# Wood Stove Pellets for Smoker Fuel



## toekneepea (Jul 7, 2010)

I use cedar chips, and thought that I would add some wood pellets to help prolong the length that the smoker stayed lit. Bought a bag at Home Depot or Lowes and used them about a half-dozen times last year.

They did burn hot, but not terribly so. Some grass or mint leaves in the funnel of your smoker will dampen the heat.

My main issue was the smell, I didn't like it at all.

If you get out to 128/95, I'm just off the Pike in Waltham, and you're welcome to the bag of pellets I'm not going to be using.

Tony P.


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## JMP (Mar 28, 2011)

Thanks for the offer Tony, I appreciate that. What was the smell? My neighbor burns wood pellets and I like the smell. Was yours offensive?


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## toekneepea (Jul 7, 2010)

Compared to cedar smoke, I thought so. But I think cedar smoke smells great coming from my smoker, or on my fish...

If you're going to be in my area, PM me and you can pick them up. Worse case scenario you don't like them and give them to your neighbor for his stove.

I'd rather someone use them than they go into a landfill. They're sitting in my garage taking up space.

Tony P.


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## JMP (Mar 28, 2011)

Gotcha. I may be in your area in a few weeks for a class and will let you know. Thanks again Tony!

John


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## David LaFerney (Jan 14, 2009)

I don't like the way they smell much either, and they seem to produce a lot of residue in the smoker - but a few of them do help keep it burning for a long time. Since i've learned to light my smoker i've come favor plain old pine needles.


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## odfrank (May 13, 2002)

You have to bed them on pine needles to get them going. You need to screen the smoke spout to keep them from falling into the hive. I went to punky wood on pine needles for a long burn.


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## Charlie B (May 20, 2011)

odfrank said:


> You need to screen the smoke spout to keep them from falling into the hive.


I'll second that. Wood pellets will stay lit along time but my bees did not appreciate those smoldering pellets coming at them and landing in between the frames and bottom boards. I just use cedar chips now. Easy to lite with a torch and the damp fog here keeps them from burning out too fast.


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## Ski (Jan 18, 2007)

Agree with posts above that they smell, but I thought they also burned very hot, which made the smoker hot and thus the smoke.


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## Beregondo (Jun 21, 2011)

I use wood pellets in a tin can smoker insert.
I've never spilled them into the hive, I've just been aware of not tipping the smoker far enough to pout them out.

Properly used, the smoke is cool enough to blow against the inside of my wrist without discomfort.

Once the pellets are lit (from the bottom), by filling the tin can the rest of the way up with fresh pellets, you get a good, dense smoldering burn.
Hardly ever need to pump the bellows to keep it lit, and a gentle squeeze makes a good dense puff.

I like them.

Dried corn cobs also work very well


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## Charlie B (May 20, 2011)

Beregondo said:


> I use wood pellets in a tin can smoker insert.
> I've never spilled them into the hive, I've just been aware of not tipping the smoker far enough to pout them out.


I happen to enjoy a little brew while singing to my girls during hive inspections so that's not going to work for me.


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## Bsweet (Apr 9, 2010)

I use pellets and like them but you do need to put metal window screen in the spout to prevent possible spillage or I have grabbed a handful of grass clippings and stuffed on top of the pellets to stop them from rolling and to help cool the smoke. Jim


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## Steven Ogborn (Jun 3, 2011)

I got a bag of the pellets. They were really hard to get lit by themselves. They make great mulch for flower seeds.
Once they get wet they break up to saw dust, and hold moisture well. I went back to my mesquite BBQ smoker chips.
Mesquite smells a whole lot better. The bag on the pellets said it was hardwood. It didn't say what type of hardwood.


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## JMP (Mar 28, 2011)

Great advice from you all. Thank you!


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## SWM (Nov 17, 2009)

I've used burlap for years and still do. I once bought a pile of burlap feed sacks at a farm auction that filled the back of my pickup, so I've had a good supply. I've started using wood pellets along with the burlap in recent years.

I start the smoker with a few pieces of burlap on the botton, get it going good, then throw in 1 or 2 handfulls of pellets. Then I fill the rest of the smoker with more burlap. With the pellets sandwiched between layers of burlap they never blow out with the smoke and I've found that they extend the burn time of the smoker considerably.


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## beeware10 (Jul 25, 2010)

we have used every thing to make smoke for the last 50 yrs and we now use pellets. as far as pellets falling into the hive you have to be smarter than the smoker.. cut up an old t shirt and put that on top and it also cools the smoke.


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## Intheswamp (Jul 5, 2011)

My daughter wanted to know what to get me for Christmas. I'm just starting out and read all the good remarks about wood pellets. My mentor uses them. So I told my daughter she could get me some wood pellets....she bought me two bags.  The problem is it takes an act of congress to get them lit and then they easily go out. I'm using the Kelley's 10" smoker. For the life of me I can't get the pellets to burn. I had been using pine straw but it has a strong smell and I was looking for something a little less harsh...I'm back to using pine straw, though...gotta have the smoke. I use some punky wood that works pretty good, but it's kind of sporadic on getting it to burn good....I think it may be due to varying moisture levels in it.

But, the experience that I've had with pellets....I don't like them. Maybe I need to do like others have mentioned and start a bed of pine straw and then put pellets on top of it. ????

Ed


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## Beregondo (Jun 21, 2011)

How I light wood pellets easily, keep them lit, and cool the smoke:
(This works for me, it might for you, too.)

As mentioned earlier, I have a tin can insert in my smoker. 
It's homemade and looks similar to this one, but the holes in the side of mine go about 3/4 of the way up:






(Photo from Michael Bush's site at http://www.bushfarms.com/images/SmokerInsert3.jpg)

1) I put a loosely wadded sheet of paper from a 1" thick phone book in the bottom of the can. The phone book rolls up nicely and stays in my bee yard tool box. A similar sized piece of newspaper is just as good.

2) I put another one in the bottom of the smoker after lighting it, and one slightly more tightly wadded on top of that.

3) I give it a few bellows puffs and get a good flame, then slip the can in and give another puff or two.

4) I put a couple of big handfuls of pellets in the can -- cover the paper by at least 1/4" of pellets.

5) I give the bellow a lot of short (3/4 to 1" or so) fast squeezes until the smoke is very dense.

6) *IMPORTANT *Fill the can the rest of the way up with pellets to cool the smoke!

7) Close the top and give a gentle puff or to to get a good draw.

8) That's it!

If you are gentle with the bellows, the fire will stay at the bottom of the pellet column, and the pellets above the smoldering ones will damp any sparks or embers, and cool the smoke.

You will get a thick, dense smoke that will stream out even if the smoker is left sitting a while. It only takes a couple of short puffs to renew it if it dies down.

When smoking the bees, a soft, steady, gentle squeeze of the bellows will reward you with a nice stream of smoke.

Being heavy handed with the bellows will push the fire too high up the pellet column in the can. That will waste fuel and reduce the cooling of the smoke and damping of sparks and embers.


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## max2 (Dec 24, 2009)

"they seem to produce a lot of residue in the smoker" - anybody worked out how to get rid of the residue ( I guess it is Creosote?)


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## spunky (Nov 14, 2006)

I use a solvent and scrap/burn it off


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## Intheswamp (Jul 5, 2011)

Beregondo said:


> How I light wood pellets easily, keep them lit, and cool the smoke:
> (This works for me, it might for you, too.)
> <snip>


Well, I've actually used a propane torch to light the pellets. They'll get glowing red, I'll pump them a little with the top off, smoke never gets really dense. Looking at the coals it would seem that the pellets should be burning good. Adding a couple more handfuls of pellets kills the coals quickly. I'm beginning to wonder whether it is a smoker issue or a problem with the pellets. Pine straw works beautifully...but I'm not overly fond of it's smell/stench. I saved a couple of pasta cans to tinker with and see if they make a difference with the pellets. When I get around to it I'll post back here with any revelations. 

Ed


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## BeeGhost (May 7, 2011)

I do a 50/50 thing with wood pellets and pine straw. I put a couple hand fulls of pellets in the smoker then use a torch to light them up. When a fair amount of burning happens I pack the rest of the smoker with pine straw. I have a small smoker and it will stay lit for atleast an hour and even then I have to dump everything out on the dirt and douse with water when I am done using it.

I also believe that the different types of pellets burn different. The cheap pellets from the big box stores suck, even when using them in the pellet stoves. They are high in ash and residue. I buy the premium pine pellets from our feed store and they not only smell good, they dont gum the smoker up as bad. At $6.50 for a 40# bag, its worth every penny and should last a long time!

Im not a seasoned beekeeper, but I have practiced lighting the smoker a lot since I started using smoke on my inspections!!


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## mmiller (Jun 17, 2010)

I love using pellets. I use them in both of my smokers, one with an inside can like Beregondo describes and one without. I get mine lit by starting 1 loosly wadded sheet of newspaper on fire and shoving it in the bottom, then I add a tightly wadded news sheet followed by a large handful of pellets. I get those pellets going good with a half dozen heavy pumps and let sit a couple of mins and couple more heavy puffs. Then I fill it up with pellets (3-4" more) and give the bellows 2 or 3 full slow blows and again a min or so later. I throw a handfull of balled up grass/weeds (green) on top and close it up. I like to use short puffs when smoking the bees and give the smoker 1 long deep puff when I set it down. You can get the smoke really hot if you are giving the bellows full pumps which is why I use short puff of smoke. The smoke I get is dense and cool and will burn for 4 or 5 hours without messing with it at all. I place it in a metal can in the back of my pickup and move between yards without having to add fuel or relite.
As for residue, I haven't really noticed too much of a problem. I've been using pellets for 2 full seasons now and although its dark inside my smokers they don't have any real buildup.

I'm a fan. 

Mike


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## Don'tWorryBeeHappy (May 13, 2011)

I have a pellet stove and when we were shopping for it, a vendor told us to soak some pellets in rubbing alcohol for lighting the stove. It puffs them up and adds quick starting fuel. Not sure you want to smoke bees with rubbing alcohol, but I've done a similar thing using a little water instead of rubbing alcohol to let them puff out, get crumbly and dry off. Then I wrap a bunch of the crumbly pellets in newspaper and light it up.


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## Ravenseye (Apr 2, 2006)

When I use pellets I light them with a propane torch (I pretty much always use a torch to get my smoker going) and then, after the pellets get hot I cover them with grass. The moist grass makes a LOT of smoke.


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