A Gas Smoker, Not a Column Grill
The El Fuego Portland with the model number AY 317 is an upright smoker cabinet with a gas burner. Amazon lists it as “Gasgrill PORTLAND” with the additions Räuchergrill and Smoker, and the seller describes it as the “neustes Modell von 2022/23” (newest model of 2022/23). In the catalogue, El Fuego is given as the brand and only the word “Fuego” as the manufacturer.
One correction up front. Until October 2026, this page described an enamelled charcoal column grill with a charcoal grate, ash flap and two wheels, along with cooking times for bratwurst and steak. None of that belongs to the appliance that our Amazon link (ASIN B0B5SNKHPM) points to, and nobody had measured the times. We have therefore rewritten the text completely and only kept what the Amazon catalogue says for exactly this ASIN. Cross-checking against a manufacturer page was impossible: el-fuego.de returned no content when we retrieved it, and we could not find a product page for the AY 317.
If you are actually looking for a charcoal grill, you will be better served by our overview of charcoal grills. The Portland needs a gas bottle, not briquettes.
Components and Dimensions According to the Listing
The listing describes one burner with 3.5 kW, in the singular. So we assume a single flame heating the whole cabinet. At the top sits a chimney, which the seller calls adjustable, plus a built-in thermometer. According to the title, the box contains a gas hose, a pressure regulator, a water pan and a smoke box. The seller describes the water pan as large and intended “für lange Garprozesse” (for long cooking processes).
The listing gives the dimensions as 55 x 105 x 45 cm, in the order width, height, depth. The catalogue data in inches converts to the same values, and the colour is black. Catalogue dimensions like these are overall dimensions. Judging by the photo, the 55 cm width includes the handles sticking out at the sides, so the cabinet itself is narrower. By how much cannot be read from the picture.
The product photo shows a tall, box-shaped cabinet with slightly rounded upper edges on four short feet. At the front, two doors sit one above the other, the upper one clearly larger than the lower one, both with a wire-spiral handle. The thermometer dial sits in the middle of the upper door, and the chimney is a short pipe with a cap on the roof. On the right side, the hose with the pressure regulator leads downwards, and at the bottom of the front sits a single control knob, presumably the gas valve. The photo does not look behind the doors. How many racks there are, at what height they sit and where exactly the water pan and smoke box are slid in therefore remains unclear.
In Detail: How an Upright Gas Smoker Holds Its Temperature
In gas smokers of this design, the layout is usually as follows: the burner right at the bottom, above it a tray or box for wood chips, above that the water pan, and above that the racks with the food. Whether the Portland is layered exactly like this, we cannot confirm without a manual. The principle does explain what each of the included parts is for.
The smoke box stands in the hottest area directly above the flame. The chips in it are meant to smoulder and give off smoke, not burn openly, which is why such a box is usually largely closed and has only small openings. If the chips burn with a flame, there is hardly any smoke and a lot of heat.
The water pan has two jobs. First, it limits the temperature around it: water boils at about 100 °C and absorbs a lot of energy as it evaporates instead of getting hotter. Second, it is a heat store. When you open the door, the air temperature drops immediately, but the water stays warm and brings the cabinet back up faster. That is exactly why the seller’s wording about long cooking processes fits: the longer a piece of meat hangs in the smoker, the more often you top up, refill and check.
You control the chimney as a second lever alongside the gas knob. Opened wider, it lets more warm air and smoke out at the top, fresh air flows in at the bottom, the temperature falls and the smoke stays in the cabinet for a shorter time. Closed further, it holds heat and smoke in for longer. On a gas appliance, though, the main control is the flame itself, that is, the knob.
A sober look at the thermometer is worthwhile. A dial thermometer in the door measures the air at its probe, that is, at the door and at its height, and not in the meat. In a tall cabinet with a single flame at the bottom, it is warmer near the floor than under the roof. To know whether a pulled pork is done, you therefore need a separate core temperature thermometer. How to work with core temperatures when smoking is explained in our smoker guide for beginners.
The two doors have a practical reason on many upright smokers: through the small lower door you reach chips and water without opening the large door to the meat. On the Portland, the photo shows the division, but the listing does not describe what lies behind which door.
Are 3.5 kW Enough for a Smoker Cabinet?
For smoking and long, low-temperature cooking, they are enough in our assessment. A smoker does not need high peak output, but a small, stable flame over many hours. The 3.5 kW is the upper limit of the burner, and you usually work well below it.
It can get tight in two situations. In cold and wind, every smoker loses more heat to the surroundings, and the burner then has to be turned up further to hold the same internal temperature. And anyone who wants to bake in the cabinet or cook at high temperature will reach the limit of a single flame sooner than someone smoking at low temperature. No maximum temperature is stated for the Portland, so it is impossible to say where that limit lies.
There is no manufacturer figure for gas consumption. You can work out a rough frame yourself: propane has a calorific value of around 12.9 kWh per kilogram. An 11 kg bottle therefore holds a good 140 kWh, which at a fully turned-up 3.5 kW would be around 40 hours of burn time, and a 5 kg bottle would come to a good 18 hours. Because smoking is usually done on a small flame, a bottle should last longer. This calculation is only reliable as an order of magnitude, because it is not documented whether the 3.5 kW refers to the net or gross calorific value or at what pressure it applies.
What the Manufacturer Does Not State
For the AY 317, we found neither an instruction manual nor a data sheet. Everything on this page comes from Amazon’s catalogue data. The following points are therefore open:
- Type of gas (propane, butane or both) and operating pressure of the pressure regulator
- Length of the gas hose and design of the pressure regulator
- Ignition: whether piezo igniter or match
- Number and dimensions of the racks, usable area
- Material of cabinet, doors, racks and burner, sheet thickness
- Temperature range, maximum temperature and heat-up time
- Measuring range of the thermometer
- Gas consumption in grams per hour
- Whether the catalogue weight includes the packaging or not
- Warranty conditions and spare parts
- Cover as an accessory
- Setup rules: balcony, minimum clearances to flammable materials, outdoor use only
Retailer pages sometimes list additional data for the AY 317, such as ignition type, rack dimensions and a different weight. No manufacturer source stands behind any of these figures, so we do not adopt them. Manuals for other Portland variants that can be found online also belong to other appliances.
What remains in terms of safety rules is general knowledge about gas appliances and not a statement from El Fuego. As a general rule, gas appliances belong outdoors, because a gas flame can produce carbon monoxide. After every bottle change, you check the hose and connections with leak detection spray before you light it. A smoker that runs for hours still needs someone within earshot. How to choose and connect the bottle and regulator is explained in our guide to the gas bottle for the grill.
Price and What Else You Need
On Amazon, the Portland is at approx. €179 (Amazon page on 20 October 2026: €179.00). The price can change, and what should count for you is the price Amazon shows when you click.
A few items come on top of the appliance that are not in the box. The gas bottle first: if you already have one for a gas grill, it may fit once it is clear which connection and which pressure the supplied regulator expects. For the smoke box, you need smoking chips. Leak detection spray belongs with every gas appliance. Then there is the core temperature thermometer already mentioned, and anyone who leaves the cabinet outside will want a cover, for which there is no matching model information, so you measure and buy to size.
Three Alternatives from Our Smoker Comparison
| Model | The difference | Price | Our rating | Choose this one if |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| El Fuego Portland AY 317 (this one) | Gas, one burner with 3.5 kW, hose and pressure regulator included | approx. €179 | 7.9 | you want to smoke with gas and already have a bottle at home |
| ACTIVA Premium Gas Räucherofen | Also gas, according to the seller it can be taken apart and is lighter at approx. 10 kg, burner output not stated | approx. €135 | 8.0 | you transport the smoker often or want to store it dismantled |
| Tepro Wichita | Charcoal offset with two chambers, temperature controlled via embers and air supply | approx. €133.76 | 7.5 | you do not want to store a gas bottle and enjoy tending a fire |
| Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker 57 cm | Charcoal water smoker, according to Weber 4,683 cm² of grilling area on two racks | approx. €599 | 9.5 | you regularly smoke large quantities and have the budget for it |
The prices are the guide values from our price boxes and are not up to date by the day, and what counts is the price the shop shows when you click. The rating is our editorial assessment based on the data, not the result of a measurement.
When the Portland Fits and When Another Smoker Does
The first fork is the fuel. With gas, you turn a knob; with charcoal, you add embers and control via air vents. If you like the fire as part of smoking or do not want a gas bottle on the property, the Tepro Wichita or the Weber Smokey Mountain is right for you. If you want to smoke for a few hours after work without regularly adding charcoal, gas is the more convenient route.
The second fork is space. The Portland is narrow but a good metre tall, and smoke comes out of the chimney for hours. On a patio with distance to the neighbour, that is uncritical; on a balcony under the neighbours’ bedroom window, it is rather not. What is allowed there is set out in your tenancy agreement and house rules, and our guide to grilling on a balcony helps with reading them.
The third fork is quantity. There is no documented figure for the Portland’s rack area. If you regularly smoke ribs and shoulder for ten people at the same time, the Weber is a smoker whose area the manufacturer states, so you know beforehand what fits in.
And then the documentation. For a gas appliance that is meant to burn for hours unattended near the house, we would like to read a manual before buying. For the Portland AY 317, that is not possible. If that matters to you, go for a smoker for which the manufacturer publishes documents.
The Portland is the wrong choice for anyone who actually wants to grill: searing steaks hard, sausages in a few minutes, vegetables with grill marks. A gas or charcoal grill with the grate directly above the heat is built for that, and if you are still undecided which type of grill suits you, the grill finder sorts the options in a few questions.
