The difference between fuel and flavour pellets

[Grill Pro Australia]

Hi All,
I think this is important for folks to understand this difference.

Firstly a disclaimer: Please note that we are not the importer for the BBQr's Delight 1 lb "Flavour Pellets" & as such, we have nothing to do with the importing or sales of them.

I continue get asked a lot about the differences between Pellets in 1 lb bags & Pellets in the Larger lb bags.

- Are the pellets the same in the 1 lb bags as the pellets in the Larger lb bags?

- Can I use either in my tray or tube smoker?

- Can I use either in my Pellet Cooker or Pellet Grill?

- Can I use a Tray Smoker or a Tube Smoker in my Pellet Cooker?

Hopefully this will explain the differences.

Firstly the pellets in the 1 lb bag are not the same as in the Larger lb bags ( even though the pellets look the same )

The pellets in the 1 lb bags are "Flavour Pellets" & the pellets in the Larger lb bags are "Pellet Fuel" and each are designed for different applications.

The Flavour Pellets in the 1lb bags are for smoking in the tray smoker or tube smoker


ProQ Cold Smoke Generator ( sold by Urban Griller )


A-MAZE-N Tray Smoker ( sold by Misty Gully & BBQs Plus )


A-MAZE-N Tube Smoker ( sold by Misty Gully & BBQs Plus )


The pellets in the 1 lb bags are a lot stronger in flavour than the Larger lb bags and are made of 100% compressed sawdust. It’s wood and wood burns when heated. If you starve wood of oxygen when you heat it, it smokes rather than burning to ash. This smoke is the best for providing food with an all natural flavour!



Flavours imported into Australia are: Hickory, Savory Herb, Apple, Mesquite and Jack Daniels©

If the bag says Hickory, Apple or Mesquite then there’s only hickory, Apple or Mesquite in the bag!

Savory Herb is a blended pellet.

The process that makes Jack Daniel’s unique among whiskies is the “charcoal mellowing”. The whiskey seeps slowly through finely ground charcoal for ten to fourteen days before it goes into oak barrels to age. Then, that charcoal…well it’s good and soaked with Jack Daniel’s whiskey, just right for turning it into smoking pellets that enhance your cooking with that one of a kind whiskey flavour.

You can use these "Flavour Pellets" to fuel your Pellet Cooker or Pellet Grill, but apart from them being extremely expensive to run your Pellet Cooker or Pellet Grill, the flavour is very strong & overpowering.

AussieBBQSmoke manufactures Flavour Pellets from Australian Timbers: http://www.aussiebbq.info/forum/viewforum.php?f=51

If you are after the BBQr's Delight Flavour Pellets & live in Sydney, BBQAroma http://www.bbqaroma.com/ or if you live in Melbourne, BBQs Plus http://www.bbqsplus.com stocks the 1lb bags of BBQr's Delight Flavour Pellets & or all other states, please email: info@tennco.com.au to find your nearest stockist.

We are now producing Flavour Pellets from 2nd hand Bourbon Barrels that we import from the USA so there is becoming more & more choice.

The Pellet Fuel pellets in the larger lb bags are for Pellet Cookers / Grills ( like Traeger, GMG & Yoder that are imported into Australia )


Traeger Pellet Cooker

There are a few brands of "Pellet Fuel" pellets now imported into Australia, here are some examples:


Traeger Pellet Fuel Pellets ( available from Urban Griller & other retailers in Australia ) these are natural wood & contain flavoured oils to give the Hickory flavour.



GMG Pellet Fuel Pellets ( available from Urban Griller ) these are 100% natural wood & are a blend of cherry, beech, and pecan woods



BBQr's Delight Pellet Fuel pellets ( available from BBQs Plus & Retailers Australia wide ) these are made from 100% natural wood with one third Hickory Wood blended with two thirds oak.

These pellets in the larger lb bags are designed for use in your Pellet Cooker or Pellet Grill & not the smoking trays or tubes.

A Tray Smoker or Tube Smoker can be used in any Pellet Cooker or Barbecue with a lid to give you more smoke flavour while cooking or to Cold Smoke with the BBQ off, but it is recommended to use the Flavour Pellets from the 1 lb bags for this application.


ProQ Tray Smoker in a Kettle ( I think ) photo from Urban Griller



A-MAZE-N Tube Smoker cold smoking cheese ( I took this photo last year while cooking with Rob Green aka "Wingman" in Tacoma USA ) & the Pellet Grill was not running at the time.

Traditionally, food was smoked to aid in the curing process (this was before we had refrigerators) nowadays smoke is predominantly used to add flavour. Some cold smoked products can be eaten without having to be cooked, whilst others, such as bacon, will need to be cooked prior to consumption.

Tray & tube Smokers can also be added while a BBQ is cooking to give extra smoke flavour.

If you are interested in

A-MAZE-N Tray or Tube Smokers, please PM me & I will point you in the right direction.

ProQ Smokers, please PM Urban Griller

Smoking Barrel, please PM AussieBBQSmoke

There are also 2 other ways of increasing smoke in your Pellet Cooker:

1) Drop temperature down to 185F / 85C

2) Use 100% Oak Pellet Fuel

I hope this explanation helps, if you have any questions please PM me

Cheers, Dave

[urbangriller]

Yes, a big difference between pellets for fuel and smoking pellets.

Terry from Aussie BBQ Smoke also sells a Tube smoker, and he has a great range of local smoking woods, pellets and dust.

http://www.aussiebbq.info/forum/viewtop ... 51&t=11020:



Cheers
Chris

[Grill Pro Australia]

Thanks Chris, correct.

I should have posted his also, have edited my post, apologies Terry

Cheers, Dave

[urbangriller]

Thanks Chris, correct.

I should have posted his also, have edited my post, apologies Terry

Cheers, Dave

I love Terry's pellets...Redgum with Rosemary and Teatree are "Must Have"! ....8mm, so no good for fuel, but great smoking pellets!

Chris

[Emo]

Thanks for the info.

I only have a Weber kettle and a GA, but got given a bag of Jack Daniels pellets recently, is there anything I can do with these things?

[Grill Pro Australia]

Thanks for the info.

I only have a Weber kettle and a GA, but got given a bag of Jack Daniels pellets recently, is there anything I can do with these things?

You are welcome mate.

I haven't tried these smoking pellets as yet, and if you don't have a tray or tube smoker you could just use some sort of metal box I suppose... Im sure Chris will have your answer

Cheers, Dave

[Jester]

I demonstrated this to my brother a few weeks ago so he could get it. Pick out a long pellet & light it so there's a flame. See how much smoke comes off? Not much... but if you smell it its sweet as. (The fuel pellets are usually easier to light)

Now blow it out so it smoulders. Lots more smoke and the smell changes. The lack of flame means a lower temp so the chemicals released are different. The amazn type tubes leave the pellets smouldering.

Some people prefer one type of smoke over another, or a mix. That's a personal choice.

So without buying a tube, you could make up a foil pouch, put a handful of pellets in it and punch some holes in it to keep the pellets smouldering.

If you put those pellets straight on charcoal, they'll ignite and the smoke will probably be gone too quick to flavour the food unless you're cooking something like fish.

[gussigan]

in lieu of a tube i used a mini deep fryer basket - $10 from a kitchen shop -you know, the little baskets that trendy restaurants serve chips in these days

worked ok but if there was too much airflow the whole basket would catch and light on fire

just picked up a tube smoker the other day so will be giving that a go too

quick question - i note in the photos above that the tube is on the same level as the cheeses - I've read that terry reckons the tube needs to be underneath because smoke rises - just wanted to get everyone's thoughts on how much of an impact placement of the tube makes. the cheeses certainly looked like they were copping some smoke

great post dave!

[urbangriller]

I do it with the smoke source at the same level as the cheese, I'd do it with the smoke above the cheese if that was easy.

Smoke rises, but so does heat and you want to keep the product as cols as possible, so in my Kettle, smoke (heat) one side, cheese the other!

Cheers
Chris

[Grill Pro Australia]

quick question - i note in the photos above that the tube is on the same level as the cheeses - I've read that terry reckons the tube needs to be underneath because smoke rises - just wanted to get everyone's thoughts on how much of an impact placement of the tube makes. the cheeses certainly looked like they were copping some smoke

great post dave!

Thanks gussigan, the photo you refer to was taken by me while visiting Rob Green in the US back in 2012 & its the way he does it & the results were great using the BBQr's Delight "Flavor" pellets

Note: we do not import the BBQr's Delight "Flavor" pellets into Australia.

Cheers, Dave

[hoddo]

All this discussion about pellets has been very interesting, I didn't realize there was a difference between the flavor and fuel pellets before I got bag of hickory fuel pellets to play with in my smoke daddy. Normally it runs on pecan chips and it can tricky trying to keep the smoke thin and not get creosote build up. I find a mix of the fuel pellets and wood chips burn hotter, longer and cleaner when air is restricted to give the smoke density I am after. I guess I got lucky by mistake.

[gussigan]

thanks chris & dave - i figured smoke would still make its way around the cooking chamber, just thought i'd check given there's a few different bits of info about


hmm now i want to cold smoke some more cheese!

[2browndogs]

All good info. And if you don't have a dedicated device for smoking your pellets/woodchips then the old aluminium foil pouch with some holes works good, as suggested above.

[childsy]

Hi All,

I've been reading aussiebbqinfo for a short while now, finding some very useful info on here, so thank you for that!

I just have a follow up question about the difference between the fuel and flavour pellets.

In the next month or so, I'm looking to buy a Masterbuilt smoker, and I've been reading that a good way to use this for smoking with minimal interference is to use it with an A-MAZE-N smoker with pellets, so I'm just trying to work out where the best deal for wood pellets for this use seems to be.

I see you mention that the larger bags are generally 'fuel' type pellets, and the smaller 1lb bags are usually the flavour ones. I've come across these at smokedandcured.com.au, which sell for $10 for 500g:

http://www.smokedandcured.com.au/smokin ... ets-500gm/

However, the same pellets appear to also be sold in 3kg and 9/10kg bags for $21 and $40 respectively:

http://www.smokedandcured.com.au/smokin ... llets-3kg/
http://www.smokedandcured.com.au/smokin ... et-9-10kg/

Are these pellets the flavour pellets that you mention, that would need to be used with the A-MAZE-N smoker?

Thanks for your help

[Gumb]

They are all smoking pellets for the Amazin tray smoker and other similar things like the tube smokers. The fuel/flavour pellets used in pellet cookers are a mixture of flavour pellets(1/3) and hardwood fuel pellets and cheaper, but not what you need.

I got my last bag from them and they are great in the tray smoker. It just takes a bit to get them started but once you do, that tray smoker will last many hours. It doesn't use a lot of pellets either but I'd buy a decent size bag, they won't go to waste.