Benefit of Char-Mix pellets?....on a Mak?

[NAMetz]

I think it's BBQer's Delight who has a charcoal mixed pellet. I've seen comments where flavor does not seem to be impacted much, but they burn hotter. Does anyone who has a new Mak think this would help when direct grilling using the flame zone to get higher temps for searing and such? Thinking if used with the searing grates too. Appreciate any insights you may have.
Thanks!

[TentHunteR]

Here's another recent thread where I briefly touched on this subject, along with more good info from others about pellets & smoke output in general:  MAK Smoke Output & Pellets (split from MAK 2 Star review)


Here's what I know about charcoal-blended pellets.

At one time, about 6 years ago, BBQr's delight offered a charcoal/oak mixed pellet, but as far as I know they were soon discontinued. 

Lumber Jack has their "CharBlend Hickory" pellets, which seem to give me a bit higher grilling temps in our MAK with the new FlameZone, set on "GRILL/High" mode.  High BTU's, good flavor, and low ash.   

Here's the caveat; the only way I know to get them at a decent price is to include them with a bulk order.  Otherwise they are pricey ($25 per 20 lbs on Amazon)!


PelletPro also has charcoal/oak blended pellets (never used them), but are also quite pricey ($29.99 per 20 lbs).


So...  unless you want to pay a premium price, or can get those pellets in a bulk order to bring cost down, your best bet is to stick with straight 100% oak pellets.  Oak will give you the best overall BTU's and lowest ash.




Hope this helps!

[smokeasaurus]

Lumberjack has the char blend.  BBQers Delight has Jack Daniels. I don't care for the char-mix pellets personally. I got a pellet grill for wood flavor....adding char pellets is like guys with electric smokers adding a briquette to their chip box.

I only use charcoal to get my splits going in my offset. This is coming from a guy that would buy about 1200 lbs of Kingsford a year for the last 20 years.

Just my take on things. Probably mixed with say oak or hickory pellets could be interesting...........

[TentHunteR]

Lumberjack has the char blend.  BBQers Delight has Jack Daniels. I don't care for the char-mix pellets personally. I got a pellet grill for wood flavor....adding char pellets is like guys with electric smokers adding a briquette to their chip box.

I'd forgotten that BBQr's Delight now offers the Jack Daniels in large bags for pellet grills.

BBQr's Delight for a very short time sold an oak/charcoal mix pellet, but they were a very short lived product. I was only able to order them once and then they were gone.  And at that time they only offered the Jack Daniels as a flavor pellet in 1 lb bags (for use in a pellet pouch for regular charcoal grills).


About your correlation between a briquette in an electric smoker and Char-mix pellets; If used at lower temps, where they would get a chance to smolder a bit before igniting, I can see where they wouldn't be all that good. 

I use them ONLY at higher grilling temps because that's where they shine.  At those temp settings with an almost constant feed rate they burn super hot, cleanly and don't really get a chance to smolder.  At grilling temps the Charblend Hickory flavor is not unlike using a hot lump charcoal fire with a couple hickory chunks in say a Weber kettle at higher temps. It's not so much a pronounced smoky favor, but rather a chargrilled flavor with a hint of hickory, if that makes sense.



A briquette in an electric smoker just sounds nasty.  No combustion, just a smoldering piece of charcoal... Yuck! 

[smokeasaurus]

A briquette in an electric smoker just sounds nasty.  No combustion, just a smoldering piece of charcoal... Yuck!   

Yup, but I have heard of owners trying to get a smoke ring......... if you want a smoke ring ya gotta put your big boy pants on and chop wood and feed a fire.................

Or be smart and get a MAK