Taste

[JFuentes]

Just wondering if anyone has had issues with certain pellets imparting any weird tastes to their cooks. (Especially the Beef Tri Tip smoked) To the point I’ll only smoke pork. I’ve tried a few different pellet brands and can still notice a taste that’s hard to pin point. I’ve cooked with several stick burners and never had this. The family really doesn’t notice but their not as picky I guess. Thinking maybe I didn’t season the grill correctly? I did the 400 degree initial burn, or maybe the high temp silicone in the hopper pealed and got into the burning pot with the pellets? I was cleaning the entire grill after each cook but now thinking of only cleaning the hopper and burn pot to add a film like a well seasoned iron pan to see if that helps as well. Anyways... any feed back or ideas from Y’all would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Buckeye smoker]

@JFuentes ...To me it's more a convection/pellet taste in general, compared to a stick smoker. Although I'm sure different brands of pellet will give you slightly different tastes. I try to stay with 100% core wood pellets of well known manufacturers. I added a smoke tube last week and I feel personally it makes a difference. Also today, I added wood chips to it(tube) every CPL inches as a test, and I feel as though I had more of a stick bite to it. (Could all be in my head because I love stick style) just my 2¢ but I feel this setup is absolutely easier and less time consuming but, at the same time I feel like I'm experimenting to get more of a stick result out of it ? Either way I love my RecTec.

 

[JFuentes]

@JFuentes ...To me it's more a convection/pellet taste in general, compared to a stick smoker. Although I'm sure different brands of pellet will give you slightly different tastes. I try to stay with 100% core wood pellets of well known manufacturers. I added a smoke tube last week and I feel personally it makes a difference. Also today, I added wood chips to it(tube) every CPL inches as a test, and I feel as though I had more of a stick bite to it. (Could all be in my head because I love stick style) just my 2¢ but I feel this setup is absolutely easier and less time consuming but, at the same time I feel like I'm experimenting to get more of a stick result out of it ? Either way I love my RecTec.

Thanks for the response Buckeye, I feel like it’s in my head too... Lol!
I’m definitely glad I got the Rec Tec Bull for sure. I’m gonna try the your idea with the tube and core wood pellets... we will see how things turn out. Thanks Again, I really do appreciate the input.

 

[ndfan6464]

Pellets definitely make a big difference in taste. When I first started with pellet cooking it was in a Traeger and like any good boy I used only their brand pellets as per the manual..then I switched to Lumberjack after doing some research and it made huge difference in taste and in heat.

Like @Buckeye smoker said, using 100% hard wood is the way to go and you'll get a better taste. When using say brand like Traeger brand, they use mostly filler which can give you a dirty smoke which turns to a bitter/iron taste to your food.

It's the same as if you used dirt smoke during a traditional stick smoke. Dirty wood = dirty smoke = bitter meat

 

[JFuentes]

Pellets definitely make a big difference in taste. When I first started with pellet cooking it was in a Traeger and like any good boy I used only their brand pellets as per the manual..then I switched to Lumberjack after doing some research and it made huge difference in taste and in heat.

Like @Buckeye smoker said, using 100% hard wood is the way to go and you'll get a better taste. When using say brand like Traeger brand, they use mostly filler which can give you a dirty smoke which turns to a bitter/iron taste to your food.

It's the same as if you used dirt smoke during a traditional stick smoke. Dirty wood = dirty smoke = bitter meat

The first pellets I used were Q-Pellets, since then I’ve only used Lumberjack and Smoke Ring BBQ Pellets. All have no fillers...