Porcine Perfection
is One Chatty Farker
We needed some down time and decided to take a quick trip around Lake Michigan (4 days – 1,056 miles). We purposefully planned to visit Holland, MI, home of Grilla Grills, to pick up my Chimp and check out the Tulip Time festival. If you are ever around there the first part of May, it is worth the stop.
I was looking for the following in a pellet smoker.
• Something portable for camping and tailgating.
• Something to replace my gasser for steaks, brats, etc.
• A cooker that will go below 200 for bacon, etc.
I had done some research, and one thing that led me to this brand was an honest video stating there was no way to affordably source parts and build the cookers they wanted to in the United States. Sad but honestly true. The showroom/warehouse was in a business park and I was surprised at how busy it was. Nice place with a production kitchen for when they shoot video and hold classes. There were a few sales people that were generally helpful and knew their product. One of the reasons I picked Grilla was their experience with cooking in the cold. They are double insulated which very few pellet poopers are. Picking it up got me some free pellets and swag. I think they offer free shipping on smokers. Picked up the Chimp and headed north.
It unboxed and assembled easily. It is made to either sit on a table or the legs easily swing down. It took a little longer than stated to prime the auger, but other than that the burn in went fine. First cook was a pork butt that went well with the exception that the meat probe that came with it was off by a bit so it was a little overdone. I normally check for probe tender at 195ish and it was past that. You can adjust the offset on the app but I will probably not need it once I learn the cooker.
The one thing I was concerned with on a pellet grill was steaks. I normally do steaks using GrillGrates (best invention in grilling) on a POS gasser that puts outs plenty of BTUs. Most pellet poopers don’t go past 500 and the first steak, although flavorful, just didn’t have the sear I like. I called customer service to get the details on increasing the auger minimum feed (also in the app) and that helped a bit. I wish I had 50 more degrees of heat. I swear by GillGrates and got them with the Chimp. They only covered about half the cooking area so if I were to do it again, I would get a set that provides better coverage directly from GrillGrates. I bought the cover and the material is a bit above average in quality. On one end the Velcro strap is sewn on backwards so you have to twist to line up correctly.
The unit controller and app were average. Easy to figure out and the unit paired to my wifi with no problems. The app has a timer that has hours and minutes. Having seconds would be nice for steaks. The app communicates with the controller well and everything that you can do on the panel you can do in the app. There is a PID and Pro mode. The Pro mode is supposed to create more smoke by overshooting and then smoldering down. I will try this, but not expecting a big improvement.
The one area that needs improvement is their website and social media areas in general. They have some really interesting technical videos along with some recipes. Unfortunately, it is pretty much a big mess and frustrating to find them. Website and video links in both the app and on their website are often dead ends. Going to the next page on questions and reviews does not work on multiple browsers and OS. I work in IT so I may be demanding about this, but keep your house in order! I get this is BBQ, but if you are going to have it, it should work.
Overall, I am happy with the purchase. I am not sure it will be the all in one I was hoping for but it has met most of my limited expectations so far. I am looking forward to learning a new cooker.
I was looking for the following in a pellet smoker.
• Something portable for camping and tailgating.
• Something to replace my gasser for steaks, brats, etc.
• A cooker that will go below 200 for bacon, etc.
I had done some research, and one thing that led me to this brand was an honest video stating there was no way to affordably source parts and build the cookers they wanted to in the United States. Sad but honestly true. The showroom/warehouse was in a business park and I was surprised at how busy it was. Nice place with a production kitchen for when they shoot video and hold classes. There were a few sales people that were generally helpful and knew their product. One of the reasons I picked Grilla was their experience with cooking in the cold. They are double insulated which very few pellet poopers are. Picking it up got me some free pellets and swag. I think they offer free shipping on smokers. Picked up the Chimp and headed north.
It unboxed and assembled easily. It is made to either sit on a table or the legs easily swing down. It took a little longer than stated to prime the auger, but other than that the burn in went fine. First cook was a pork butt that went well with the exception that the meat probe that came with it was off by a bit so it was a little overdone. I normally check for probe tender at 195ish and it was past that. You can adjust the offset on the app but I will probably not need it once I learn the cooker.
The one thing I was concerned with on a pellet grill was steaks. I normally do steaks using GrillGrates (best invention in grilling) on a POS gasser that puts outs plenty of BTUs. Most pellet poopers don’t go past 500 and the first steak, although flavorful, just didn’t have the sear I like. I called customer service to get the details on increasing the auger minimum feed (also in the app) and that helped a bit. I wish I had 50 more degrees of heat. I swear by GillGrates and got them with the Chimp. They only covered about half the cooking area so if I were to do it again, I would get a set that provides better coverage directly from GrillGrates. I bought the cover and the material is a bit above average in quality. On one end the Velcro strap is sewn on backwards so you have to twist to line up correctly.
The unit controller and app were average. Easy to figure out and the unit paired to my wifi with no problems. The app has a timer that has hours and minutes. Having seconds would be nice for steaks. The app communicates with the controller well and everything that you can do on the panel you can do in the app. There is a PID and Pro mode. The Pro mode is supposed to create more smoke by overshooting and then smoldering down. I will try this, but not expecting a big improvement.
The one area that needs improvement is their website and social media areas in general. They have some really interesting technical videos along with some recipes. Unfortunately, it is pretty much a big mess and frustrating to find them. Website and video links in both the app and on their website are often dead ends. Going to the next page on questions and reviews does not work on multiple browsers and OS. I work in IT so I may be demanding about this, but keep your house in order! I get this is BBQ, but if you are going to have it, it should work.
Overall, I am happy with the purchase. I am not sure it will be the all in one I was hoping for but it has met most of my limited expectations so far. I am looking forward to learning a new cooker.
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