MidwestSmoker
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jun 6, 2021
- Messages
- 678
- Media
- 44
- Reaction score
- 802
- Location
- Toledo, Ohio
- Grill
- Traeger Pro 575
This weekend I used Knotty Wood pellets for the first time. For those unfamiliar with Knotty Wood, this is probably the only brand of pellets that uses the entire wood including the bark. This makes them potentially closer to real wood and with better smoke flavor. However, the drawback is that they are prone to forming clinkers because of that bark.
It has been very dry here in NW Ohio (which also means much fewer mosquitoes!), so it was a good time to try them. I monitored the cook carefully for any problems. It was an 8 hour cook and it went smoothly. Today I cleaned the grill and there were no clinkers at all.
I will give a cautious recommendation for these pellets. They have much more dust than my regular Bear Mountain pellets. They also produced much more ash. However, they did produce significantly more smoke than all the other ones I have tried (Traeger, Pit Boss, Bear Mountain, .....). Without question the smoke flavor on the meats was the best so far.
The caution is because of the drawbacks: more dust, more ash, potential for forming clinkers and high cost ($20 for 20 lb bag at Home Depot). So this may not be suitable for casual cooks. But if you are trying to maximize smoke flavor and are willing to carefully monitor the cooks for any problems, they might be worth it. I will be using these pellets regularly in the future.
It has been very dry here in NW Ohio (which also means much fewer mosquitoes!), so it was a good time to try them. I monitored the cook carefully for any problems. It was an 8 hour cook and it went smoothly. Today I cleaned the grill and there were no clinkers at all.
I will give a cautious recommendation for these pellets. They have much more dust than my regular Bear Mountain pellets. They also produced much more ash. However, they did produce significantly more smoke than all the other ones I have tried (Traeger, Pit Boss, Bear Mountain, .....). Without question the smoke flavor on the meats was the best so far.
The caution is because of the drawbacks: more dust, more ash, potential for forming clinkers and high cost ($20 for 20 lb bag at Home Depot). So this may not be suitable for casual cooks. But if you are trying to maximize smoke flavor and are willing to carefully monitor the cooks for any problems, they might be worth it. I will be using these pellets regularly in the future.
