunter]

Been getting mine from Cash n Carry as well. Use mainly hickory but i do have a bunch of bags of different flavors. I am not sure too many of us can taste the difference in the wood type used unless its mesquite. Too strong for me.

same here,  I had every flavor sold (even pecan) and labeled all the bins and stored all the wood......


now I just use hickory for pretty much everything red meat, and apple for pretty much everything white meat/fish.