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Report: Hovergrill on 22.5” Kettle with SnS & DnG

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    Report: Hovergrill on 22.5” Kettle with SnS & DnG

    With only two of us at home, I usually only cook two racks of baby backs once a week. For such a small cook, my SnS/DnG equipped 22.5” Kettle is a perfect "rib machine". It doesn’t leak, although I quad-clamp it anyway, and will hold 250 degrees throughout the cook with very little attention from me.

    With the better-half on a week-long business trip to Atlanta, I thought it a perfect time to test my new Hovergrill. (I ordered it last week when Meathead announced the Pit member discount from the folks at Smokenator.) I was really only concerned with the temps of both grills, thinking there would be some happy medium temperature, say 225 deg on the bottom rack, where the upper rack would "hover" around 250 degrees.

    It was a perfect summer day in the desert with clear skies, no wind, and temps heading for 114 degrees by noon… no problem, I do it all the time.

    For the test, I decided on three, three pound racks… each cut in half. I’ve done three on the Kettle before, but have to roll ‘em. My goal with the Hovergrill was to have capacity to do four when needed, but using three halves on each grill for the test would ensure that there was adequate spacing and I’d get a better "feel" for how future cooks might go.

    As mentioned earlier, this thing is a machine, and I’m very familiar with how to control the vents to set my normal 250 deg temps. With a grill probe on both grates, my goal was to reach 225 degrees on the bottom in the hope that the top would settle at the expected 250’ish point. Like in business, you can’t manage what you don’t measure, so I need some actual data points with the new upper grill.

    The pics below are annotated, but I had a heck of a time getting the bottom grate up to 225 degrees. The Hovergrill almost immediately jumped to 267 degrees and stayed there, regardless of my effort to get the bottom grill up to 225 degrees.

    At the beginning of the second hour, I had finally managed 225 degrees on the bottom, and the Hovergrill was rock-solid at its favorite 267 degrees… very disappointing.

    I usually do the 3-2-1 method for ribs, not even looking during the first three hours. That was a mistake this time. At the three-hour alarm, the top ribs were way over cooked and had accumulated way too much smoke. The bottom ribs had very little smoke accumulation and were obviously not ready for a wrap.

    I wrapped the top ribs in foil with plenty of apple juice and threw ‘em in a 210-degree oven. I left the bottom ribs on the grill for another 1 ½ hours to try to gather more smoke. However, I usually put my smoking wood on the first half of the SnS, and the results were not very good when I finally wrapped them at about 4 ½ hours.

    At the end of the day, it’s needless to say the top ribs were ruined… to the point of being inedible. Bones out for the neighbor’s dog. Yuck! The bottom ribs were at least edible, but nothing to write home about.

    I’ll note here that I had dry brined the ribs for about three hours before putting them on the Kettle. I credit that alone for salvaging at least the bottom ribs.

    So, what’s my bottom line and lessons learned?

    The Hovergrill, while well built from stainless steel, is not really going to work well cooking ribs on a 22.5” Kettle. It might, however, work fine on the 26” Kettle because the dome and area around the smaller (18”) Hovergrill would be sufficient to keep it under control… something impossible with the smaller Kettle/Hovergrill combo.
    For now, if I need to cook four or more racks of baby backs, I’ll just throw ‘em in the WSM.

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    #2
    On the fourth I cooked five racks of ribs (coiled n skewered) on a 22.5 kettle. They turned out perfect.

    Comment


      #3
      Sorry to hear this cook didn't turn out for you. That is never a fun deal. Anytime you have an elevated rack in your cooking chamber you are going to get those temp variations. Honestly , I would sweat it. When people are cooking on large offsets, the temp can rage by 100 F from side to side. The best thing to do in these situations is to rotate the meat through out the cook.
      A temperature difference of 50 F is not a huge deal. I see slightly tighter temp differences with the elevated grate in my Broil King Keg. Another thing to remember is the 225 F is a target temp. If you are a little below that number, it is fine. (Usually people are way over it.)
      Have you ever tried ribs without doing the 3-2-1 method? I usually just let them cook with out wrapping of any kind. This allows you to make up some killer bark in the end. If you are buying quality meat, wrapping in foil and adding juice or other liquids is not necessary.

      And you can always just use your WSM too! Thanks for sharing this cook. Nice pictures too!

      Comment


        #4
        I chased extra capacity on my 22" and medium BGE for years, but in the end it's tough to find that holy grail to accommodate more racks cooking at the same temp. The real solution didn't come until I started using a larger cabinet smoker and a barrel style pellet grill. These have the capacity to lay 4 racks out and provide even temp throughout the whole cook. Also, I stopped wrapping and the ribs have come out great!

        Comment


          #5
          Thanks for the write up. I was considering the hover grill for my 26 kettle, but might wait a bit longer.

          Comment


            #6
            Whenever I elevate my food on the BGE the top runs hotter and cooks faster than the bottom. If you are not cooking two different cuts of meat like a brisket point and a flat it works pretty well, but if it is the same cut you need to rotate them during the cook in much the same way you need to when one piece of meat is closer to the fire than the other on a long cook.

            Comment


              #7
              Sounds like the solution for more capacity is to buy another cooker. MCS calling .....?

              Comment


                #8
                Thanks for the write up. I was thinking of doing the same thing with the Pit discount. 114* in the shade! What is the pool water temp? Lowjiber

                Comment


                  #9
                  Originally posted by HawkerXP View Post
                  ... 114* in the shade! What is the pool water temp? Lowjiber
                  Funny you should ask. We moved here about seven years ago and expected the pool temp to be crazy hot. However, much to our surprise is wasn't.

                  Because the humidity in the summer is so low here (~4%), there is a tremendous loss of water due to evaporation, which naturally cools the water. Everyone loses about 1 1/2 inches of water a day... leaving the re-filling job to the auto-fill mechanism.

                  Everyone in Vegas has a pool heater. (Huh?) Yes, a pool heater. LOL

                  If we don't turn the heater on, the pool will never get much above eighty-four degrees. So, we run the heater for about five hours everyday to bump the temp to around ninety-six. That lets it "settle" to a comfortable, albeit a bit warm, ninety-four by the time the sun goes down.

                  BTW: Because we're at altitude, one doesn't spend much time in a pool during the daylight hours, as the intensity of the sun is just too much. We actually have a large (3' diameter) granite umbrella stand in the shallow end of the pool for when the grand-kids come to visit. You know kids... they're gonna get in the pool.

                  Comment


                  • droopie69
                    droopie69 commented
                    Editing a comment
                    Holy bathwater batman! Here in the land of 75% humidty and 95 degree highs,the most comfortable pools I have been to are in the 80-86 range. Anything higher and you're just as hot and wet as you were standing outside the pool!

                  • Lowjiber
                    Lowjiber commented
                    Editing a comment
                    I lived in Florida for a number of years. I relate to your comment.

                    There, a pool heater wasn't needed at all. It's just funny that when one comes to the desert, a heater is almost a necessity.

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