tekobo Posted May 29, 2019 Report Share Posted May 29, 2019 15 hours ago, tony b said: Reach out to the store and ask if they can get in some of the other woods, in particular some of the fruit woods. They might be able to order you some. Hey Tony. Your post made me smile. The expression "reach out to" is so American. It has crept into business parlance here in the UK and, when anyone says it to me, my reaction is to think "keep your hands to yourself!". Obviously it is a head thing and I need to get over myself. Yes, I did reach out to the company and they said that pecan and beech are all that they have. I am thinking two pecan blend and one beech blend. They seem fairly versatile, looking at the descriptions of use on the lumberjack website and the smoking wood charts that you and @Basher posted a few weeks ago. 60lb of pellets will be a lot so I will have to get used to those flavours! I am keen to try smoking things other than meat and seafood so I guess this is my opportunity. I am still unsure about what all the bits that came with the cold smoker do but will get to that soon. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basher Posted May 30, 2019 Report Share Posted May 30, 2019 (edited) I'm not sure which part of England you are in Tekobo. I spent a few years between London and Gloucestershire and never had to travel too far to find apple, peach, oak or cherry trees in public commons and also in private gardens. Start collecting twigs and pruned cuts and store them in a dry place for a year- Are there space in England dry for a year? lol. You will soon have a pipeline of smoke flavour options. Probably wrong time of the year to start, from memory, Oct/ Nov will see more available after the fruit is picked......... Or buy some pellets- not sure what options you have in the UK. Keep an eye out for the Cornish Pepper Leaf. That's what we are calling Tasmanian Pepperberry AKA Purple Crack. Not sure this can be smoked? I'm keen to try the coffee wood from Dennis, however, not sure it's viable to get this through Aus customs. Might have to source some from North Queensland. Edited May 30, 2019 by Basher Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tekobo Posted May 31, 2019 Report Share Posted May 31, 2019 On 5/30/2019 at 9:44 AM, Basher said: I'm not sure which part of England you are in Tekobo. I spent a few years between London and Gloucestershire and never had to travel too far to find apple, peach, oak or cherry trees in public commons and also in private gardens. Start collecting twigs and pruned cuts and store them in a dry place for a year- Are there space in England dry for a year? lol. You will soon have a pipeline of smoke flavour options. Probably wrong time of the year to start, from memory, Oct/ Nov will see more available after the fruit is picked......... Or buy some pellets- not sure what options you have in the UK. Keep an eye out for the Cornish Pepper Leaf. That's what we are calling Tasmanian Pepperberry AKA Purple Crack. Not sure this can be smoked? Thanks for the tip @Basher. We have three apple trees on our allotment and it never occurred to me to keep the prunings for smoking food. Will definitely do so this year and will see how they work out next. I'll say this quietly: I am not a fan of purple crack. but I do like to try new stuff and will look out for Cornish Pepper Leaf to see if there are parts of the plant that are of interest. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MacKenzie Posted May 31, 2019 Report Share Posted May 31, 2019 TIP - Best to make sure that the fruit trees have not been sprayed with any poison if you are using the trimmings for smoking food. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tekobo Posted May 31, 2019 Report Share Posted May 31, 2019 18 minutes ago, MacKenzie said: TIP - Best to make sure that the fruit trees have not been sprayed with any poison if you are using the trimmings for smoking food. Good point. Will stick to my own trees, which I have not sprayed. Now that I think about it I have apple, cherry and a mixed native hedge that contains some interesting varieties. I will look them up and make sure to save our prunings. Yay. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ckreef Posted May 31, 2019 Report Share Posted May 31, 2019 @tekobo that hurt my ears - LOL 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rick Posted June 9, 2019 Report Share Posted June 9, 2019 Based on a few of your recommendations, I just picked up a 40# bag of "CookinPellets CPBC40lb 100% Black Cherry Pellets" from Amazon. Today the price was $37.40 with Prime 1-day delivery yet they had a 40% off click-coupon when I "subscribed." So I'll get this first one tomorrow and future bags every six months. Here's a direct link to what I purchased. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07C32G157 My efforts to keep cherry wood chips ignited in my Cold/Hot Smoker prompted this purchase. My fire went out way too many times. I'm hoping I have much greater success with pellets. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rick Posted June 9, 2019 Report Share Posted June 9, 2019 For those of you keeping your tree trimmings/prunings to smoke, do you remove the bark? Do you remove it from the underlying wood? I typically tossed the bark in favor of what I considered better smoke. Now that I have the smoke generator I'm not sure. Even though I purchased some pellets, I do have some fruit trees that I periodically trim. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tony b Posted June 10, 2019 Report Share Posted June 10, 2019 I buy my actual wood chunks from Fruita (great source) and they typically come with bark on them, so if the pro's leave it on, enough said! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tekobo Posted June 11, 2019 Report Share Posted June 11, 2019 Yes @rick, I will keep the bark on any trimmings from fruit trees. One of Lumberjack's selling points is that they keep the bark on so, like Tony, I'm going with the pros. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rick Posted June 16, 2019 Report Share Posted June 16, 2019 (edited) UPDATE: I have found by trial and error, plus as suggested in various forum posts , that low moisture level is crucial. Recently I've been drying my pellets in our oven, 12-24 hours before needed. Our oven is an old Wedgewood so the pilot provides enough heat to dry them out. The pellets in my recent cooks have all been rendered to ash, no oatmeal! Smoked my first session (two baby back rib racks) using Cherry CookinPellets. The pellets stayed lit through the entire session! After lighting I topped off the canister with pellets. Over the course of 6+ hours, I only used about half of them. At the end I noticed the remaining pellets looked like oatmeal/sawdust, the pellet form was gone. Is this normal? I did notice a fair amount of moisture whenever I removed the cap. I suspected it was from the pellets. Perhaps moisture is the source of the pellet breakdown. Today I'm going to intentionally keep the Cold Smoker tilted, thinking the moisture will have a path to run down the side versus possibly dripping down into the column. The ribs were great, this cold smoker really provided high quality blue smoke (great flavor with no aftertaste) and layered on the red tone characteristic of using cherry. Edited September 16, 2019 by rick 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tony b Posted June 16, 2019 Report Share Posted June 16, 2019 Nice looking ribs. I've not had that problem with pellets in my cold smoker. When I'm done, I dump them into a ceramic plant pot and put it in the KK at shutdown to snuff them out and reuse them again. Other than the burned ones, the others hold their shape just fine, for me anyway? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rick Posted June 16, 2019 Report Share Posted June 16, 2019 Yesterday I did place the Cold Smoker inside the KK just before shutdown, laying it on its side. Ahead of starting today's session I dumped the pellets in a bowl. Only the top inch or so broke down, under them there were intact pellets and to my surprise carbonized ones. I found it odd there was so little ash. Today, the Cold Smoker is adding flavor to beef jerky, four pounds on four SS "cooling" racks. If any of you can provide insight into your Cold Smoker settings I would really appreciate it. Yesterday I had the threaded tube about half way out, today I've screwed it all the way in, to the stop. The pump provided by Dennis is about 3/4 speed, based on the rotary dial. Thanks, Rick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tony b Posted June 17, 2019 Report Share Posted June 17, 2019 My aquarium pump is a single speed and no adjustment (not from Dennis). I tried to install an inline valve to throttle the airflow, but it didn't work all that well and I abandoned it. I did play around with the insert tube some when I first got it. It's now about 3/4 of the way inserted and I've just left it there rather than futz with it every time I use it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tekobo Posted June 28, 2019 Report Share Posted June 28, 2019 You won't believe the challenges I have faced with trying to get hold of lumberjack pellets. The UK supplier only had one variety in the end, beech, and all other suppliers wanted lots and lots of money to ship to the UK. I then remembered that The Husband was going to be in NYC this week so we checked with his hotel and they were fine to receive a parcel. I got these nice people to send their seven variety sampler pack of 1lb bags: https://www.bbqpelletsonline.com/index.php/products/buy-individual-bags/Lumber-Jack-1-Pound-Variety-Pack-7-varieties-Free-Shipping-p69201136 Happy days. Will now have to figure out how to rig up the smoker. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Syzygies Posted June 28, 2019 Report Share Posted June 28, 2019 As a kid on a family camping trip, I fashioned a slingshot, and went foraging in the woods for suitable projectiles. I found an inexhaustible supply of perfectly formed pellets. I was briefly chagrined when my Dad identified them. If memory serves me right, though, I kept using them. The traditional diet of hare in the south of France (where it is now 45 C) is wild-grown Herbes de Provence. They would be spectacular in a pellet smoker. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MacKenzie Posted June 28, 2019 Report Share Posted June 28, 2019 Lots of those little pellets to be found while camping. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ckreef Posted June 29, 2019 Report Share Posted June 29, 2019 3 hours ago, MacKenzie said: Lots of those little pellets to be found while camping. You know rabbits are herbivores. They don't fully digest their food first go round which is why they "double dip". LOL You could get a bunch of rabbits and exclusively feed them high end fresh herbs. Grab the pellets after "first processing" and you could have the newest high end pellets. Just sayin..... 4 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tony b Posted July 1, 2019 Report Share Posted July 1, 2019 Nice score, Tekobo! That should hold you for many cooks with the smoker. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tyrus Posted July 1, 2019 Report Share Posted July 1, 2019 Smart shopper. Locked and loaded, waiting on the grand finale'. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
