Masterbuilt 30-Inch Digital Electric Smoker – Precision-Controlled Vertical BBQ Smoking
The Masterbuilt 30-Inch Digital Electric Smoker delivers powerful performance in a compact, vertical design, offering 710 square inches of cooking space and simple, intuitive operation. Ideal for backyard enthusiasts and barbecue aficionados, this electric smoker features a digital control panel that allows you to easily set and maintain cooking temperatures up to 275°F, enabling consistent low-and-slow results every time.
Engineered for flavor infusion, the smoker uses natural upward smoke circulation for optimal heat distribution. Its patented side wood chip loader lets you insert chips without opening the main door, preserving the internal temperature and smoke levels for superior results. The smoker includes four chrome-coated racks, accommodating up to 7 chickens, 2 turkeys, 4 pork butts, or 4 racks of ribs.
Additional features include a removable water bowl to maintain moisture, a rear grease tray for simplified cleanup, an adjustable air damper for precise smoke control, and a fully insulated body with lockable latch to retain heat.
- Digital vertical smoker with 710 sq. in. of total cooking surface
- Easy-to-use digital control panel to set cooking time and temperature
- Patented side wood chip loader to maintain smoke without heat loss
- Four chrome-plated smoking racks support a variety of meat sizes
- Removable water pan and grease tray for easy maintenance
- Insulated steel body with window and lockable door for consistent performance
- Air damper for adjustable smoke control based on recipe needs
Whether you are preparing large feasts or experimenting with smoking techniques, the Masterbuilt 30-Inch Digital Electric Smoker provides a hassle-free, precise, and flavorful smoking experience tailored for both beginners and seasoned grillers.
With this electric smoker, it is so easy. I bought the add on smoker attachment so I don’t have to continue adding wood chips every 30 minutes, downloaded the app on my phone so I can set the temperature and timer…and it has been smooth sailing every since. I can set the smoker temperature, the timer, add my wood chips and meat, go in the house and relax. My ribs and salmon came out perfect.
Warranty covered the smoker and we opted for replacement parts rather than replacing the unit. Just received them and will be installing and using the smoker this weekend. Correction on this being made in America. It's made in China.
Very happy with customer service. Installed the part. Smoker now works fine.
It’s electric and yes it’s struggles at times to keep perfect temp. It is an entry level smoker!!! I live in the northeast so temps outside affect it a little. I still haven’t made a bad piece of meat with that being said.
I did get a tip to take the control panel off when not using from my pro father in law. Takes about half hour to assemble the stand and make sure it’s leaning back for the drip tray.
Enjoy!!
Assembly took about 1 hour. The only challenge was identifying each of the 4 legs, all of which are unique. They should stamp the part numbers on each.
Currently doing the seasoning step, but everything seems fine.
Good so far.
Update. Just did a fillet of Atlantic salmon and 2 sausages together..... easy and taste great. Cleanup was pretty easy. Photo attached.
Pros: Easy setup and use, semi-portable, consistent, still working the same as day 1.
Cons: goes through chips quick, the bracket holding the chip tray was too high and the chips didn't burn well so I removed it,
I got good bark which I read can be hard in an electric smoker. I would recommend this smoker for the convenience of use!
Part 9907120027, is meant for the 40" smoker and not listed as interchangable in the 30".
It took me about 45 min to tear down my new smoker and 15 min to put it back together. I recommend watching replacement 40" videos before attempting. The Ground wire was now too small for the 1200 watt screws, but I used wire cutters to create a C shaped connection that worked well.
I have attached the graphs for the 30" running 1200 watts without all the screws in, with the vent fully open. Air temp outside about 78*.
I feel that the 30" should have 1200 watts when its sold. I feel the 40" probably needs 1500-2000 watts to cook to a temp of 275*. The 40" does have longer and deeper trays. With the 30" I can barely fit a 10.5 lb brisket, laid corner to corner on a rack. But my main concern is that there is no easy way to increase to heating element in the 40".
I am very happy having made the change to the 1200 watt element. I was considering selling my brand new smoker for a loss the way it arrived. Although the digital display is horrible (too dim, bad angle), it works. The glass door is cute, but between smoke and humidity, you'll barely see your food. The insulation is decent, hot spots on the sides at the bottom, and others.
For those thinking you dont need to cook at 275 often, you are right. But - because the heating element is too small, it takes too long to turn the heat back up. At 250, it will turn on heat when it drops to 247 and off at 250. The temp drops about 10* and is out of +/- 3* for 50% of the time.
UPDATE:
After about 30 min, the 1200 isnt working. I'll unplug and retest, maybe its the fuse. Masterbuilt should make these with better heating elements. 800 and 1200 is not enough for 30" and 40".
I keep my smoker covered and stored inside. I do not recommend buying this product. I will not purchase anything from this manufacturer ever again. I will acknowledge that I am just over the 1 year warranty but still BS given how many times I have used it.
Plan on cross posting this on every BBQ platform I can find.
Still live this smoker, especially for novices like myself.
Also, placing the control unit in a manner where it can easily be read in full daylight would be helpful. I improvised a primitive sun shade just to make it easier to read, but that should be a no brainer to engineers.
She's not be as pretty as she used to be, but I doubt them new fangled types can hold a candle to her....
She is truly a simple, no frills smoker, that proves herself every single time I have a BBQ....
Insulated, locking cabinets....timer, temp control and smoke exhaust flue....
Important to mention, she only uses about a handful of chips for smoking, instead of lots of pellets, which can be quite expensive.
Assembly was challenging, due to the 4 legs (each different) not being marked! I had to try 4 times to get them in the correct configuration. A simple stamp, or sticker, would be nice!
The smoker, itself, is great! It does have trouble maintaining temperature when it’s below freezing outside, but still gets the job done.
First time out we did a spatchcock chicken with applewood. I got to tell you, I was feeling pretty good about my skills after looking at it and tasting it. Man was it good. Tender and juicy. Skin was a bit tough but I have figured out how to make it better.
Since then I have done chickens, pork, Atlantic salmon (UNBELIEVABLY GOOD), my crop of cayenne, jalapeno, and Trinidad scorpion peppers, and most recently, my Thanksgiving Turkey. Worst outcome? The time I tried to smoke Italian sausage. Don't do it.
Yeah, the controls are hard to read in bright sunlight but you're going to have to buy a remove thermometer and display if you expect to cook your meat properly. Trying to smoke without knowing the temp of the meat is a waste of time. See pic for the cheap $12 amazon thermometer I use.
It doesn't like generating a ton of smoke at low temps. I get around it by opening the door or jacking the temp for a few minutes.
Your experience may differ from mine but for $175 plus a remote thermometer and wood chips, I have no complaints. If it blew up tomorrow I would buy another one or upgrade.
We got it way earlier than expected and he used it immediately after prepping it.
He bought a tri tip, used the store's homemade seasoning, and it was amazing!!
The kids loved it and one of them is not a big meat fan so it was a win.
Thanks MasterBuilt and Amazon
This Masterbuilt Electric Smoker is a well-built product. The fit and finish of each of the components is excellent. Assembly was easy, and took about 45 minutes, including unpackaging and cleanup. The only assembly is installing the legs, door handle, and the control module. The legs are different lengths, so you will want to ensure that the long legs are installed on the front. The only hiccup that I had was that the rear support bracket for the wood chip tray needed to be bent slightly to allow the wood chip tray to slide in properly. Before this adjustment was made, the tray would bind on the wood chip feeder and could not be positioned.
This smoker has a good amount of total rack space at 711 square inches. There are four racks, any of which can be removed if more headroom is needed, for example when smoking a turkey. While there is quite a bit of rack space, it is important to not load a rack so much as to impede the flow of heat and smoke to any of the racks above it. This includes not using aluminum foil to cover the racks. Included with the smoker is a water bowl, which is useful for infusing flavors into the food. It can be placed onto any rack allowing for some food to receive the flavoring and others to not.
Accessories include a bottom drip pan for capturing debris and grease, which is directed into the external grease tray, a wood chip tray that holds the wood chips if smoking the food, and an external wood chip loader that allows for adding more wood chips without needing to access the internal wood chip tray. I really like this feature and wish that my prior smoker had this feature, it would have saved me from more than a few burns. Built into the top of the smoker is an air damper, which is mainly used to remove moisture from the smoke chamber.
The smoker comes with a digital control panel used to set the temperature and the smoke time. Both must be set for the smoker to operate. To use the smoker, add wood chips using the wood chip loader, turn on the power, set the temperature and time, let the smoker preheat, then load the food and the water bowl, if desired. The maximum temperature setting is 275 degrees. There are times when I am smoking where I increase the temperature beyond 275 degrees. It would be nice if the smoker had the capability to go another 50 degrees; but that said, 275 degrees will be good enough for 90 percent of my smoking needs. To add wood chips while smoking, you simply pull out the wood chip loader, add wood chips to the loader, then reinsert the loader and turn it 180 degrees to dump the chips into the wood chip tray.
One improvement that would be welcome is the addition of side handles for carrying. I do not like to keep my grills exposed to the weather, so I move them under the roof. But since this unit does not have carrying handles, it makes it difficult to move easily, and without my clothes getting dirty. Masterbuilt does sell a cover, but I would rather not use one.
I have to say that the convenience of not having to attach a propane tank is very nice, and all have to do is plug it into an electric outlet.
One of the main advantage of this electric masterbuilt over the previous gas smoker is the temperature control. It does take a while to heat up but once the temperature has been set, I can just leave the meat inside and come back later without having to constantly check on the temperature which usually fluctuates on the gas smoker.
The electric smoker on the other hand does not get as hot as the gas unit but it is not an issue for me since I smoke all my meat and fish at a low temperature and never go past 275 degrees Fahrenheit.
However, I do have to admit that the taste is not as perfect as the gas smoker but it is pretty close.
Overall, the lazy person that I am much prefer this electric Masterbuilt smoker for the convenience and ease of use and with all that said, I will give this unit a solid 5 stars rating.
So far we have only cooked pork and chicken, and so ready to try other meats. This smoker is perfect for us. No bad reviews I can think of. Highly recommend!
Easy to assemble keep warmth digital temperature and time controlled
Only for cold smoking food as a cheese you will need smoking tube which is only around $10
I recommend to clean inserted racks and plates every time you use what do not cost build up dirt and keep fresh. Whole smoker I spray with proper chemicals and flush with water every 10 times of use
Unboxing and doing the minor assembly required for this smoker is quick and easy. It took me less than 30 minutes.
Spending more on an electric smoker with a window is a waste, in my view, because the glass quickly gets fogged with steam and smoke residue. Besides, you should be cooking to internal temperature with a good remote temperature probe instead of opening the door periodically (letting heat and smoke escape) to check on progress.
Speaking of not opening the door while cooking, I'm a huge fan of this smoker's external smokewood loading feature that allows you to add wood without opening the door.
Pre-heating the smoker is important in cold weather. Up to a 30 minutes may be necessary. Pre-heating is not so necessary during the warm/hot spring/summer/fall months if the outside temperature is above 60̊ F. In fact, there is a good reason to skip pre-heating entirely on really warm days (over 80̊ F.), as explained in the next paragraph.
Of course, the Masterbuilt electric smokers rely on a electric heating element for heat. The element automatically turns off when the smoker reaches the target temperature you set. It then turns back on when the temperature in the cabinet drops several degrees below the target temperature. While the Masterbuilt smokers are pretty well insulated, they are affected by the outdoor temperature. You will find that the element stays on much longer during colder weather, so there is hardly ever a problem getting enough smoke in such weather. However, particularly when the outdoor temperature is over 80̊ F. or so, the element will not stay on as much, which can decrease the smoke production. I have two approaches to this problem:
(1) In hot weather, I never pre-heat the smoker. I just put the meat in the smoker and start it "cold." This maximizes the initial smoke until the smoker gets to the target temperature, which can takes as little as 10 minutes in really hot weather if you're cooking at, say, 225̊.
(2) Every once in a while if not enough smoke is being produced, I open the door for 30 to 60 seconds and let the temperature in the cabinet come down, forcing the heating element to come back on. This hardly ever results in extended cooking time because the temperature recovers pretty quickly, and if not enough smoke is being produced anyway, you're not letting out a lot of smoke.
A lot of my meat smoking projects are under 3-4 hours, and I always use the Masterbuilt for those. I'm only tempted to fire up my Weber bullet charcoal smoker for longer smokes such as ribs and brisket.
Tips for easier cleanup: Line the bottom tray of the smoker with foil and be sure to poke a hole in the foil to match the hole in the tray. Also, foil the water pan before every use of the smoker, which makes it super easy to clean. Try it just once without foil, and you'll be a dedicated water-pan-foiler thereafter! Also, get a protective heat-resistant mat to go under the smoker and protect your patio or deck because there will be occasional spills of grease no matter how careful you are.
The photo shows my smoker in operation on Christmas Day 2020 -- doing a twice-smoked ham. If you look closely, you can see the clean smoke coming out the vent on the top right of the smoker.
Assembly was quick and easy. I cleaned and preseasond right away, so that I could use it the next day.
I wrapped the drip pan and water pan with aluminum foil, added water and herbs to water pan, and added a mixture of cherry, apple, and hickory chips to pan. Set the temperature and time and let it go. Beautiful smoked, tender, juicy meat. Turkey Breast, Chicken Breast, and Pork Chops. See pics attached.
One last note, I opted out of the one with the glass window door, for I didn't want to have to worry about cleaning it as well.
Holds heat steady and long. I do wings at 235-250 for 3 hours, ribs 6 hours at 250. Wrapped in fil at 3 hour mark. Off the bone goodness. Mustard then dry rub. No sauce necessary.
I am lazy. I repeat lazy. This thing is super simple. Chip tray is too small so I add chips every 45 minutes the first few hours. I also use an after market chip cage. Can’t remember the name. Wings have been magic, better than moes bbq in bham