Excessive pellet dust after each cook

[hotsaucedaily]

After doing 7 or 8 cooks in my new Rec Tec Mini, I'm surprised at the amount of dust left over after each cook.

I vacuum it out everytime, but I have a neighbor that swears if I used (in his opinion, a better pellet, Traegers) I would have less dust than the Rec Tec brand pellets.

Is this normal to have so much dust after cooking?
Is this stuff getting onto our food?
What's the norm for pellet cookers?



Thanks in advance!
~brian

[tomcrete1]

Brian, the dust or ash is normal it will slowly go away as more build up of grease coats the inside of the grill. I noticed the  same thing with mine and it still blows the ash out of the fire pot which is good but it all stays below the grease tray because of the grease on the walls,of the barrel. Hope this helps

[teesquare]

ALL pellet grills will have residual dust after a cook. This one is no better and no worse than the ones I have owned or used. I would not worry about it at all. In fact, I have purposely allowed this ash/dust to collect int he bottom of my grills for a while to see what the ill effect potentials are.

Mostly, the potential of a flameout or a grease fire if you have been cooking a lot of fate meats - and the fat has managed to drip down tot he belly of your grill are the two things that are the reasons we vacuum out this area on a regular basis.

As for - it getting on your food....perhaps a small amount will. It has never been noticeable to me, nor has anyone else mentioned it that has eaten the food I have cooked. I think it is no more of a problem than if you cooked over an open fire, or - even over any wood or charcoal fueled cooker.

HTH!
T

[smokeasaurus]

Looks normal to me. I am not familiar with Rec Tec pellets. I do know there is less dust from Perfect Mix compared to Lumberjack Oak pellets.

Looks like you are A-OK.

I used to clean my pellet grills after every cook as well. Figure since the deflector plate is out and vacuuming out the fire-pot, just go ahead and hit the rest.

It is more crucial to keep your fire-pot cleaned out and a new pc of foil on the deflectorplate...IMHO......

[Smokin Don]

Brian I have been using my Traeger over 6 years now. If what you show in the photo is after one cook that's not bad at all. I try to clean mine out after 2 or 3 cooks. If I do a long cook like a pork butt or brisket I clean it out after. I have used a lot of different brand pellets and I get about the same ash on most. If you let the fire pot build up with too much ash that increases your chances of a flame out when cooking, smoking at low temps.

I suppose you do get some of the ash on the food but then if you cook over a wood fire or charcoal I think you get some too. It has never been a problem for me. Hope this helps. Don

[HighOnSmoke]

That looks normal to me too. I clean my fire pot out after 2 or 3 cooks and I usually get less then a cup of ash. I exclusively burn Lumberjack Pellets. I have never had a fire start from the ash accumulation, but there is always a first time.  I now religiously change out my foil especially after a long fatty cook such as pork butt or a chicken cook. I have had a grease fire that started on the foil because of the grease.  Not a pleasant thing especially if you are cooking meatloaf. 

[TentHunteR]

Think about how much ash you'd have if you'd used charcoal for that same cook

Enjoy how little ash you're now getting with your pellet grill! 


Cliff

[TMB]

With my Rec-Tec it was the same way till I had a few cooks in.   

My grill still gets a good cleaning but a lot less since it is seasoned in.

As for Traeger pellets, I use to use those, but price became a factor and found the B&B pellets and the Rec-Tec pellets do a better job (IMHO)

[smokeasaurus]

That looks normal to me too. I clean my fire pot out after 2 or 3 cooks and I usually get less then a cup of ash. I exclusively burn Lumberjack Pellets. I have never had a fire start from the ash accumulation, but there is always a first time.  I now religiously change out my foil especially after a long fatty cook such as pork butt or a chicken cook. I have had a grease fire that started on the foil because of the grease.  Not a pleasant thing especially if you are cooking meatloaf. 

I would like to add to the grease fire on the foil. From what I have observed, the longer barrel style pellet grills like the full size Rec Tec and the Traeger Texas and the GMG Jim Bowie have less of a slant to the grease/deflector pan. The grease can "puddle" more easily. On my Yoder YS-640 and Camp Chef since they were not as long there was a pronounced slant to the tray and the grease ran more freely...................

[muebe]

That is about right to me.

As the interior accumulates a grease residue the dust will stick to that also reducing the visible dust.

Having a unit with variable fan speeds help reduce the dust from being blown around the cooker. The Traeger just has one speed so as the unit runs the dust/ash will get blown around.

And as others stated a quick vacuuming of the fire pot after every cook is good practice to have.

[hotsaucedaily]

Thanks to all that replied. I *really* appreciate the answers.

Looks like it's all normal and I have nothing to worry about other than keeping the fire pot clean. Good to know.

As for the comments about ash from charcoal / lump etc... yep I guess you have a good point!

It's all good and I am LOVING grilling pellet style with the Rec Tec Mini. I'm sorry I didn't convert to pellet cooking years ago.

~brian