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Buying an offset smoker in Europe - urgent help needed on assessing a specific model

T

tocheos

Found some matches.
Joined
Aug 9, 2018
Location
Alpine Region, Bavaria, Germany
Name or Nickame
Tobias
Hey guys!

My name is Tobias and I live in Germany. SInce I got infected by the BBQ virus a few years ago, I am smoking on a Masterbuilt 40" electric smoker.
But now it's definitely time to make progress towards more serious BBQ, as this became a quite serious topic to me in the past years :emoji_wink:

We don't have a real BBQ-culture over here in Europe. Therefore it's really hard to find any European manufacturers of high-quality offset pits. Importing one from the U.S. is really expensive due to shipping and German import taxes.

After deep research I found a manufacturer in Eastern Europe called "Nette Lette Grill". The most versatile model and my preferred smoker would be this one: http://www.holzofenshop.com/en/reverse-flow-grill-smoker-24-xl-8-mm-with-smokehouse.html&language=en

As an alternative I found this one, located in the UK: https://www.bbqmates.co.uk/product/bm-s-5-reverse-flow-offset-smoker-new-new-new/

As you guys in the U.S. have a great variety of different pit builders and therefore experience, I would like to ask you whether you could give me an assessment on this smoker.
The price in USD would be around $3,650.

What do you think?

Thank you so much!
 
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Don Marco is in Germany He does Comps and Caters He may be able to help you
CharredApron is in France
Phubar is in Europe also
Use your resources over there PM these guys They may be able to help you Let us know how it turns out
 
I like your choice of the Nette Lette Grill because I would be using the smoking chamber a lot to do Bacon and Salmon, as well as cold smoking. (Using the chamber as a smoke cooling and filtering area)
I look for more options and ways I can get more uses out of things I buy.

What sorts of Hardwoods do you have available to you there? That is a major consideration for me and my choices.
 
SonnyE said:
I like your choice of the Nette Lette Grill because I would be using the smoking chamber a lot to do Bacon and Salmon, as well as cold smoking. (Using the chamber as a smoke cooling and filtering area)
I look for more options and ways I can get more uses out of things I buy.

What sorts of Hardwoods do you have available to you there? That is a major consideration for me and my choices.
Click to expand...

Hey Sonny!

Well, here in Germany we have really good availability of: German oak, beech, maple, apple, pear, cherry and plum.
All the other stuff like hickory, pecan and mesquite we don't have over here. But you can get it as smoking chunks at a relatively price tag - so not the first choice to go for concerning a stick burner.
 
Easy choice : The one from BBQmates appears to be much better in every way.

The Nette Lette Grill looks like something I would get from a local big box store. I also would run, not walk, away from that model with the dual exhaust stacks....that looks like it would be a nightmare to operate. A cooker is either reverse flow, or it's not...but trying to make a hybrid direct flow / reverse flow cooker is just asking for airflow issues.

Good luck!
 
Is the Nette Lette Smoker intended to be convertible between a regular flow and reverse flow smoker?

Reverse flow smokers have a steel plate in the bottom that runs from from the firebox end almost all the way to the other end (the British web link you provided has an illustration of how the air flows). The smoke flows under that plate. Accordingly, the exhaust stack must be positioned at the firebox end of the smoking chamber in order to force the smoke, when it exits from under the plate, to flow in the “reverse” direction and over the food.

A regular flow smoker, on the other hand, has the firebox at one end and the stack at the other; the smoke flows straight thru, but there cannot be a plate at the bottom because the smoke must flow thru the entire smoking chamber to smoke the meat.

But the Nette Lette seems to have two stacks: one at the firebox end, and another with the warmer at the other end. Thus, to use as a reverse flow smoker, one would have to close or block the warmer exhaust — if it is open, the smoke will exit from under the plate and flow straight out of the warmer and it’s stack without ever “reversing” and flowing over the food.

To use as a regular-flow smoker, one will have to remove the reverse-flow plate and close or block the stack at the firebox end. I did not find on the site whether the plate is removable or the stacks can be closed at the chamber.

Personally I find that devices like smokers designed to accomplish many things tend to do none of them really well. So to me, personally, I would run away from this convertible feature as too complicated and unnecessary IMHO. Air flow through a smoker can be a complicated thing, and if you buy a smoker with with poor airflow it will make your life miserable. So I would buy either regular OR reverse flow and therefore would choose the British option.

Additionally, having smoked meat for some 30+ years, I never have found the need for a warmer; rather I find they make the smoker unnecessarily costly and heavy to move around. So, again, I probably would choose the British version.

Finally, again just from the photos, the British smoker in the link you provided appears IMHO to be much more substantially made. And it does not suffer from two stacks, warmers, etc.

Understand this is just my pov from reviewing the photos.
 
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21% tax? Did I read that right on the first smoker spec sheet?
 
I would choose the BM S-5 reverse flow offset smoker
More cooking area
Insulated fire box (especially in winter)
Fold down SS Shelf
Pull out cooking grates
4 casters for easy maneuverability
Pull out ash pan and log/wood/charcoal box
Drip pan design
Plus it just looks bad ass cool

I do like the smoke tower on the other model for the potential for cold smoking.
 
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