During the boxing it was pretty apparent that the Hovergrill was a serious product, worthy of it’s own review. While it may look like a typical round grill grate, the difference is that it has collapsible legs that raise it several inches. By the way those legs can lock into place so there isn’t any worry of it collapsing if you do your part. In addition to this the construction seems top notch. The metal is of heavy gauge and the finish appears excellent. It’s tough to know how durable it would be over time, but judging by the construction I think it would probably outlast the grill.
The Hovergrill is meant to be used by stacking it on top of your existing cooking grate. This in theory allows you to cook more food at the same time than you would with one grate alone. Not having enough grill space is one of those issues that most if not all tailgaters will experience, and if this product can mitigate that it would be of huge benefit.
So to test the effectiveness of the Hovergrill I set out to make fairly large batch of chicken wing pieces. Just how many I don’t know due to being a dummy and not counting them, but let’s say it was around 50. I had room for some more, but since there weren’t many mouths it wasn’t necessary. The pictures should kind of given you an idea of how this all looked.
After about an hour I had a whole batch of really nicely cooked wings that were ready for saucing. By my standards this is a passing grade for sure.
While my test was a simple indirect cook don’t forget that since this product sits on top of the cooking grate use with the Smokenator is not an issue. This opens up a lot more space for smaller foods, an area where we felt the Smokenator excelled. I can absolutely seeing this thing being used to smoke those wings, or to make a whole mess of other appetizers. Or if you’ve got that early morning thing going, some of those sausage fatties that I made for the Smokenator review would be good here, and you could make multiples easily.
Not bad since this is another item that can fit inside the grill during transport and doesn’t take up extra space in your vehicle.
However, there are some things to consider when using the Hovergrill. For starters, it’s designed for a round Weber kettle of at least 22″ in diameter, not something that everyone will have in their tailgating arsenal. There is nothing to say that it couldn’t work on a different grill but the chances you’d get it to work a smaller portable grill are pretty slim. When using the Hovergrill, if you need to flip/turn any of the food that might be under it, you’ll want a place you can set it off of the grill. Also take care that you don’t place something too large on the Hovergrill because it’s a few inches (3.5) closer to the top of the closed lid that you may not be accustomed too. Furthermore, don’t overload it. While I have no concerns about the ability to hold a lot of food, you don’t want to do anything that clogs up airflow since that will mess with your cook. Just keep a little space between items and you’d be fine. None of those things are knocks on the product, just things we felt you should know.
In short we loved the Hovergrill. It’s well made and it really opens up some options for a tailgate menu. Without a doubt the Hovergrill is Tailgating Approved. You can purchase individually or in a combo with the Smokenator if you choose. For more information you can visit www.Smokenator.com