Pellet grills suck!

[MBMorgan]

It sounds to me like your smoker suffered a flame out. Flame outs can happen for several reasons like a power failure (however brief), channeling in the hopper in which a void forms and the auger is starved for pellets, and (based on what I've read) trying to cook at too low a temperature. It seems that the likelihood of a flame out increases as you try to cook at temps lower than about 220F ... and the likelihood increases even more as you go lower and lower with your temperature.

The result of a flame out is a burn pot full (or possibly overflowing) with unburnt pellets. Remember that as the temperature in the smoker drops, the controller will command the auger to spin faster and faster in an attempt add enough additional pellets to correct for the drop. This continues until a low temp error condition is generated, at which time the auger is stopped and the shutdown sequence is initiated.

In the event of a flameout (or ANY shutdown due to an error condition), it's vitally important to completely empty the burn pot (and surrounding area) of ALL pellets and ash.

If (as you discovered) you simply attempt a restart, the auger will happily begin to fill the burn pot with even more pellets during the first few minutes of the start sequence. When the igniter heats up, you're going to find yourself with a real fireball on your hands.

FWIW, the recommendation to keep the lid open until proper ignition is achieved is primarily to protect you and your smoker from a potentially dangerous explosion/fireball if, for whatever reason, there is excessive unburnt fuel in/near the burn pot. You'll still experience a WHOOSH but hopefully avoid a BANG!

Finally, please talk to Grilla Grills user support. They are awesome! When I got my first Original Grilla (OG) a couple of years ago I had a serious problem with chronic burn back. They spent HOURS helping me get it sorted out, even to the extent of shooting custom video(s) to demonstrate how they proposed to troubleshoot and fix the issue. The fix turned out to be shipping me a brand new OG and me returning the defective one so that they could tear it down in order to understand and prevent the problem from occurring in future units.

Also, you might find this informative: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcGU1itjNZs

[marshall]

Thank you very much for taking the time to share your knowledge. I have the unit up and running today (after sweeping out all the overflow burnt pellets ) with spare ribs smokin for 3 hours now, workin great.
I guess it was user error/inexperience, i next time i have an issue i will shut it down and check the burn pot. I will contact grilla support to see there recommendations on low temp smoking. Thank MBMorgan for the very helpful info. I will post pics of my hopefully successful rib cook

[BruceB]

Sorry you had to experience that with your new Grilla Silverbac.

In addition to direct support, there is a very active and supportive Facebook Group for Grilla owners, "My Grilla Grill Smoker" The overwhelming consensus there is to have the lid open during lighting, then as soon as that first blast of thick smoke dies down a bit, close the lid and let the temp probe handle things as usual.

[NoCoPK360]

I'm a new member here. I've had a Silverback for about six weeks and have done several cooks on it. There is a video posted by Grilla that discusses this in one of their Q&As. Running it that low and possibly the pellets you are using could be the cause as others have said. Shane Draper recommended cooking at 225 plus to help avoid this problem.The Grilla people specifically said pellets that are Alder based can cause problems. I'm fortunate that I have a local place that sells Lumberjack pellets. I also picked up some B&B while in Texas recently and they are an oak based pellet. I concur with the smoke tube recommendation. I wasn't happy with the smoke profile compared to my WSM. A smoke tube definitely helps the smoke flavor quite a bit.

[marshall]

Thank you, i appreciate the helpful info!

[gmascolo51]

If nothing else definitely reach out to Mark at Grilla and have a conversation and see what he says. They were super helpful over a bracket issue I was having so I would imagine for this they would be attentive as well. Just to be safe.

[Bogy]

Like MBMorgan I have an OG, not a Silverback, and mine is one of the original OGs that was made in the US and has a rotary dial. But some of the things he and NoCoPK360 mentioned I support. As well as the OG I also have a Blaz'n Grills Grid Iron. My Grid Iron needs the lid shut when starting, and if it doesn't hit 160 in 20 minutes, it will shut down. The OG needs the lid open until the smoke starts rolling and you hear the fan go into high. Then you can shut the lid and let it start increasing temp.

I have not had the greatest luck with anything under 225 on my OG. As has been stated, it's hard to keep the fire going below that. Especially when the outside temp is high. I started a brisket Sunday night, and tried it at "smoke" on mine (old rotary dial, should be the equivalent of about 180, but the temp just kept dropping, so I bumped it back up to 225. It took awhile to get itself sorted out, it had dropped down to 135, but at least I didn't experience the problems you did. Part of my issue may have been the pellets I was using. Normally, I use Lumberjack, because my son sells them, but he recently started carrying Bear Mountain Pellets, and gave me some bags, so I've been giving them a try. Overall, I like them, and that brisket I smoked was great, but depending on what part of the country you are in, the base can either be oak or alder. This is not uncommon, other companies with good reputations do the same, no matter what people on Facebook will tell you. I'm enough in the center of the country, the pellets I get could probably use either. The other woods will also make a difference.

If you have a brand new Silverback, you probably have the Alpha controller. Cool thing. When I bought mine Grilla was still telling people to "trust the swing" and that there was no real reason to have a PID controller. But it was the cool thing, and I'm sure they lost sales to people who were freaked out at the thought their cooker varied by more than 5 degrees from where they set it. Their meat would be ruined if instead of cooking at 225 the temp went to 235 or dropped to 215. HORRORS! So they gave in. If you aren't getting the amount of smoke you want, put it on the other mode. I don't have one, so I don't know if that is Mode 1 or Mode 2, but recommendation is to turn it off. My Blaz'n Grills cooker has the PID controller, and I don't get the smoke I do with the OG. People don't complain, but I see the difference.

If you continue to have problems, make sure to call Grilla. Customer service is what they do.

[marshall]

Thank you very much the input!

[Steve J]

I have a Silverbac and have experienced a flameout. The manual says to leave the lid open until you can see smoke (usually) a few minutes, and then to close it. As for the fire issue, it could be, because you immediately went to restart it after a flameout, without waiting a few minutes for it to cool down. Either way, you need to call Grilla Grills to get help. Unless anyone here works for them, all you're getting is our specific experiences or opinions.

[marshall]

I’ve been using it successfully for awhile now, I think it was just user error on my part, I should have cleared the fire pot before restarting

[HawkerXP]

Al least your meat got some smoke on it!

[marshall]

Yes sir it did! Surprisingly still not very strong smoke flavor