Contents
- 1 Our Selection 10 Best Place to Buy Wood Pellets
- 1.1 1# Traeger Hickory 100% All-Natural Hardwood Grill Pellets – Amazon’s Choice
- 1.2 2# Z GRILLS Flavor 100% All-Natural No Blending American Oak Hard Grill – Amazon’s Choice
- 1.3 3# Bear Mountain BBQ 100% All-Natural Hardwood Pellets
- 1.4 4# BBQr’s Delight Wood Smoking Pellets
- 1.5 5# Louisiana Grills Competition Blend Pellets – Amazon’s Choice
- 1.6 6# PIT BOSS BBQ Wood Pellets – Amazon’s Choice
- 1.7 7# Ol’ Hick Cooking Pellets
- 1.8 8# JN Pit Boss BBQ Wood Pellets – #1 Best Release
- 1.9 9# Lumber Jack BBQ 7 varieties BBQ Pellet Pack – Amazon’s Choice
- 2 How Are Wood Pellets Made?
Pellet heating systems for private use are becoming more and more popular. This is mainly due to the growing environmental awareness of alternative heating methods. Heating with wood pellets turned out to be much more environmentally friendly than, for example, natural gas or fuel oil. This is because unlike other fossil fuels, which include, for example, coal, wood pellets burn CO2-free and thus do not pollute the environment. Various wood pellet tests on the Internet show that pellets are rightfully the fuel with the best ecological balance.
Our Selection 10 Best Place to Buy Wood Pellets
Pellet grills are also gaining popularity in the American and European markets. No wonder, because practical wood pellet grills offer a pleasant woody aroma and a grilling convenience. Adjusting the temperature of the grill with these grill devices is particularly easy and is carried out by automatically feeding pellets into the combustion chamber. Just set the temperature you want and the pellet grill will do the rest. In this review, I will tell you about the 9 best wood pellets for smoking and heating. You will see their pros and cons and be able to choose the one that suits you best.
1# Traeger Hickory 100% All-Natural Hardwood Grill Pellets – Amazon’s Choice
Premium wood pellets are made from 100% natural, food-grade wood. Traeger Wood Pellets provide perfect combustion for woody flavor. They are made in the USA. Pellet production is monitored from sawmill to shelf. The moisture content of the pellets is at the level of 5%, there are no fillers or binders. It only has a pure wood scent. These pellets are suitable for beef, pork, chicken, fish, lamb, and vegetable dishes.
2# Z GRILLS Flavor 100% All-Natural No Blending American Oak Hard Grill – Amazon’s Choice
Here I present to you a cheap 20-pound bag of pellets that are made from natural 100% American oak, which is hard, burns longer, and its use in cooking gives a completely different flavour to the dish. The peculiarity that distinguishes these pellets from others is the durability, which they possess precisely due to their wood, they are also completely natural, which allows them to position themselves as one of the best types of fuel. And that’s exactly the key to great quality grilled food. 20 pounds is enough for 20 hours of cooking. Whatever you want to grill, you can use these wood pellets. Amazon is the best place to buy wood pellets.
3# Bear Mountain BBQ 100% All-Natural Hardwood Pellets
They are ideal wood pellets for delicious fish, meat, vegetables, and more. They provide an excellent smoky flavour. Due to the special characteristics of 100% natural hardwood and its use mainly for barbecue cooking, it has become extremely popular in the United States for much classic Texas-style cooking, besides giving a different flavor to the dishes you cook. It is ideal for preparing such foods as beef, pork, and all kinds of fish. If you want to make the most of this fuel, you have many ways to use these pellets. Bear Mountain has spent many years developing the perfect combination of the finest woods and compact honeycomb structures to create the most reliable combustion you can find because their customers are extremely important to them.
4# BBQr’s Delight Wood Smoking Pellets
The next package is available at one of the best prices you can find on the market and is also very good for home use. They are made from 100% pecan wood. This nut provides a mild and sweet flavour. You will have a nutty aftertaste. These pellets also provide a strong smoke flavour. All contamination is removed under pressure so you can be sure you are using a clean product.
5# Louisiana Grills Competition Blend Pellets – Amazon’s Choice
Do you care about your own comfort and the state of the environment? Then you can buy wood pellets from Louisiana Grills. It is an environmentally friendly type of fuel, which is small cylindrical wood pellets. Pellets are made from 50% maple, 25% hickory, and 25% cherry by pressing without the use of glue and other synthetic additives. You will get a unique smoke scent.
6# PIT BOSS BBQ Wood Pellets – Amazon’s Choice
The high-quality materials used to make these pellets go through a manufacturing process that in turn ensures that each pellet meets a quality standard. Each pellet is 6mm in diameter, which creates a large calorific value but also produces a large amount of clean energy, so you don’t have to worry about over-maintaining the grill or boiler where you want to use the pellets. The pellets are easy to use and provide a natural scent to the wood.
7# Ol’ Hick Cooking Pellets
These are natural pellets from all-natural Appalachian hickory. It is very important to remember that these affordable granules do not contain any chemical additives or bonding adhesives therefore these granules are 100% natural. You will love them because, in addition to saving money, you will be using products that are good for you, your family, and your home.
8# JN Pit Boss BBQ Wood Pellets – #1 Best Release
The following product is made from wood from North America, which has a high calorific value, making it the preferred raw material. These pellets have a very low level of residual moisture, which, in turn, ensures a clean and even combustion, so you do not need to maintain such frequent cleaning and maintenance of your equipment. This mixture is suitable for all types of grills. They do not use artificial flavors, glue, or chemicals.
9# Lumber Jack BBQ 7 varieties BBQ Pellet Pack – Amazon’s Choice
This is a large set of wood pellets consisting of 7 packs. Each package comes in the amount of 1 pound. You will get varieties such as apple, cherry, maple, mesquite, maple-hickory-cherry, pecan, hickory. It is also important to note that they produce intense smoke, which gives foods a more golden color than you can. One of the most important characteristics you should know about this product is its production, which is free from resins, pesticides, and binders, making it much more recommended for use.
How Are Wood Pellets Made?
Wood pellets are made up of sawdust and are usually 6 to 10 mm in size. All of the above are considered briquettes, which are also used to heat large ovens. Pellets can be obtained from a wide variety of wood species, from oak to walnut and beech. They often consist of a mixture of different types of wood. The universal fuel can be used either for heating pellets or, for example, as pellets for wood-burning stoves.
Benefits of Wood Pellets
Grilling pellets are made from wood flour and have a number of advantages:
- They burn almost without leaving a trace
- Generate high temperatures quickly
- Gives a delicious flavor to grilled food
- Easy to dose
- Lightweight
- Environmentally friendly and made from renewable raw materials
- Wood pellet grills are a real alternative to gas and charcoal grills
Grilling granules are available in many different varieties, each with a different flavor. But not all wood pellets are suitable for pellet grills. Under no circumstances should heating pellets be used. They are usually mixed with binders that can adversely affect the taste when burned and are harmful to health. Heating granules are not suitable for cooking. In the production of pellets, moisture, structure, and pressure play a role and affect the quality of the pellets. The best results are obtained with hardwood pellets with a tightly compressed structure. Grill pellet manufacturers often also offer different types of suitable grilling pellets.
Wood Pellets for Smoking
Not only can grill pellets be used with matching grill pellets, but they are also ideal for charcoal and gas grills to give your grilled food a delicious smoke flavor. For example, use wood pellets instead of smoking wood chips in a smokehouse on a gas grill. They even offer some advantages over classic smoked chips. So they don’t need to be watered before using. The tightly compressed granule structure ensures very long-lasting smoke production. When using a charcoal grill or smoker you can also simply put the grill pellets in the coals. There you can develop the flavor of the smoke and transfer it to the dishes that are being grilled. Like other types of smoked wood, grill pellets are made from a wide variety of woods and promise a wide variety of flavors, each of which goes well with a variety of grilled dishes. Grilling pellets made of maple, oak, cherry, apple, and many other types of wood.
How to Identify Good Wood Pellets By Eye?
First of all, a few words about the method of making wood pellets. Raw materials for them can be sawdust, wood chips, shavings of various types of wood, illiquid wooden products, as well as sunflower husk and straw. Granulation of repeatedly crushed and dried raw materials takes place on a sawdust pellet mill. This device, using a shaft and rollers, pushes the raw material through the matrix cells at a temperature of 250-300°C. Under these conditions, the wood releases the substance lignin, which contributes to the natural adhesion of the granule and the preservation of its integrity after cooling. As a result, the surface of good quality granules is smooth and shiny, there should not be many chips and cracks on it. This state is ensured by the observance of the technology, in particular, by running the wood at a sufficient temperature.
Features of Production
An indirect reason for trust is the size of production. Large wood pelleting enterprises can provide stable fuel pellet performance as they either do woodworking themselves or have regular suppliers. Small complexes usually have less professional equipment and collect raw materials from different locations. The result, accordingly, is also different.
Pellet Size
The size of the granule is usually 6, 8, 10 mm in diameter and from 1 to 5 cm in length. First of all, it is necessary to get rid of the myth that 6 mm is a quality standard. Conversely, smaller granules that have not undergone proper processing are easier to crumble. In terms of size, you should be guided exclusively by the recommendations for your boiler, since it is for this size that its automation is designed. If you use pellets larger than those specified in the instructions, the boiler mechanisms will experience increased stress.
Pellet Consistency
It is worth paying attention to the hardness of the granule, for this try to break it in two. Pay attention to whether it lends itself easily, whether the broken place crumbles. The higher the hardness, the more intact the total mass in storage. This is important because fuel pellets are often poured back and forth. Agree, it’s a shame if they bring you a load, where a third of the volume is crumbled into dust, and another third is broken? To avoid this, you should find out the degree of abrasiveness of the pellets. Abrasiveness is measured with a lingo-tester. Pellets are pressed with a weight of up to 100 kg for 1 min and then blown to filter out the separated wood particles. If the product is of high quality, the volume of crumbled should not exceed 1%. It should be noted that granules are better preserved in bags.
Smell
The smell of the fuel may indicate the way it was stored. When stored in damp cellars, the mass gives off mustiness and dampness. Ideally, there is either no smell, or it is pleasant, woody, and does not remind of glue and chemistry.
Water Test
An easy way to study the composition of a granule is to dissolve it in a glass of water. Normally, it will soon turn into a wet mass, which is what happens with cat litter. If the pellet is in no hurry to disintegrate, it is most likely that it is additionally glued together, since natural lignin quickly dissolves in water. At the same time, granules of any kind drown in the water. Pay attention to the sediment, if you see particles settling at the bottom, then there are a lot of impurities and sand in the product.
Conclusion
Wood pellets are environmentally friendly, easy-to-use, and relatively inexpensive solid fuels. A significant number of these and other positive qualities make them a promising energy resource. The advantages of pellets, such as high heat transfer, minimal ash formation, safety during storage, as well as the absence of hazardous chemicals, have long been appreciated by users. I hope after reading my article you will be able to choose the wood pellets suitable for you. If you are still struggling with your choice, pay special attention to options 1# Traeger Hickory 100% All-Natural Hardwood Grill Pellets – Amazon’s Choice, 2# Z GRILLS Flavor 100% All-Natural No Blending American Oak Hard Grill – Amazon’s Choice, and 3# Bear Mountain BBQ 100% All-Natural Hardwood Pellets.
Tags: #best wood pellets / #best wood pellets for smoking / #best place to buy wood pellets / #best wood pellets for heating
