PKB is a Pellethead now. What's the secret handshake? - Unboxing
It's been a long time coming, really, once I learned about pellet grills. If I had discovered them before I bought the Weber Genesis, I probably would have a larger pellet grill, and then be adding a two burner gasser or something for searing hot. But, I waited three years, got a lot of cooks done on the gasser, and really figured some things out.
I ordered the OG Original Grilla, due to the need to keep it to one end of the 8' wide deck. Wife is not a "she who must be obeyed" so much as a "she who is generally right about things in the end," so I tend to allow Mrs. Black to set limits, and her limit is keeping the cooking to one end of the deck, while the long end is plants and the other 8' is for sitting. The more I looked at it, the more I thought the OG was the right one, beyond the footprint.
I took the day off work to receive the grill, install it, and get it burnt in. Yeah, that plan didn't quite go so well.
The driver comes, wants to know where I want the box. I would like it on my second floor patio, but that wasn't an option, even with some extra incentive to help me lift the thing. So, the parking lot was about as good as it was gonna get.
In the box, thing weighs 180 lbs. I live up three flights of stairs from the ground... Remarkably, when you need folks, they cannot be found. Downstairs neighbor's adult son (the one who bangs on the walls and plays odd music at random, loud intervals) (he has a funny hippy name, too), was not around. Neither was the guy who shovels our snow. No random folks in the alley or on the street... suddenly it's a ghost town.
My first idea is, unbox it, and roll it up the stairs on the wheels.
I figured I could trim some of the 180 lbs shipping weight by ditching the cardboard, taking out the grates and heat diffuser, and the shelves and manuals. So, there I am, out in our parking lot, utility knife sawing away at this huge box.
I managed to get it upright from there, and that's where the pictures stopped. Sorry. Managed to roll it into the back stairway of the apartment, move all the parts up to the apartment, and get it to the stairs. And then, Unable to hump it up even one stair. Too heavy. Too weak. Gotta hit the gym, in case, I dunno, I want to get another grill.
Stumped and frustrated, the Grill got parked in a corner of the stairwell, as out of the way as it can get. I looked on the Internet to see if you can hire someone on an hourly basis to move heavy stuff. And low and behold, Task Rabbit. Got a guy to come out, for a wee bit more than I was gonna bribe the delivery guys, or pay the snow shovel guy, but for 3:30. I had a hard limit, as wife was getting off work at 4:00 PM, and we had a concert to go to that night.
Any rate, guy comes, we heft it up three flights of stairs, over the downstairs neighbors water bottles and odd piece of junk that's been in the back stairwell for a month, through my back room and onto the deck. Ten minutes. It's nice to be able to hire the functional equivalent of Andre the Giant, pretty much on demand. I suspect he could have done it himself, but more hands made lighter work.
Right after he leaves, the wife calls, needs a pickup, so I break out the cover, and put the entire rest of the project off for the next day.
Assembly is a snap... six screws to attach the semi-useless shelves, unwrap the three internal pieces, and find a soup can for grease. Oh, and remove the left shelf from my Weber, and move it over. Also, find a grill mat (eventually at Home Depot... store of last resort).
They're actually sitting a bit different now, with the Grill rotated 90 degrees. Makes getting to the controls easier. I suspect there might be a 45* rotation that will work best for appearance and utility.
Burn in is a bit more involved, as you start it up, and get it primed without the grill grates or the heat deflector, soap and water clean those, shut down the grill, and then do the burn in at 450 for 45 minutes.
After all this trouble, I was feeling pretty down. And then I made the ribs and the wife said that buying the Grilla was a good idea.
I ordered the OG Original Grilla, due to the need to keep it to one end of the 8' wide deck. Wife is not a "she who must be obeyed" so much as a "she who is generally right about things in the end," so I tend to allow Mrs. Black to set limits, and her limit is keeping the cooking to one end of the deck, while the long end is plants and the other 8' is for sitting. The more I looked at it, the more I thought the OG was the right one, beyond the footprint.
I took the day off work to receive the grill, install it, and get it burnt in. Yeah, that plan didn't quite go so well.
The driver comes, wants to know where I want the box. I would like it on my second floor patio, but that wasn't an option, even with some extra incentive to help me lift the thing. So, the parking lot was about as good as it was gonna get.
In the box, thing weighs 180 lbs. I live up three flights of stairs from the ground... Remarkably, when you need folks, they cannot be found. Downstairs neighbor's adult son (the one who bangs on the walls and plays odd music at random, loud intervals) (he has a funny hippy name, too), was not around. Neither was the guy who shovels our snow. No random folks in the alley or on the street... suddenly it's a ghost town.
My first idea is, unbox it, and roll it up the stairs on the wheels.
I figured I could trim some of the 180 lbs shipping weight by ditching the cardboard, taking out the grates and heat diffuser, and the shelves and manuals. So, there I am, out in our parking lot, utility knife sawing away at this huge box.
I managed to get it upright from there, and that's where the pictures stopped. Sorry. Managed to roll it into the back stairway of the apartment, move all the parts up to the apartment, and get it to the stairs. And then, Unable to hump it up even one stair. Too heavy. Too weak. Gotta hit the gym, in case, I dunno, I want to get another grill.
Stumped and frustrated, the Grill got parked in a corner of the stairwell, as out of the way as it can get. I looked on the Internet to see if you can hire someone on an hourly basis to move heavy stuff. And low and behold, Task Rabbit. Got a guy to come out, for a wee bit more than I was gonna bribe the delivery guys, or pay the snow shovel guy, but for 3:30. I had a hard limit, as wife was getting off work at 4:00 PM, and we had a concert to go to that night.
Any rate, guy comes, we heft it up three flights of stairs, over the downstairs neighbors water bottles and odd piece of junk that's been in the back stairwell for a month, through my back room and onto the deck. Ten minutes. It's nice to be able to hire the functional equivalent of Andre the Giant, pretty much on demand. I suspect he could have done it himself, but more hands made lighter work.
Right after he leaves, the wife calls, needs a pickup, so I break out the cover, and put the entire rest of the project off for the next day.
Assembly is a snap... six screws to attach the semi-useless shelves, unwrap the three internal pieces, and find a soup can for grease. Oh, and remove the left shelf from my Weber, and move it over. Also, find a grill mat (eventually at Home Depot... store of last resort).
They're actually sitting a bit different now, with the Grill rotated 90 degrees. Makes getting to the controls easier. I suspect there might be a 45* rotation that will work best for appearance and utility.
Burn in is a bit more involved, as you start it up, and get it primed without the grill grates or the heat deflector, soap and water clean those, shut down the grill, and then do the burn in at 450 for 45 minutes.
After all this trouble, I was feeling pretty down. And then I made the ribs and the wife said that buying the Grilla was a good idea.
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