Avoid Pit Boss Pellets!

[brisketboss]

my first post here unfortunately gonna be a negative one.

Bought a Pitts & Spitts Maverick 1250 in May and been getting some good cooks on it. Briskets come out amazing, ribs, turkey breasts, beef ribs, etc. Had a great summer smoking meats...

This past Friday night I put a brisket on at 11 PM and wake up saturday AM to a cold smoker. By the looks of the brisket it was prob about 3am the smoker died. it had an ER 2 error on it, which I'd seen and fixed in the past as a startup error..

I decided to try to see if I could save the brisket.. I wrapped then put the brisket in the oven at 250 and ptu the thermometer on it while I went to figure out what was wrong with the smoker. I noticed that there were perfectly dry pellets in the firebox end of the auger and in the hopper so pretty sure I didn't have a pellet cement situation then I find it.. a chunk of hard wood stuck between the corner of the hopper feed and the auger. Pics attached..

Had to knock it out with screwdriver and hammer it was in there good. Fortunately, the motor didn't burn out before the smoker shut down.

Unfortunately, the brisket didn't come out great at all. more like an over-done roast beef than what I'm used to. I was all excited too. Costco had prime brisket cheap $3.29/lb. The last one I had from them was heavenly. this one is good for dicing up and making nachos with it or throwing in a salad.

I opened a case wiht Pit Boss, explained the issue, inconvenience and waste of a $65 brisket and they came back with:

"Thank you for reaching out to us, very sorry this happened, this is not a common thing. If you have the receipt you can take the pellets back to the retailer or we can send you a couple spices for the trouble. Let us know."

That's it? I guess it's what I should expect from them..

Lessons learned:

1. 1. Don't buy Pit Boss or other cheap pellets!
2. 2. Use the fireboard overnight (normally do but I trusted the system) and alert on cold temp to wake me up

Avoid PB Pellets. My retailer also scolded me on using them and is bringing a shipment of smoke ring soon.

 

[Callahan-que]

What makes you think that couldn't happen with other brands of pellets?

 

[Cat797]

I happen to be quite fond of the pit boss pellets. I can't tell the difference between them and Lumberjack FWIW........

Chit Happens!

 

[jasonjax]

I've put quite a few bags of their pellets through my Memphis and recteq with no issues. Stuff happens...good lesson to use a system to monitor a cook if overnight as you already stated.

 

[eric21]

Also not a bad idea to sift through the pellets a little bit with your hands after they go into the hopper to check for debris. I have not thought about this but I'll do it from now on.

 

[Shadowdog500]

+1 on using a pit temp alarm. It would have woke you up as soon as the temps dropped.

I’ve never seen any pieces of wood in my pellets. I wonder if that’s one of this oddball things that show as a frequently as a dead mouse in a soda can?

 

[brisketboss]

Also not a bad idea to sift through the pellets a little bit with your hands after they go into the hopper to check for debris. I have not thought about this but I'll do it from now on.

good point though this might have been very tough to find doing that. similar color and similar size to a pellet.

 

[brisketboss]

What makes you think that couldn't happen with other brands of pellets?

hope?

I am guessing perhaps maybe they have better QA and mft processes to prevent this? shrug.

get what I pay for ? PB pellets are super cheap at Lowes.

 

[brisketboss]

+1 on using a pit temp alarm. It would have woke you up as soon as the temps dropped.

I’ve never seen any pieces of wood in my pellets. I wonder if that’s one of this oddball things that show as a frequently as a dead mouse in a soda can?

and it would have had to feed in at just the right location for it todo this, if it fell to the bottome of the auger tube it would have just fed through and burned just fine.

yeah defo using the fireboard for all cooks to monitor temp.

 

[brisketboss]

I happen to be quite fond of the pit boss pellets. I can't tell the difference between them and Lumberjack FWIW........

Chit Happens!

i can't complain about the cooks I've done with them. seem to be dusty compared to smoke ring (only other pellet I've used)

i'm more upset by how they responded.. flat

 

[Jason TQ]

Yeah can happen with any of them. Sucks to hear and I know first time using anything if it blows up in your face it leaves a bad taste in your mouth.

I have 3 pit boss cookers. My first one I got a year and a half ago and it is mostly what I use at home. I've only used Pitboss comp pellets in all of them (maybe had one pit boss maple blend someone gave me), non sifted dust and all, and never had one single issue. Used em at a few comps too with decent results.

Anyways I hope next time is better and totally get being frustrated. I had 2 issues with my pitbosses functioning and both times they took care of it with new parts similar to trying to get you new pellets.

 

[bschoen]

hope?

I am guessing perhaps maybe they have better QA and mft processes to prevent this? shrug.

get what I pay for ? PB pellets are super cheap at Lowes.

I still check a bag of dried beans for pebbles before soaking, so pellets and QA, perhaps your expectations are a tad high. There have been several threads about the crap found in lump charcoal bags. And then there is that a-hole Murphy guy, I swear that guy lives in my back pocket. :tsk:

 

[JEStucker]

I still check a bag of dried beans for pebbles before soaking, so pellets and QA, perhaps your expectations are a tad high. There have been several threads about the crap found in lump charcoal bags. And then there is that a-hole Murphy guy, I swear that guy lives in my back pocket. :tsk:

actual gravel in cheap lump charcoal... been there, done that...


As you said, had it been lower in the auger it would have fed right through... one little piece of wood in a bag of pellets seems pretty ok.
Sucks that it mucked up a brisket cook though. Part of why I hate overnight cooks, gotta plan on Murphy's Law kicking in at the most awful times.

 

[BlueHaze]

I have a Pitts and Spitts. One of the first things the guys at Pitts and spitts told me. Don’t use cheap pellets ( pit boss ). I use lumberjack and never had any problems. Use good quality pellets.

 

[BlueHaze]

One other problem . If you didn’t use the pellet smoker for a week or more the pellets might have got some moisture . You should empty the hopper and auger chamber if you aren’t going to use it for a few days. I know where I live the humidity is extremely high.

 

[brisketboss]

One other problem . If you didn’t use the pellet smoker for a week or more the pellets might have got some moisture . You should empty the hopper and auger chamber if you aren’t going to use it for a few days. I know where I live the humidity is extremely high.

yeah pellets were bone dry - no buildup or moisture whatsoever. it was that big lump of wood jammed in there. once I knocked it out I was able to prime all the rest out.

yeah def going to not skimp on pellets going forward!

 

[cclinard1]

I used PB comp blend in my PB Austin XL for ab 2.5 yrs. I put over a thousand pounds through it. Only had issue with 1 bag...lots of saw dust at the bottom. I use B&B comp blend in my Yoder now, but I think this could happen to any brand. Sounds like you may have gotten a bad customer service rep...I opened numerous cases with them on the Austin XL and K24 Kamado and they were always helpful and sent a fix or part even out of warranty at no charge.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[TravelingJ]

I've had issues with 2 bags of lumberjack lately. Pellets too long, and they are forming a dam so that the pellets won't feed into the auger. Im probably going back to PitBoss after this, as I don't get the LJ hype-they are messier, and more inconvenient to find.

 

[dward51]

When I bought my CH5 last year, I also bought 3 bags of PB pellets. All 3 had a lot of sawdust and pellet "fines". I ended up having to sift the pellets from the bag before I put them in the hopper. Once sifted they were great, but a lot of pellet dust in all 3 bags. I did not have a problem with burnback as I recognized the potential problem and removed the dust/fines before using them, but as I understand it, sawdust and fines are the most likely cause of auger tube burn back of the fire into the hopper. I have not bought PB since, but have been using mostly Lumberjack (along with some B&B which I already had on hand.)

It may just be the 3 bags I bought had rough handling from employees at Walmart, but it was all 3 bags. My lumberjack was part of a bulk buy last year and so far has been great with no issues at all.

 

[SmoothBoarBBQ]

@brisketboss,

Just out of curiosity what did you expect PitBoss to do for you in terms of compensation?