Good idea!
Here's what I see when I send a gelf message:
[2018-11-12T14:45:43,131][DEBUG][logstash.instrument.periodicpoller.jvm] collector name {:name=>"ParNew"}
[2018-11-12T14:45:43,131][DEBUG][logstash.instrument.periodicpoller.jvm] collector name {:name=>"ConcurrentMarkSweep"}
[2018-11-12T14:45:43,903][DEBUG][logstash.pipeline ] filter received {"event"=>{"source_host"=>"10.122.64.20", "level"=>6, "version"=>"1.1", "host"=>"hostname", "@timestamp"=>2018-11-12T13:45:43.874Z, "message"=>"hello gelf", "@version"=>"1", "type"=>"gelf"}}
[2018-11-12T14:45:43,904][DEBUG][logstash.filters.grok ] Running grok filter {:event=>#<LogStash::Event:0x6c987423>}
[2018-11-12T14:45:43,905][DEBUG][logstash.filters.grok ] Event now: {:event=>#<LogStash::Event:0x6c987423>}
[2018-11-12T14:45:43,906][DEBUG][logstash.pipeline ] output received {"event"=>{"source_host"=>"10.122.64.20", "level"=>6, "version"=>"1.1", "host"=>"hostname" "tags"=>["_grokparsefailure"], "@timestamp"=>2018-11-12T13:45:43.874Z, "message"=>"hello gelf", "@version"=>"1", "type"=>"gelf"}}
[2018-11-12T14:45:43,967][DEBUG][logstash.outputs.file ] File, writing event to file. {:filename=>"/home/iniuser/gelfoutput/gelf_output.txt"}
[2018-11-12T14:45:43,968][DEBUG][logstash.outputs.file ] Starting stale files cleanup cycle {:files=>{"/home/iniuser/gelfoutput/gelf_output.txt"=>#<IOWriter:0x6707d533 @active=true, @io=#<File:/home/iniuser/gelfoutput/gelf_output.txt>>}}
[2018-11-12T14:45:43,968][DEBUG][logstash.outputs.file ] 0 stale files found {:inactive_files=>{}}
[2018-11-12T14:45:44,114][DEBUG][logstash.outputs.file ] Starting flush cycle
[2018-11-12T14:45:44,115][DEBUG][logstash.outputs.file ] Flushing file {:path=>"/home/iniuser/gelfoutput/gelf_output.txt", :fd=>#<IOWriter:0x6707d533 @active=false, @io=#<File:/home/iniuser/gelfoutput/gelf_output.txt>>}
[2018-11-12T14:45:46,115][DEBUG][logstash.outputs.file ] Starting flush cycle
[2018-11-12T14:45:46,115][DEBUG][logstash.outputs.file ] Flushing file {:path=>"/home/iniuser/gelfoutput/gelf_output.txt", :fd=>#<IOWriter:0x6707d533 @active=false, @io=#<File:/home/iniuser/gelfoutput/gelf_output.txt>>}
[2018-11-12T14:45:46,609][DEBUG][logstash.pipeline ] Pushing flush onto pipeline {:pipeline_id=>"main", :thread=>"#<Thread:0x64ac7842 sleep>"}
[2018-11-12T14:45:48,116][DEBUG][logstash.outputs.file ] Starting flush cycle
[2018-11-12T14:45:48,116][DEBUG][logstash.outputs.file ] Flushing file {:path=>"/home/iniuser/gelfoutput/gelf_output.txt", :fd=>#<IOWriter:0x6707d533 @active=false, @io=#<File:/home/iniuser/gelfoutput/gelf_output.txt>>}
[2018-11-12T14:45:48,134][DEBUG][logstash.instrument.periodicpoller.jvm] collector name {:name=>"ParNew"}
[2018-11-12T14:45:48,134][DEBUG][logstash.instrument.periodicpoller.jvm] collector name {:name=>"ConcurrentMarkSweep"}
I don't see it say anything about ES but I'm not sure why that would be. No errors though.