Hey Hey Hey, I ordered a Grilla OG today.

[DrJimmy2112]

Have fun, learn away, keep in touch!

[Carolyn]

I started the burn-in.
I have a terrible amount of anxiety, but the app made this really painless. I was surprised when it started giving me the directions.
As recommended, I put my DOT probe in the cooker hanging off of the upper rack, I may do this a few times and track it before plugging in an off-set temp. I forgot to time it to see how long it takes to reach temp. I'll do that next time if I can remember. 🙄

I am pleased that the cord gives me plenty of reach, so my cooker is on the patio without an extension cord.

The Bear Mountain pellets had a small amount of dust at the bottom of the bag, and they smell quite nice burning.

Anxiety is now on a down-swing. I hope to cook on the OG tomorrow.
The most difficult part of this adventure today was keeping my very jealous guard dog away and stopping her from going after the dropped pellets. 🐶

Thank you all for indulging me. I really appreciate the enthusiasm and support. We have a great community here.😀

[Draznnl]

Great job. No reason to be anxious. You’re doing it all right.

[Carolyn]

Thanks, guys. 😁
I discovered it only takes a minor change in the door opening to make the temp go up. I mean, barely cracked open maybe the width of my probe cord.

[Purc]

The OG looks right at home there. Can't wait to see your first cook.

[Carolyn]

I do have a question for those familiar with this cooker.

I noticed some wisps of smoke coming out of the hopper, usually when it was dropping some pellets and the flames were quite high. I was watching the auger feed, and could see some flames hitting the top of the auger tube, but the pellets looked ok.
Later, there was quite a bit of smoke coming out of it, and some of the pellets leaving the auger looked like they were smoldering. Later during the burn, I did slow down the auger feed a little because the temps were shooting past 450 according to my DOT. I was at 467 at one point, and I didn't want to kill my DOT, so I was trying to keep the temps around 450. I thought maybe slowing it down would be better than me messing with the temp, which I did several times.

I re-set the feed back to the default to keep the pellets moving figuring the pellets were just getting burned at the end of the auger. I did the appropriate cool down and just made sure I couldn't see any flames in the auger tube.

So, what is with the smoke coming out of the hopper during the burn? Was it the high temps? Should I buy the expensive pellets and see if it happens again?

[glitchy]

Don’t stress yourself overthinking things. No cooker is going to hold a perfect temp. Don’t worry about +/-25°. Put the dot in your oven and see what it does. If your worried about the probe itself, don’t use it at those temps if it’s close to the rated limit. Pellet grills are not fancy sports cars either, they don’t turn on a dime. Frequently changing temps probably confuses the algorithm actually.

[glitchy]

Does the Grilla OG not have a heat shield and drip pan over the fire pot? It’s uncommon in many pellet grills to be able to see into the burn pot while it’s running to be able to see the pellets in the auger getting charred. However, at higher temps the fire is bigger and it’s more common/likely it’s going to burn pellets at the end of the auger. That’s why shutdown mode is great though.

[Carolyn]

glitchy I wasn't worried about the swings in temps, was just making sure my DOT didn't go over its limit. I was probably being over cautious.

The OG has a little window where you can see the auger and the flame. It has a pretty heavy stainless steel pan over the flame.

The smoke was concerning. There was intermittent smoke coming out of the hopper from the beginning.

ADDENDUM: I just read a dude had a similar issue, and customer service told him to leave the door cracked a little. I'll give it a shot. Also, my hopper door is bulging outward exposing pellets, so I am going to see if a magnet will keep it shut. I'll figure out how to prime the auger to make sure it is clear of any pellets that may have smoldered and give it a go.