Grilling is one of the best ways to enjoy a large gathering of people in your backyard! The problem is serving food to a large number of people. There are very few grills out there that are able to do that. Luckily the Pit Boss grills are probably one of the best ones! They are massive grills that can cook multiple items simultaneously. They are powered by wood pellets that are burned to provide a smoky flavor for your food. But exactly how long do wood pellets last in Pit Boss?
There are many factors that need to be taken into account when thinking about wood pellets in Pit Boss grills. Wood pellets in Pit Boss grill can last anywhere from 8 to 24 hours from one 40-pound bag. But some of the many factors that determine how long wood pellets will last. If you are planning on buying a Pit Boss grill, then this is definitely something that you have to know about first. I am here to help you understand all the circumstances behind the grill and its wood pellets!
Key Takeaways
- Wood pellets are of various types and are made of different types of wood sawdust. The ones that grills use are made from hardwood.
- Different types of wood give different flavors for your grill so you will need to choose what flavor you want.
- There are at least 10 major reasons to determine how long your wood pellets will last in the Pit Boss grill.
- However, these reasons combined will determine how long your wood pellets will last!
- If you use your grill properly and make sure to keep it clean and well-maintained, then you won’t have to worry about exploding wood pellets.
Wood Pellets: What Are They and Types Explained
If you haven’t really gone around using a pellet grill, then you wouldn’t really know about wood pellets. These are wood chips, wood fiber, and sawdust which are then compressed into small chunks. These small cylindrical chucks are put in pellet grills and act as fuel for the grill itself. And if you are wondering about Pit Boss grills, they are exclusively run on wood pellets. Without it, they can’t produce the heat to cook food!
There are not many types of wood pellets. The main one is either a heater wood pellet used to burn stoves for heating. These are made with compressed sawdust from softwood such as pine and plywood which are not safe for consumption. What we are more interested in are smoker wood pellets which are not only safe for consumption but are able to add flavor to your grilled food! These are made from hardwood and here are some of the different woods used for Pit Boss grills and the type of flavor they give to your grill:
- Alder: mild woody flavor and aroma
- Apple: fruity flavor
- Cherry: subtle sweet flavor
- Hickory: strong flavor
- Maple: slight sweet flavor
- Mesquite: hearty flavor
- Oak: nutty flavor
- Pecan: nutty, mix of sweet and spicy flavor
Wood pellets can be made from either one or many different but complementary wood sawdusts to help bring a blend of flavors to your hardwood pellets!
10 Factors That Determine How Long Wood Pellets Last in Pit Boss Grills
Now we come to the main point, How long will your wood pellet last in the Pit Boss grill? There are many factors that will determine this so let’s go through them one by one!
1. Age of your Pit Boss grill
The main thing that you need to consider for your grill is how old it is. Pit Boss grills are manufactured with electrical heating components that heat up the wood pellets to fire up the flames for heat in your grill. Now think of it like this; newer Pit Boss grills with newer electrical components will tend to heat up faster meaning that your wood pellets will also burn faster.
Older ones will burn slower meaning that your wood pellets will last longer as well. While it is not a good or bad thing to last long or short, it will determine how frequently you will need to replace the wood pellets.
2. Clean grills
The cleaner the grills are, the more efficient they will be at burning the wood pellets in the Pit Boss grill! This is because unclean grills will accumulate a lot of grease, ash, and other substances that will absorb the heat and not provide efficient heating of the wood pellets. This will make it so that your wood pellets are not burning evenly and will require you to change them out altogether to clean the grill and add new wood pellets.
3. Quality of wood pellet
Probably something that a lot of overlooks but if you don’t have good-quality wood pellets, you will end up with a lot of unburned wood chunks. A good quality wood pellet will burn evenly and also last a long time inside the grill while it burning. Low-quality wood pellets will burn up quickly and produce more ash that will clog up your Pit Boss grill fairly quickly!
4. Outside weather and temperature
A lot of people forget the fact that wood is able to readily absorb moisture and be affected by the weather outside where you are firing up the grill! The Pit Boss grill has great insulation so you don’t have to worry about the outside temperature unless it is freezing.
Windy conditions are also bad because they will constantly blow away the flames and produce inconsistent burning of the wood pellets and cause your wood pellets to burn up quickly and unevenly at the same time!
5. Insulation
Speaking of the weather, insulation is vital for how much you are going to burn in your Pit Boss grill. The better the insulation, and the quality of grill material, the longer your wood pellets are able to last. It might also last a lot less because the wood pellets are burning more efficiently as well, but that is quite subjective to the rest of the points below.
6. Pit Boss grill storage
The Pit Boss grill has a great storage compartment that allows for the wood pellets to be safe from moisture. However, if you leave the air-tight bag that you left in the grill open it will absorb the moisture from the surrounding and produce inefficient heating for your grill.
Another thing that matters is that if it rains and you didn’t close the Pit Boss grill storage properly, then you are left with soggy wood pellets that won’t burn at all! That is why it is important to store the wood pellets properly.
7. Bag size
This one is pretty self-explanatory. The larger the bag, the longer it will last! Most Pit Boss grills can hold 20 to 30 pounds of wood pellets that will last anywhere from 6 to 20 hours of burning, longer if it is burned properly. All that matters is that you store the bag properly in an airtight container so that moisture does not get absorbed into the wood pellets.
8. Cooking method and fire setting
Different foods will require different types of flame settings. If you are slow-roasting something in the Pit Boss grill, then the wood pellets will last significantly longer than a high fire setting needed for searing. So how long your wood pellets will last will be determined by what you are cooking.
9. Pit Boss grill size
The bigger the grill, the more fuel you need to make sure it is burning properly. One 20-pound bag of wood pellets in a large grill will last only about 10 hours while that same bag for a smaller grill will last longer. It’s because you will be replacing the wood pellets a lot less frequently.
A larger grill will also mean that it takes time for the grill cavity to heat up completely, which means that you are burning the wood pellets more to get that ideal temperature first before starting the cooking.
10. Simultaneous cooking
Now if you are to use the whole area of the Pit Boss grill for cooking, then you are obviously using up more fuel. If you are cooking, roasting, and frying at the same time, you are bound to use up a lot of wood pellets. So the more you cook, the shorter time the wood pellets will be able to last.
See the thing is, it is a combination of all these factors that will really determine how long your wood pellets will last! Some like storage and insulation will obviously influence the burning period more but when combined with the other factors, you will notice a wide variation of timing. So don’t rely on one aspect and think of the whole.
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Exploding Wood Pellets: Reasons and Cause for Concern
There is a reason why pellet grills are not really popular with people. It is mainly because of the supposed exploding wood pellet chunks in the grill. Now I am here to tell you that it is very possible that this might happen. But if you were to use it properly, then it is easily avoidable.
There are two reasons for exploding wood pellets. The first is not cleaning the grill properly. In this case, the grill will accumulate ash and grease which might cause some of the wood pellets to pop and cause a small explosion. The other is using too much wood pellet at once.
Let’s say you are using the grill and it stops working. Thinking that you need to add more wood pellets, you add it and start burning it again. There is way too much wood pellet in the grill and with so much, it is bound to reach a temperature that causes some of the wood pellets to explode!
That is why it is important to take care of your Pit Boss grill properly and make sure that you are adding the correct amount of wood pellets in it so you don’t cause an explosion. It is not a major cause for concern, just a word of caution can help eliminate such a threat.
FAQs
1. Is it possible to use the pellet grill in the rain?
It is possible but the grill won’t burn for a long time because the wood pellets will get soaked in water and it will prevent it from burning properly.
2. How many pellets does the pit boss hopper hold?
A Pit Boss hopper will be able to hold somewhere between 18 to 19 pounds of wood pellets for several hours of cooking.
3. Do you need a thermal blanket for winter grilling?
It is important to have a thermal blanket for winter grilling because the outside temperature will make the grill too cold to heat properly. With the blanket, the ambient temperature will be higher and it will be easier to use the grill.
4. How long will a 20-pound bag of wood pellets last in a Pit Boss grill?
It is difficult to say because of the quality of wood pellets needed, but if you are to use a good quality wood pellet, then it will last a good 10 to 12 hours.
Final Thoughts
There you have it, a good 8 to 20 hours of grilling fun from one full bag of wood pellets in your Pit Boss grill. The range is so large because there are so many factors to consider and you also need to take into account that all these have to combine. They cannot be looked at individually because each is a part of the whole grilling experience. Remember to use high-quality wood pellets and keep your Pit Boss grill clean and maintained properly to get the most out of your grill and your wood pellets!
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I am Donald M. Beyer and I am backyard enthusiasts. I am a homeowner who has been doing DIY projects in and out of my house for many years. From simple backyard lunches to making an old-school pizza oven in my own backyard, I have a lot of experience in turning my backyard into my and my family’s personal playground.
