Pellet grills offer many benefits compared to the traditional charcoal grill.
You get precision temperature control, more flavor options, and prevents uneven cooking.
However, you will need to change out your pellets from time to time.
Whether you need to do a burn off for deep cleaning or testing some new flavored pellets, you’ll need to remove the pellets from your Pit Boss grill.
Table of contents
Why You Should Remove Pellets From Pit Boss
Removing pellets from your Pit Boss Grill is an important skill to have for many reasons.
Performing a Deep Cleaning
A wood pellet grill is bound to get dirty, especially if you’re cooking pork butt, pork belly, ribs, and food with high fat content.
So you’ll need to do grill cleaning on a regular basis.
A proper grill cleaning starts with removing the pellets, allowing you to clean the dust underneath.
Trying New Pellet Flavors
One advantage of using Pit Boss grill for delicious smoking is trying new pellet flavors.
Many people like to test the flavors of different foods to find the perfect match.
Next time, consider throwing one of these pellet flavors into the burn pot: alder, cherry, apple, maple, hickory, or pecan.
Replacing Old Pellets With New Ones
Your favorite pellets don’t last forever. Whether using bbq wood pellets or competition pellets you will be need to top up your supply of fuel
Storing Your Pellet Grill
Many Pit Boss owners choose to store their grills in their winter months.
If so, you’ll remove the pellets and do a deep bbq cleaning before storage. This keeps the pellets away from moisture and ensures your grill is ready to use again in the spring.
Note: you can leave pellets in the hopper, but you have to ensure your pellet grill is stored out of the elements.
Temperature Control
If your pellet smoker is experiencing overheating issues, it may be due to excessive fuel. As a result, you’ll need to remove the excess wet pellets off of your grill.
When it comes to slow cooks, it’s important to have the right grill temperature to prevent overcooking.
How to Remove Pellets From a Pit Boss Grill
Follow these steps to remove the pellets from your grill.
Step 1. Put a clean bucket underneath the release compartment.
When opening the release compartment, the pellets will fly out. Having a 5-gallon bucket with foil allows you to store the charcoal pellets for future use.
Avoid getting moisture on them. Damp pellets can be unusable.
Step 2. Take off the black plastic flap and loosen the screw above the flap
Pull and take off the black plastic flap cover located at the rear of the grill. Above the flap, there’s a screw. Once you unscrew it, you’ll pull the tray out. A pellet dump will occur once the trey is pulled out.
Step 4. Catch the pellets with the ash bucket
Your ash bucket will be there to catch the pellet release. Make sure you get as many pellets as you can.
Step 5. Use a stick or hands to swipe the remaining charcoal pellets
There still may be pellets inside the hopper. To finish the pellet dump, open the top compartment. Then use your hands or stick to push out the pellet supply into the bucket.
Removing Pellets from the Pit Boss Auger
Unfortunately, once you remove the pellets from the hopper, you may find some leftover pellets stuck inside the auger on pellet grills.
You can clear the auger by either burning through the remaining pellet supply by whipping up a few hamburgers or removing the pellets inside the auger using a shop vac.
Use a Shop or Ash Vaccum
A shop or ash vac comes with extension wands to maneuver inside the auger tube. Thus, you can easily suck up the remaining dry pellets stuck inside. Many shop vacs can work under dry and wet conditions.
You can remove the fire shield and grates to vacuum up any unused pellets in the burn pot as well. Furthermore, you can run your grill on the “Prime Auger” function, which feeds the pellets through the auger tube and into the firepot.
Burning Off the Remaining Pellets
If you hate to waste pellets, burning them off might be better. Old pellets under indirect heat can be gone in roughly 15 to 20 minutes. Or cook up a few hamburgers or bbq chicken, and the pellets can be finished in 10 minutes.
How Often Should You Replace the Pellets?
The frequency at which you change out pellets in your vertical smoker is entirely up to you.
If you smoke often, consider cleaning every week to keep your smoker dust-free. The last thing you want in your cooking chamber is cups of pellet dust!
Perhaps, you don’t use it often but want to change flavors; then you can replace them every few weeks.
If you hate the routine of cleaning out pellets, we recommend trying out competition blend pellets.
These pellets offer a diverse and versatile flavor that can be used for all types of foods like chicken, beef, seafood, pork, fruits, and vegetables.
Furthermore, they can be used for smoking, grilling, and baking. The Competition Blend flavor consists of hickory, cherry, and maple.
it’s important to learn which pellet flavors pair well with different meats. It’s vital to learn how to change out your dry pellets so that you can test out new flavors.
If you ever run into trouble removing them, you can always burn through them before putting in new ones. We’ve hope you’ve found our guide useful next time you’re looking to change pellets!
Smoke On!
Charlie
Author: Charlie Reeves
Hi, I’m Charlie, I am head taste tester at Simply Meat Smoking! I love it grilling, smoking, and getting out in the yard with the kids! The family also love to test all my recipes (especially my EXTRA CRISPY pulled pork, smoky pork loin, and ANY SEAFOOD I grill)
You will usually find me playing with the kids, perfecting my brisket bark, or sipping beers with boys around the fire. Can’t wait to share all my delicious smoking and grilling adventures with you!
You can read more on our About Us page.
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