Taste-Test 2 Briquettes v. Pellets

To continue our series of test tests with various smoking supplies and methods. As you may have seen in our first taste test, lump vs. briquette charcoal, briquette was chosen by the FireBoard staff 10-6.  

FireBoard comparing flavor differences of smoking with pellets and briquettes, using a Yoder Pellet smoker and a Weber Kettle with offset Char-Basket. Both units used a FireBoad drive program to control the temperature.

This time we paired charcoal briquettes against pellets!!  Like before for the protein we chose chicken thighs, for their neutral, consistent, and fast cooking attributes.  The briquette smoked thighs were smoked with Kingsford Original briquettes and apple wood chunks in a Weber Kettle equipped with a FireBoard 2 Drive and Blower fan to regulate temperature. A Weber Char-Basket corralled the briquettes to one side of the Kettle to achieve offset heat ideal for tasty smoke.  This is the same setup we used in our charcoal comparison.

The pellets used for this test were BBQr’s Delight Apple Wood pellets with our Yoder YS-640S.  The set point temp of 300ºF on both the Weber and the Yoder.  Plus both were seasoned with Slap’s Rub (same as before) and the chicken was pulled once it reached an internal temp of 170ºF as read by our  Spark instant-read thermometer. The total cook time was less than two hours on the YS-640S which was about 10 minutes longer than the Kettle.

Identical pans of chicken thighs being smoked with two different fuels to attempt to discover a notable difference. Temperatures were controlled using drive programs on FireBoard App.

Using a Spark to check the temp of chicken thighs smoked using briquettes and chunks of apple wood.

Graph tracking the Weber Kettle with Char-Baskket using a FireBoard 2 Drive and Blower, with a drive program set point at 300ºF.

The Yoder’s graph from FireBoard’s pellet vs. briquette taste test.  This YS 640S was given a Setpoint of 300ºF, matching that of the Weber Kettle.

Once again I had a willing bunch of co-workers that were ready to taste the two different chicken samples.  Samples were offered to tasters one person at a time, with no sauce.   To keep the taster’s reactions from influencing others, I privately logged their choice and reactions.   

Pans of smoked chicken thighs were labeled with letters, ready for tasting.

Results

This time the chicken smoked using pellets was more popular than chicken smoked using briquettes and chunks of apple wood being chosen 9 times out of 15.  When asked what influenced their decision the observation was made that the briquette-chicken had an “in your face” smoke charistic and the pellets were seen as being a more appropriate amount of smoke for BBQ chicken.  When asked, no notable texture difference was reported. 

The”A” samples seen below left, were smoked using briquettes and apple wood chunks. The “B” samples seen below right, were the favored chicken with a more mellow amount of smoke flavor. A noticeable smoke ring is visible on the pellet chicken too.

Take Aways and Additional Questions

Given the strong smoke flavor from briquettes,  perhaps they are better suited for a different protein than chicken?  Or, we need to select a different smoker that would be more comparable to the YS-480 than the Kettle/Char-basket.  Like maybe our new Weber Smokey Mountain or a traditional smoker like a Lone Star Grillz Offset. With the goal of discovering what to use to make tasty BBQ, what would you like to see us compare next?