Pellet cookers and smoke flavor...good video

He's been hit and miss for me (I can't stand non blind tastings or comparisons). I'll be listening for his disclosure that he's been working with a smoker manufacturer.

Edits:

No disclosure that he worked with a company on their gravity feed.

I do like the rip on the unnamed company that takes alder and adds oils - though name names.

Interesting video though. Perhaps I'll try smoking at lower temps on my pellet smoker (or stop being lazy and use my offset).

Good video... I typically really like Jeremy’s stuff! A lot of the same info that Aaron Franklin talks about when it comes to wood. Just good all around info.

Taste being subjective, I’ll just add my subjective 2 cents.

I have had 2 stick burners in my lifetime.

I currently own and cook on a MAK 2 Star.

Comparing my stick burners to my MAK...

-If burning a clean HOT fire on either of my previous stick burners, I do not believe I’d be able to discern the taste difference between them and my MAK.

-If choking the fire back on my previous stick burners a bit, the smoke flavor would be quite a bit stronger than my MAK.

Conclusion: The MAK does what it does and repeats the same thing every time. The stick burners can run more than one way, giving you more flexibility in end result. You choose and it’s up to you to make it happen.

Which is better? That’s up to you... lol. Personally, I prefer the MAK because of the excellent results I get every time and the fact I am free to do other things when the cook is in progress. Oh yeah, I can also grill on the MAK

I really enjoy my Mak but it's not gonna compete with my Shirley. I like his thought process on pellet moisture content.

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I always watch his videos and most are very helpful. This one made a ton of sense to me.

Truthfully It came to me being lazy.. I was getting tired of firing up the big cooker as I didn't like using the WSM.. So I was looking for a replacement for the WSM to have "easy"/"lazy" cooking... Got my silverbac. Sure i agree it doesn't produce the smoke flavor that my offset does.. which its not suppose too.

What I found out tho.. I like everything coming off the silverbac.. it has smoke flavor.. it tastes like BBQ.. I love it.. I don't have any reason to add extra smoke via tube or wood chunks.

But you know He has a point.. I would only guess that the pellet making process creates alot of heat on the machines.. which probably drives the moisture out of the wood while being made. I only skimmed the video.. seems the biggest argument he had was the moisture in pellets..

If you ask me.. on top of the moisture.. its just how the pellet grills operate.. I've watched my silverbac cook for hours at a time.. And it has a temp swing.. and I only get heavier smoke during the down swing as its trying to keep my selected temp.. so Your food isn't being exposed to as much smoke because the pellets burn pretty clean once they are burning and on the higher end of your temp setting.

When he said he was going to burn off the moisture in the oven was disappointed he didn’t use his pellet grill :icon_shy:

I used a smoking tube in the chimp for the first time last week on some STL ribs and they turned out great, just enough additional smoke for our taste :thumb:

Unfortunately his theory is probably wrong or only identifying one factor. There is no shortage of information on pellets, burning them and manufacturing them. Pellets do contain low moisture content, usually in the 8-12% range when fresh, some are as low as 5-6%. Sitting unused, even bagged, they are absorbing moisture from the ambient air and can easily register 12-16% by the time they're being used. Still well below what you would look for in good fire wood (around 20%) and similar to what you'd expect from properly kiln dried wood (12-15%).

And then there are a multitude of other probable causes for the difference in flavor and aroma. You've taken a fuel source and pulverized it into dust, then compacted it at high pressure and temperature. The lignin melts and functions as the binder holding the pellet together. Instant coffee and dry dog food undergoes a similar process. Then the pellets are burned in a little metal crucible with forced air. Is anyone surprised that some of the organic aromatic chemicals naturally found in wood do not survive this process?

JWFokker said:

Unfortunately his theory is probably wrong or only identifying one factor. There is no shortage of information on pellets, burning them and manufacturing them. Pellets do contain low moisture content, usually in the 8-12% range when fresh, some are as low as 5-6%. Sitting unused, even bagged, they are absorbing moisture from the ambient air and can easily register 12-16% by the time they're being used. Still well below what you would look for in good fire wood (around 20%) and similar to what you'd expect from properly kiln dried wood (12-15%).

And then there are a multitude of other probable causes for the difference in flavor and aroma. You've taken a fuel source and pulverized it into dust, then compacted it at high pressure and temperature. The lignin melts and functions as the binder holding the pellet together. Instant coffee and dry dog food undergoes a similar process. Then the pellets are burned in a little metal crucible with forced air. Is anyone surprised that some of the organic aromatic chemicals naturally found in wood do not survive this process?

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Totally agree but in addition, there is that fan blowing air at the pellets so it's a live fire due to oxygen so it does not "smoke" much when the fan is blowing, plain simple. Just notice that the "smoke" settings on pellet grills is at a low temperature with much less fan work. Your stick burner wont have such a great flavor either if you leave the firebox door wide open to oxygen and crack the chamber door to let some of the heat and smoke escape as do all pellet cookers, none of them seal tight.
So again, lots of oxygen equals very little smoke.

Cheers

JWFokker said:

Unfortunately his theory is probably wrong or only identifying one factor. There is no shortage of information on pellets, burning them and manufacturing them. Pellets do contain low moisture content, usually in the 8-12% range when fresh, some are as low as 5-6%. Sitting unused, even bagged, they are absorbing moisture from the ambient air and can easily register 12-16% by the time they're being used. Still well below what you would look for in good fire wood (around 20%) and similar to what you'd expect from properly kiln dried wood (12-15%).

And then there are a multitude of other probable causes for the difference in flavor and aroma. You've taken a fuel source and pulverized it into dust, then compacted it at high pressure and temperature. The lignin melts and functions as the binder holding the pellet together. Instant coffee and dry dog food undergoes a similar process. Then the pellets are burned in a little metal crucible with forced air. Is anyone surprised that some of the organic aromatic chemicals naturally found in wood do not survive this process?

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Ding, ding we gotta winner here.

JWFokker said:

Unfortunately his theory is probably wrong or only identifying one factor. There is no shortage of information on pellets, burning them and manufacturing them. Pellets do contain low moisture content, usually in the 8-12% range when fresh, some are as low as 5-6%. Sitting unused, even bagged, they are absorbing moisture from the ambient air and can easily register 12-16% by the time they're being used. Still well below what you would look for in good fire wood (around 20%) and similar to what you'd expect from properly kiln dried wood (12-15%).

And then there are a multitude of other probable causes for the difference in flavor and aroma. You've taken a fuel source and pulverized it into dust, then compacted it at high pressure and temperature. The lignin melts and functions as the binder holding the pellet together. Instant coffee and dry dog food undergoes a similar process. Then the pellets are burned in a little metal crucible with forced air. Is anyone surprised that some of the organic aromatic chemicals naturally found in wood do not survive this process?

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Not I. You make good points.

I agree also that he is possibly only identifying one factor.

pjtexas1 said:

I really enjoy my Mak but it's not gonna compete with my Shirley.....

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Interesting.

Did my first cook on a stick burner yesterday. Best ribs of my life. I’m sold. As much as I love my MAK, it just doesn’t compare.

So many factors involved in smoke flavor produced. From clean smoke to dirty smoke, to particular sticks used, to particular pellets used, to which cooker is used, etc. There's even a difference in the type of smoke flavor produced. With pellet smokers alone, I've had 3 different pellet smokers and each one produced a different amount of smoke flavor, due to the way the controllers managed the fire. I've had delicate smoke flavor from a stick burner and I've had over smoked food from a stick burner. Add to that, everyone's taste is different, so what I say is heavy smokeflavor, someone else may say, where's the smoke flavor?
So many variables. You just can't generalize. My $.02.

Does anyone really buy a pellet grill for the smoke profile? That would be like buying an offset for the set-and-forget capability.

NYC 'Que said:

Did my first cook on a stick burner yesterday. Best ribs of my life. I’m sold. As much as I love my MAK, it just doesn’t compare.

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Interesting.

NYC 'Que said:

Did my first cook on a stick burner yesterday. Best ribs of my life. I’m sold. As much as I love my MAK, it just doesn’t compare.

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You really need to try ribs that were cooked hanging in a vertical offset.