I was shopping for pellets yesterday and couldn’t find my usual ones. As I was leaving a guy stoped to ask me what I was looking for. I proceeded to wax eloquently about the virtues of the particular pellets that were out of stock. I was a bit embarrassed when I found out he was actually the manufacturer’s rep for the pellets I was looking for!

The pellets I wanted were “Pro Pellets” they are 100% hardwood heating pellets. The reason I like them is because they are hardwood with no bark or filler; they burn clean and not an excessive amount of ash.

As we talked I learned a few things. I knew there was no regulation on food grade pellets and there are standards that heating pellets must meet. However, I found out that might be changing in the near future. It looks like cooking pellets will also need to meet certain standards. This has apparently been a hot topic at pellet association meetings.

The guy I talked with works for "Fiber By-Products" and they have come out with a cooking pellet in the last year or two called,  "Dusty Dales BBQ Pellets". They are not widely available, but are more of a side project.  There are four types of wood that go into the cooking pellet (hickory, oak, cherry, and maple) and they are mixed together equally at 25% each. The only real difference in the grade of pellet is the wood that goes into it. The heating pellet will have a more types and different ratios of hardwood; but from what I could tell, they are made the exact same way.

It sounds like they are cranking out a lot of pellets, but there is an even bigger demand. The sheer volume of heating pellets produced is significantly greater than the demand for cooking pellets. That makes heating pellets by enlarge a higher priority for manufacturers.

I really enjoyed talking with him. I will try and get ahold of some of their pellets and see what they are like.

 
 

The sheer volume of heating pellets produced is significantly greater than the demand for cooking pellets. That makes heating pellets by enlarge a higher priority for manufacturers.

 

Makes sense.

I rememer LSJ talking about those pellets a while back. He didn't mention what he thought about them :  https://pelletfan.com/index.php?topic=1977.msg23666#msg23666

I rememer LSJ talking about those pellets a while back. He didn't mention what he thought about them :  https://pelletfan.com/index.php?topic=1977.msg23666#msg23666

    I bought around 20 bags of Dusty Dale's  pellets, I still have some that I haven't used yet.     I had called Fiber By-Products  back then and was trying to get some , they directed me to a local place that they could sell too... ( they wouldn't sell to me directly ).   The guy they sold a pallet too, owned a small place that sold all kinds of things, from wood mulch , to fireplace stuff, and some grills.   Because I knew the Dusty Dale's pellets, were what I would call a 'generic' hardwood pellet, I told the guy I wouldn't pay very much for them.  I told him I could get 100% known wood species pellets for around  $14/40 lbs, and that I wouldn't spend that much for generic wood pellets..  I think he ended up selling me 40 pound bags of Dusty Dale's for $7.50 a bag.   Last I knew, I was the only one who ever bought any from him.

   They are a fine wood pellet, but I personally still prefer 100% single species wood pellets.   I like to think I can get 'different' flavors out of 100% Hickory, vs. some generic blend of hardwoods.    And, besides that, I'm still willing to burn 100% Hardwood heating pellets, if I'm really trying to save money , and I can get those for about $5/40lb bags.      Now, if I was hard pressed to find LumberJack, or Smoke Ring BBQ pellets at good prices ( around $16/40lb bags). I might be willing to buy more pellets like Dusty Dale's , just because... well it's clearly a step up from hardwood heating pellets, but honestly I don't believe it's that big a step up.  Nothing at all wrong with them... I just have several other options that I like better at this point in time.

   Heck, Walmart sometimes has 40 pound bags of Pit Boss pellets for $5 to $8 on clearance...  I still have several bags of those that I bought for $6 each.