The invention relates to a method and a device for producing and treating plastic pellets. According to said method, a melt of the plastic material is granulated to give pellets, the pellets are cooled in a cooling fluid, the pellets are separated from the cooling fluid and the pellets are crystallized. The device according to the invention is characterized by comprising a control unit which monitors the crystallization step and controls the method in such a manner that in case of a disturbance of crystallization the pellets are supplied to an intermediate storage after separation of the pellets from the cooling fluid and as soon as the disturbance is removed, the pellets temporarily stored in the intermediate storage are supplied to crystallization and are crystallized.