Pellet Dust

[Torstenlaw]

New to the pellet thing and was wondering what you guys do, if anything, to get rid of the dust. There seems to be a lot with the traeger pellets and even with the Furtado. As said, not a lot of experience with pellets. Let me know your methods! Please

 

[Slimpicker]

Pellets - Pellet Dust Test ► Results Are In

I'll just get right to it ► Test was for DUST amount in each 20lb bag which in my opinion also means pellet strength against crumble, and also means less worries of DUST clogs in Hopper... probably also means less affected by humidity too. Using my OKJoe sifter bucket and 1/3 of a bag at a time...

www.traegerforum.com

Lots of ways to "sift" the dust out, but mostly what I do is take from the top of a bucket, when I get to the bottom, use a sifter of some sort, and get the last pellets out... throw that dust crap away!!!

 

[TheGrumpyGriller]

Certainly you can sift as @Slimpicker said, but I also switched out from using Traeger's pellets as I've found they are a bit dusty, and more expensive than necessary. We all have our favorites, but I've found Bear Mountain, Lumberjack, and especially Pit Boss and believe it or not, Walmart's Expert Blend pellets to be pretty good. In fact the Walmart pellets were about $8 for a 30lb. bag

And regardless what you use, always a good idea to vacuum out the grill reasonably often.

Good luck!

 

[JayHog]

Yes, switch to better pellets! This bucket sifting setup from Oklahoma Joe's is great and very easy to use. It's not cheap, but it makes it a lot easier to sift the pellets of any brand (they all have some dust.). The outer handle is plastic, unfortunately, but the inner sifter is metal and solid.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B088BG929B/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[Torstenlaw]

I bought the containers that have the pouring spout, so they do nothing for dust collection. I do like the Oklahoma Joe's system. Have to see if we can get it up here in the Great White North.

 

[Murphy's Law]

Certainly you can sift as @Slimpicker said, but I also switched out from using Traeger's pellets as I've found they are a bit dusty, and more expensive than necessary. We all have our favorites, but I've found Bear Mountain, Lumberjack, and especially Pit Boss and believe it or not, Walmart's Expert Blend pellets to be pretty good. In fact the Walmart pellets were about $8 for a 30lb. bag

And regardless what you use, always a good idea to vacuum out the grill reasonably often.

Good luck!

I’ve used the Wally pellets a lot and have no issue for them. And they are priced right!!

 

[Gary]

Dump the Traeger pellets and don't look back!!!
Far superior pellets are available

 

[Jayp]

Get a large colander and sift then put in bucket also a large cat litter scoop works as well

 

[roadman]

Bucket Head from Home Depot works real well for me.

 

[WCBBQ]

I use one of these in a 5 gal bucket. https://www.amazon.com/s?k=1/16+5+g...ket+sifter,aps,148&ref=nb_sb_ss_ts-doa-p_2_19

Then to be really through, drill a hole to fit the hose of a shop vac about 2/3 rds of the way up the side of the bucket. The crumbs will stay in the bucket and dust in the vac. This will also let you do a whole 20lb bag quickly and then you can compare results from different bags.

 

[Slimpicker]

Bucket Head from Home Depot works real well for me.

And a 2.5 gal clear bucket in the paint isle.. keeps it compact

 

[Torstenlaw]

Man, so many ideas. That's awesome.

 

[RayClem]

Somewhere I read that the pellet dust helps lubricate the auger tube. I can see some reasoning behind that, but I can also see that pellet dust will pick up moisture more readily from humid air and might clog things up. I see some videos of guys that sift the pellets and some that pour directly from the bag. What is the consensus from the experts here? Is pellet dust helpful or harmful? I like the cat litter scoop suggestion, but I will need to purchase a new scoop as the current one is "well seasoned".

I am new to pellet grills. I just got my grill Monday and did a burn off to season it. It was raining yesterday, so Traeger sat in the garage. I will pull it out today for my first cook, a double pack of pork tenderloins from Costco. I plan to marinate it this morning and cook it this afternoon at 225 F.

I picked up a bag of the inexpensive Walmart Grill Expert Sweet Blend pellets to do my burn off, but I rather liked the flavor of the smoke. I am trying to decide whether to use these pellets for my pork tenderloins or try the Pit Boss Apple blend pellets or Cherry Blend pellets I picked up as well. Whichever I chose, I will have time to try the others later.

 

[TheGrumpyGriller]

Somewhere I read that the pellet dust helps lubricate the auger tube. I can see some reasoning behind that, but I can also see that pellet dust will pick up moisture more readily from humid air and might clog things up. I see some videos of guys that sift the pellets and some that pour directly from the bag. What is the consensus from the experts here? Is pellet dust helpful or harmful? I like the cat litter scoop suggestion, but I will need to purchase a new scoop as the current one is "well seasoned".

I am new to pellet grills. I just got my grill Monday and did a burn off to season it. It was raining yesterday, so Traeger sat in the garage. I will pull it out today for my first cook, a double pack of pork tenderloins from Costco. I plan to marinate it this morning and cook it this afternoon at 225 F.

I picked up a bag of the inexpensive Walmart Grill Expert Sweet Blend pellets to do my burn off, but I rather liked the flavor of the smoke. I am trying to decide whether to use these pellets for my pork tenderloins or try the Pit Boss Apple blend pellets or Cherry Blend pellets I picked up as well. Whichever I chose, I will have time to try the others later.

Specifically to your comment about the Walmart Grill Expert pellets - I just started using them a couple of months ago. I have both the Sweet and the Bold blends and have so far found that they generate a good amount of flavor and the dust content is very similar to Pit Boss, Lumberjack and other "better" pellets. I haven't bought Traeger pellets in over a year.

 

[RayClem]

Specifically to your comment about the Walmart Grill Expert pellets - I just started using them a couple of months ago. I have both the Sweet and the Bold blends and have so far found that they generate a good amount of flavor and the dust content is very similar to Pit Boss, Lumberjack and other "better" pellets. I haven't bought Traeger pellets in over a year.

I did pick up a bag of the Traeger pellets when I purchased my grill. I do not particularly like the concept of Natural Flavored Hardwood that Traeger uses in some of their pellets. Some of them, however, seem to be hardwood blends like the "better" pellets. I figured I would purchase one bag for comparison purposes.

There is a Blain's Farm and Fleet a few miles away that I visit a couple of times a year. They stock Bear Mountain pellets, so I will probably pickup a couple of bags the next time I am there. Sometimes they have Lumberjack in stock, if I am lucky.