Traeger Pellet Plant

[RustyJake]

Doesn't sound like this was in operation long, only 5 years. Hopefully everyone can find suitable employment elsewhere. Looks like some have heavy machinery experience, lots of work in that field right now. Now it comes down to what's available locally for these people.

▶️ Traeger Grills closing Redmond wood pellet manufacturing plant

After five years, the Traeger Redmond wood pellet manufacturing facility is ceasing operations at the end of the month. "For these people, I'd just like to see them land somewhere where they have a

centraloregondaily.com

 

[BobbyQ]

Sad to hear but read the article. They use Fir to make pellets? Fir is a softwood as opposed to the hardwood they advertise on their product.

 

[RustyJake]

Sad to hear but read the article. They use Fir to make pellets? Fir is a softwood as opposed to the hardwood they advertise on their product.

That could be a misprint The video talks about Oak and Cherry and other hardwoods being processed there.

 

[BobbyQ]

That could be a misprint The video talks about Oak and Cherry and other hardwoods being processed there.

Yeah. Missed that

 

[MidwestSmoker]

I wonder if this means that they will now source them from a generic pellet manufacturer and label them as Traeger.

 

[JPSBBQ]

I wonder if this means that they will now source them from a generic pellet manufacturer and label them as Traeger.

Traeger Grills plans $3M facility in Wythe County - Virginia Business

Traeger Grills, manufacturer of the world’s top-selling wood pellet grill and signature hardwood pellets product, plans to build a $3 million manufacturing operation in Wythe County, Gov. Ralph Northam announced…

www.virginiabusiness.com

Where Do Traeger Pellets Come From? - CookOut News

Where do Traeger pellets come from? It turns out they have 7 wood pellet production facilities spread across the USA in 5 states.

www.cookoutnews.com

They have a few and I bet this was the most antiquated one.

 

[RayClem]

There are two types of wood pellets: pellets used for cooking and pellets used for fuel.

Pellets used for cooking are usually some form of hardwood. In the Northwest, alder is one of the wood species commonly used for pellets. In the Southeast, oak is more common. Other hardwood species such as maple, hickory, mesquite, and various fruitwoods are added for flavor.

Fir trees are not toxic, so they can be used for cooking purposes. However, as softwood typically burns at a rapid rate, fir might not be ideal for "low and slow" cooks on a pellet grill.

Fir trees are suitable for use a fuel as long as the wood is properly seasoned. Because wood pellets dry out the wood to 5-10% moisture, this should take care of the seasoning process. At the high temperatures in pellet stoves, little creosote would be formed. That might not be the case at the lower temperatures of a pellet smoker.

I have never heard of any pellet blends used for cooking that contain fir, so I am not sure what Traeger might do with fir pellets. Perhaps they add small quantities of fir pellets to a hardwood blend to enhance the flavor (sort of like using cedar planks for cooking salmon), but I have never seen anything that confirms that practice.

BTW:: some species of cedar like Virginia/Eastern red cedar are toxic, so never cook on cedar planks unless you know the cedar is suitable for cooking use.