We cooked on nothing but the Grilla Chimp portable pellet grill during our recent anniversary getaway to a cozy log cabin in Brown County, IN.
The cabin was pretty remote and a decent enough distance from civilization that we decided we wanted to cook for ourselves during our stay rather than eat out. Even though the kitchen would be fully equipped with a stove and pots and pans, our preferred way to cook is on a grill whenever we can. So we loaded the Grilla Chimp portable pellet grill into the back of the truck along with a bag of pellets and hit the road.
Grilla Grills Chimp
The Chimp Tailgater is a WiFi enabled portable wood pellet smoker made by Grilla Grills. We've previously tested and reviewed several other Grilla Grills products and have seen plenty of good things coming from that brand.
The Chimp brings most of the same pellet grill power and features as the Silverbac, just with a smaller capacity and a more compact, portable body.
Both models are equipped with a WiFi Controller that connects to the Grilla Grills app and include a meat probe.
What's the difference between the Grilla Chimp and the Silverbac?
Grilla Chimp
Grilla Silverbac
Pellet Hopper
The Chimp has a pellet capacity of 15 pounds while the Silverbac can hold up to 20 pounds of pellets. We ran our Chimp for around 9-10 total hours during our weekend away and probably still had about 4-5 pounds of pellets in the hopper when we were all done.
Exhaust
Pellet grills can varry greatly in how they vent smoke. The Chimp has side vents located between the lid and the side handle while the Silverbac has a chimney. The lack of a chimney is nice for the Chimp since it helps keep it a more portable size and shape.
Total Cooking Area
The Chimp offers 340 square inches of main cooking space with a second shelf bringing 120" more, giving a total cooking space of 460 square inches. Meanwhile, the Silverbac has 507 square inches of main cooking space and an additional shelf adding 185", with a total area of 692 square inches.
Portability
While the Chimp is not exactly light at 90 pounds, when you compare it to the Silverbac's 170 pounds, there's a big difference. But certainly the biggest distinction in portability comes down to the snap lock folding legs on the Chimp when the Silverbac comes with a cabinet cart and casters (unless you upgrade to the AT cart like we did).
Whether you're taking this unit camping or tailgating the Chimp is designed to go with you easily.
On that note, staying at this cabin we had access to outside power, but if you happened to be taking the Chimp somewhere without a power source, Grilla does sell a portable power station that can easily power this pellet grill.
Cooking Tests
Ribeye and Shrimp Skewers
We wanted to give our ribeye a nice reverse sear, so we brought along our trusty companion to any grill, the GrillGrate Flavor Zone (Use code BBQLAB10 to save 10%). We set the pellet grill to 500° and let the ribeye come up to temperature on the top shelf while the GrillGrate preheated on the main grate. Our Fireboard Pulse kept track of the internal temperature of the meat and let us know when it had reached 120°. (We could have definitely used the included meat thermometer, but we're currently testing this brand new wireless thermometer).
At that point David transferred the ribeye down to the GrillGrate panel where he was able to add a beautiful cross hatch sear to our delicious steak.
As soon as the steak came off the heat it was time to surf our turf and the shrimp skewers went down, also on the GrillGrate panel. Honestly the shrimp would have been beautiful cooked on the factory grates of the Chimp but the GrillGrate was already hot and in place so we worked with it. We basted the shrimp with melted butter and they made a delicious addition to our fancy anniversary dinner in the woods.
Bacon and Fried Eggs
The next morning we flipped the GrillGrate Flavor Zone over to the flat side and fried up some thick cut bacon with the smoker set to 400°. After the bacon was finished and the griddle surface was nicely covered in bacon grease, we fried a couple of eggs to go with our breakfast.
Babyback Ribs
That afternoon we set the Chimp smoker to 250° and switched it to pro mode to smoke a rack of BBQ ribs. Because our log cabin had WiFi, we were able to use the app to keep track of our rib cook through the app while we went for a hike in the woods. After a few hours we wrapped the ribs and returned them to the pellet grill for the remainder of the cook.
Chicken Wings
For a snack we kicked the pellet grill up to 450° to see how the Chimp did with chicken wings. We're used to grilling our wings over a nice hot charcoal fire so we didn't have super high expectations on this particular cook. But we were surprised and thrilled with how crispy the skin was able to get on this portable pellet grill. The wings turned out fantastic.
Final Thoughts
Overall, the Chimp was the perfect companion for us to take on our weekend getaway. It traveled easily, performed perfectly both in low and high heat, and every meal we cooked on it, from breakfast to dinner to snacks turned out perfectly.
