Hello, new from Florida

[Ski70]

Im 53 and been smoking meat since I was in my teens. Mostly on a weber smokey mountain, and an offset I really dont use anymore. I just picked up a Traeger Pro 34 during the memorial sale and its set to be delivered today. A friend of mine who owns a pellet smoker warned me that because of the humidity in this state, the pellets get jammed quite often. Granted hes using a different pellet smoker, but it got me wondering if there are pellets I should avoid?
I picked up a bag of Bear Mountain pellets that I was going to use on my wood fire pizza oven, but would these be OK to use in the Traeger? I know next to nothing about pellets since ive only burned sticks, chunks and briquettes.

 

[GTHDOOK]

Welcome to the forum. I use bear mountain in my Traeger 575 and have had no issues. Others will chime in I’m sure.

 

[traeger860]

I'm in FL too. I usually try to get the extra "dust" out of the pellets before putting them in the hopper. I bought a lid from Amazon ( https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00A8BHIIS/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_image?ie=UTF8&th=1 ) that just pops onto a 5 Gallon bucket. I dump the pellets into a clean bucket, throw the lid on, and then turn it upside down to shake out the excess dust. That seems to be what cakes up the most and ends up jamming the auger.

 

[Shedd]

Welcome to the Forum! We have a great group of folks on here that are so kind to share the experience, trick, secrets etc.

I have a Pro 780 and I’ve never found any pellets that jamb or harm anything. I mainly use the ones from Costco. I can say, I like you came from “real smokers” and I will tell you now that you need to get a couple smoke tubes. Just put “smoke tubes” in the search feature and you’ll get the best information that’ll save you time and money. I really like the set and forget, so damn easy to use a Traeger. The temperature probe’s aren’t accurate and the ambient probe varies. Most people on here use third party temperature monitors, as I do to. But I hardly cook on a time frame, I cook ahead, vacuum seal and sous vide before gatherings, less stress. I cook to temperature, not time so it’s so easy.

Let us know how it goes, post up some pictures of your cooks!

 

[Ski70]

Welcome to the Forum! We have a great group of folks on here that are so kind to share the experience, trick, secrets etc.

I have a Pro 780 and I’ve never found any pellets that jamb or harm anything. I mainly use the ones from Costco. I can say, I like you came from “real smokers” and I will tell you now that you need to get a couple smoke tubes. Just put “smoke tubes” in the search feature and you’ll get the best information that’ll save you time and money. I really like the set and forget, so damn easy to use a Traeger. The temperature probe’s aren’t accurate and the ambient probe varies. Most people on here use third party temperature monitors, as I do to. But I hardly cook on a time frame, I cook ahead, vacuum seal and sous vide before gatherings, less stress. I cook to temperature, not time so it’s so easy.

Let us know how it goes, post up some pictures of your cooks!

I actually have a smoke tube somewhere i planned on using in another smoker for cold smoking kielbasa. i'll have to find where i lost it. Thanks for all the tips

 

[primeone]

Welcome @Ski70 to the forum and congrats on the new Traeger. I'm a huge fan of Bear Mountain pellets. I keep my pellets stored in a 5 gallon bucket with a lid, never had any issues.

 

[OldMayfield]

Welcome to the club @Ski70 . I'm also in Florida, and I had some issues with pellets remaining in the hopper for a few weeks during rainy season. If I'm going out of town I empty the hopper (on my 780Pro there is a little door in the back with a magnet to hold it open), I also vacuum out the ash from the chamber and fire pot once a month or so, and every couple of those times I empty the hopper and auger of pellets and vacuum out the pellet dust from these too. No problems since I began these practices. Believe it or not, pellet dust is not flammable, sucks up humidity and can gum up the works.

There is an excellent forum on pellets. It is linked here, check it out.

https://www.traegerforum.com/forums/pellet-reviews.17/

 

[1Adam12]

Welcome to the forum. I use bear mountain in my Traeger 575 and have had no issues. Others will chime in I’m sure.

 

[1Adam12]

I was gifted a bbq400 smoker by a friend of a neighbor. Absolutely worthless. cooks at 60-80 degrees above set temperature. Entire cooking chamber is covered with ash including the food. I'll cook covered food on it until the pellets are all gone, then it will go to the curb for the trash truck. Hopefully no one picks it up before it goes to the dump. Thank goodness I didn't pay retail for this POS.