Masterbuilt Pro Smoker | Masterbuilt Smoker Review
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 9 ก.ย. 2024
- The Masterbuilt Propane Smoker was one of the first propane grills that we successfully used. The Masterbuilt Pro Grill is relatively easy to use as long as you know how to make it work for your needs. It is a dual fuel smoker, meaning you can cook with both propane and charcoal fuel sources. We consider this grill to be one of the best propane smokers at its price point.
We love cooking with propane because it allows for even temperatures throughout the entire cook. The only drawback to propane is that it fails to impart beneficial flavors to the meat. This is where wood chips and chunks come into play. Wood chips burn faster, but can add smoke flavor to the meat as soon as it’s added to the flame bowl.
You can also use wood chunks. Wood chunks last longer, meaning you don’t have to open the door to add replacements. You simply add the wood to the fire bowl seated directly above the propane flame. The bowl gets very hot, so it’s possible that your wood will initially burn rather than smoke.
The second option is using charcoal briquettes or lump charcoal. We’ve found there are two ways to light charcoal on this masterbuilt smoker. First, light a chimney of lump charcoal and dump it in the firebowl. Add a few chunks of firewood on top of the charcoal and you’ll be adding smoke to your cook in no time.
The second way to light charcoal is filling the firebowl with unlit charcoal and turning on the propane. The propane burner lights the charcoal and heats up the Masterbuilt Pro Grill quicker than lighting a chimney.
It’s completely up to you whether you want to use charcoal or propane as the fuel source. The only difference is that charcoal brings flavor while propane doesn’t. The choice is completely up to you
The main reason we bought this Masterbuilt Grill was for the sheer space it possessed at the $250 price point. With four racks of space, we love how much room we can cook at one time.
For one cook, we fit a large full packer brisket and two pork butts. Each piece of meat had its own shelf. Spritzing the meat every hour was simple with the ease of sliding the racks in and out. This is a feature you don’t find in most grills.
The biggest challenge on this unit was keeping a consistent temperature when using charcoal as the fuel source. It became difficult to add new charcoal to the fire after an hour or two into the cook. It can be difficult handling a 300 degree bowl and adding charcoal. Yes, its an achievable task, but hard when the charcoal briquettes overflow and fall out of the bowl. This is simply an inconvenient feature.
This Propane Masterbuilt Smoker is a dual door smoker. You can easily add wood chunks, briquettes, and lump charcoal to the bottom door without having to open the above cooking chamber. We loved this feature because it keeps an even and consistent temperature for cooks.
The vents can be found on the bottom sides and top back panel. Once you dial in the temperature you’re shooting for, the vents take very little playing with. When using charcoal, pay attention to how far the vents are open. At the very least, you need to worry about having a path for air to flow from the fire to the upper vent.
Moving the grill across the concrete patio is a breeze due to its light weight construction. The wheels on the back are fantastic. Simply tip it back and roll it where it needs to go.
We also love the push button igniter for the propane attachment. We have used this grill many times, and the flame still lights up the first time you touch the button.
The Masterbuilt 40 Propane smoker has been a solid unit. If you’re in the market for a smoker, the masterbuilt is definitely worth checking out. We consider this to be one of the best Masterbuilt smokers. Wanting to learn more about this grill? Go to www.thebarbecu... for more information.
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probably the best smoker review ever
Just bought a used one of this version and I'm looking forward to using it
To avoid flare up use a 8-10" Iron Skillet and set it in the Chip bowl. I've had this unit for 2 years and it works like a charm. Sealed up the doors, installed a Temp probe hole on the back center, cut and installed a 1/16 sheet to fit around the burner to catch debris. However the chip bowl is starting to fall apart and the ceramic coating is flaking off, and a replacement chip bowl is difficult to find but runs around 45.00 dollars for a replacement.
Thanks for the info. All questions answered and you're not annoying to watch or listen to.
Great review, I had an older masterbuilt electric for over 10 years before I had any failures. Unfortunately about a month ago the heating element quit and I was getting prepared to replace it when the lower frame completely fell apart. I count myself fortunate that I had many good years and great cooking experiences with everything from pork to salmon to turkey. Now I'm seriously thinking about the 30" pro dual fuel since we're retired now and also living off grid.
Thank you. I just bought this exact smoker. First time user/smoker and
of the many vids in you tube land this one made an impression. I subscribed. Keep 'em coming👍
HI, I own one and our son come over with a whole brisket. By using very stiff wire, we were able to hang the brisket, centered in the smoker. We used the longer smoke tube filled with pellets, standing vertically next to the brisket. It resulted in the best brisket i have ever experienced. The brisket was finished it the oven - low and slow.. Your description of the smoker is accurate. The smoker developed a yellow flame when we started the smoking this time and with the help of youtube we were able to get the blue flame back by cleaning out the gas/air tube.
Great video. I bought a slightly different version of this and didn’t realize I could use charcoal in the chip pan.
I've just got one of these for my birthday - LOVE IT!
Congrats John! Have fun putting it to work.
@@TheBarbecueLab its been busy over the last 2 days - not sure which takes longer - cooking in it or cleaning it! I don't care, so happy with the output :)
Just used mine for the first, my first time smoking as well. Three pounds of fantastic ribs, decided to go small for first smoke. Can't wait to go again. Got a brisket and pork shoulder as next victims.
Here's a great tip that someone gave me when I was first starting with the Masterbuilt Pro. If you're going to stack different meats on multiple levels, think about what juices you're going to have dripping from the top level on down. I put a pork shoulder on top and a brisket below, and that was one juicy brisket at the end of that cook.
Here on Guam we rarely use dry rub. We marinade most of our meats. I just bought the same smoker and can’t wait to try it out.
How's it working for u?
Once I got the kinks out of it and learning curve was done I cranked out some pretty and decent good food out of it and of all sorts 👌make no mistake I love entry level smoker but now ready to move on to a MB wide body for space primarily but will keep my pro for sentimental reasons it did such a great job will keep it for smaller cooks
answered ALL my questions.
Just got mine yesterday! Can’t wait to use it!!
Love the review. I have had mine for 4 years now. $89 black friday special😁. I've never used with charcoal, only propane and chips but now that I've watched this I'll have to give that a try.
Charcoal is a great way to use this unit. I’d often roll charcoal for the first 3-4 hours until the meat couldn’t take on any more smoke and then switch to propane. I hope you’re enjoying it as much as I have.
Excellent review. Thanks, you've really shed light on my decision making. Looks like I'm going with this one.
Glad the video was helpful! Happy meat smoking!
I just borrowed my dad's smoker for a party, and this video provided me with great information I needed, since this is my first smoking by myself.
I'll probably go with using propane with hickory wood chips in stove attachment
Best wishes Christopher! Let us know how the cook goes and have fun.
Thanks for the great review -- looking for an entry-level smoker and you helped seal the deal! Picking it up this afternoon as a gift to my hubby and I'll send your channel his way to aid him on this new journey! Happy Smokin'!
All the best to you and your hubby! Have fun learning the art of the smoker. It's both science and art, but mostly art when it all comes down to it.
Very nicely done! That was an excellent tutorial! Thank you very much!
Glad it was helpful!
This review has helped me decide to go with the Masterbuilt Pro Dual Fuel smoker. This will be my first one and I am excited to use it. Fortunately, I live in Southern California so I anticipate weather will not be an issue to cook... I am super excited! Thanks for the honest review. Plus, I clicked the subscribe so I can get your ideas for cooking on the grill and in the smoker.
Thank you Rich. I wish you the best with your new smoker!
I have the 2006 model of this but it only has the one big door that is not good but I did ribs last weekend and maintained 275 thru the whole cook by just cracking the big door and propping with broom stick and pushing closed as temp dropped. Worked great. Ribs were perfect in 3 hours 15 minutes no wrap. It’s the 40 inch so it’s nice height. With legs but no wheels. I’d like a 40 inch with the wheels for propane.
Great video. I have the same smoker, it works great for low & slow ribs!
Awesome Thomas. I love it when equipment works the way it's supposed to. Keep rolling that smoke!
@@TheBarbecueLab Thank you, I will keep rolling the smoke. For the last 4 years, I have used the 3-2-1 method for my ribs on my Masterbuilt Pro charcoal and propane dual fuel smoker, here in NE Indiana, they always turn out great. Before that I was using a barrel type charcoal BBQ grill & my ribs were hit & miss.
What a great review. Thanks
About to pick one up off someone for $25. All that's wrong is a bad ignitor which I can fix easy. Can't wait to smoke in it!
Thanks for your very informative video. Regards from Australia 🤓🇦🇺
Thanks Roy!
Excellent video.Thank you this was very informative.
I'm glad it was helpful!
Thanks for the detailed review. I just picked one up brand new on Ebay for $175. I have a Masterbuilt electric smoker which is great, but no smoke ring on the meat. My pellet smoker is convenient but hard to switch to different flavor wood and there is just more grill space in a vertical smoker.
Let us know how your new vertical works out for you Bryan. I hope it's exactly what you're looking for.
Best review!
What a great review, wish I would have seen this sooner! I just did a good amount of research before I arrived at the Masterbuilt dual fuel to step up to from using a charcoal weber kettle to smoke with for years. I'm no pro, but I feel I will benefit from the propane and charcoal combo. Definitely will use it how you suggest by starting out with charcoal since you cant beat the flavor and finishing off with the propane for that temperature consistency
Good video
What a great video- I wish I would have come across this before I bought a $450 Pitboss pellet grill that stopped working after only a few cooks. Pellets suck and you can’t taste the smoke
Glad you liked the video Craig, and sorry about your experience with your pellet grill. If it's a charcoal type grill you're looking for, check out our review coming up on the Pit Barrel Cooker. For the price, it puts out some really great bbq.
Dude great review thanks so much
Glad it was helpful Gerald
Bought one today, Made the right choice! Ill need to build a protective brick capsule for it to fix that wind problem i guess lol.
Lol, yeah. It can be tricky working with high wind on the dual fuel pro, but overall it works great. I'd say one of the best briskets I've cooked was on this unit. It was charcoal all the way, but there's something about letting the juices fall right into the coals that makes a mean brisket.
I havent found any videos showing using this with just charcoal and how to do that. Its dual fuel so should be able to
Yes, you can use it with just charcoal. I don't have this model any longer, but I would just load up the bowl with charcoal and usually light the charcoal with a Tumbleweed to get things going. You can use a chimney, but it's tight getting the charcoal into the bowl from a chimney.
Is there tips on how to smoke a 24 lb turkey?
awesome very informative video
Glad it was helpful Ginette!
I disagree with not soaking the chunks and chips, those ships and chunks will just ignite and burn up causing the temperature to rise, I also use a cast iron pan that sits in the wood bowl and prevents the flame igniting the chips.
I've been hearing a lot of chip flare ups with this model. What's the best way to manage flare ups?
Have a question. The connection on the bottom isn't securely flush (meaning where the propane hose and burner grey pipe) are connected. Is it supposed to be like that? Anyone knows?
Your unit looks like it's ready to rust out on the bottom? You mention "years" in your reviews, how many years? Looking on the HD website the major complaint is the unit rusting out at the bottom. What say you?
Cast iron pan
I just won this smoker at work!!
Home Depot says comes with drip tray and a water pan. I don't see a drip tray
Also curious how well this one does in winter in Michigan and if I should wait for better temps.
Sad it doesn't have seals.
Just get some fire proof silicone. Works great. I had on in canada and cooked all winter long on it on gas, wasnt realy an issue keeping temps. Keep it out of the wind tho.
@@franotoole2702I ended up using the sealer felt stuff they sell on Amazon.
I've moved on to pellet smoker but still want to be able to use this.
So I still need to play with it
You mentioned that the meat stops absorbing the smoke flavour at the four-hour mark. Is it reasonable to start with charcoal and then switch to propane at the four-hour mark?
What does water pan do? Can I use cast iron pan to put my watered wood chunks instead of the metal bowl
You could certainly use a cast iron pan in place of the water pan. We use ours to keep dry wood chunks in rather than wet wood as we learned that the wet chunks and chips gave off a flavor that we didn't like. We kept larger wood chunks in the pan and just replaced them every hour as they burned out. Smoke on!
Thanks for the great vid. What are your thoughts on creating hot wood coals in a Weber, then transferring them to the smokers bowl?
I'm sure that would work great
Just got it
Enjoy Anthony!
Do you not repaint the inside? I didn’t
Great video, how do you control your temperature? I have that same smoker I set the smoker regulator dial on lowest setting and in about 2 hours smoker is up to 370 degrees. how do you maintain a temperature of 250 degrees? Thank You
Are you using propane to fuel the smoker or are you using charcoal or a mixture of both? For me, I was able to run the smoker on low and achieve 250, but airflow, how much load is in the grill, the output vent setting and a few other things can all play a part of temperature getting too hot.
Not sure what I'm doing wrong. Mine struggles to get over 200F. Throttle is on high,full tank of propane. I dunno
Not sure what to tell you there Chris. Sounds like there's something not functioning correctly with the burner if you ask me, but it's just a theory.
👌
Just shopping now this will be my first smoker can you suggest the best bang for the buck?
It really depends on what kind of smoker you're looking for. Do you want a charcoal, electric, offset, pellet, kamado... There are so many different types. Most of all, it's about the level of "set it and forget it" that you want when compared to the quality of the bbq you can produce when related to your price range. If you want to give us a little bit more about what you're considering, we might be able to help more.
I just unboxed mine. What about the light coat of cooking oil I see in the instructions? How do you clean the inside walls? (Do you clean the inside walls?) First time smoker. 😅
I assume the light coat of cooking oil is what it recommends to coat the inside of the grill with before you season it, and I would make sure to do that step. Cleaning the inside walls of a smoker isn’t generally something you need to worry about. Cleaning the grates, yes. Every time. Cleaning out the bottom of the smoker from drippings and renderings, yes. If you don’t there could be a grease fire.
@@TheBarbecueLab yeap. I'm following the curing part of the manual now. Got some hickory at Home Depot. Tomorrow will be the first of many! Thanks!
i have this smoker second hand from my deceased father in law. he aparently used it only a handfull of times. the waterbowl is missing. is it necessary for making good smoked foods?
It’s not a necessity, but it just keeps humidity in the air while you’re smoking, which keeps temperature swings from being drastic. If you keep the water bowl full, it’s more of a heat sink than anything else, but fill it full of flavorful liquid, and you can change the flavor of the cook if you want. Happy smoking!
I will like to buy one for backing?? Cakes can I used for this
Yes, it functions like a charcoal powered oven in many respects. There would be a charcoal flavor with everything you bake, so if that's what you're going for, then it would work.
It's best to get rid of the water pan and it's rack to allow for feeding wood chunks to the pan. In my case I am using a 10" cast iron skillet to hold my chunk's over the propane burner. I also turn on my propane gas to very low while feeding the skillet with hard wood lump coal. NOTE: after 5 weeks of use I am finding it is difficult to control the heat from going too high. It's can get hot and easily get up to 300 degrees using coal or lump hardwood. You have to turn the propane control valve to its lowest setting. It's a deal breaker if you want to do a $50 brisket that could get ruined from runaway High temp! Keeping this smoker between 250 and 275 can be a challenge!
What is the best propane smoker? The Masterbuilt Pro or the Masterbuilt MPS 340G?
Great question Mark. I haven't cooked with the 340G, so I can't really speak to that unit. If I were shopping for a propane smoker, I would be looking at the types of meat I wanted to cook and then look at whether the unit will handle things that size. A full packer brisket for example is going to be tough to fit in many vertical propane smokers, but they'll handle almost everything else you throw at them. Secondly, I'd look at the thickness of the metal on the unit. That'll speak to it's longevity out in the elements. That's what I would do if I were shopping for a propane unit, I hope that helps!
How long does one fill of the propane tank usually last? I have a weber smokey mountain currently which typically only runs consistently when using briquettes, so thinking about going to gas for the heat source to focus on getting smoke flavor from the smoke woods. I find the charcoal smoke flavor, which is also tasty, can over power the more subtle fruit woods.
I don't know that I ever measured the exact time that a propane tank lasted. It really varies on how high you're setting the heat from the propane burner and how often you use it to supplement any other fuel. When I had the Pro, I used propane primarily to start up the charcoal for a cook, and then once the charcoal basket was full of ash, I would switch back to propane since the meat had already taken all of the smoke flavor it was going to get after the first 4-5 hours of a cook. I know that a propane tank would last me 8-9 cooks using it that way. So, if I would take a guess, I probably got 20-25 hours of cook time out of a 20lb tank of propane. That's not a scientific number, but it's a good guess, lol.
@@TheBarbecueLab Thanks, that's close enough, mainly just wanting to know it would last a whole over night cook. Or enough to last though the night, I always keep a spare full tank or two on hand.
@@noControl556 I think as long as you didn't have it on high, it should last all night no problem.
How do you insert
temp probes wires vents or by doors ?
Hi Jeff, you could really do it either way. I usually inserted probes through the door on this unit since there wasn't a super tight seal around the door and there was room for a probe without kinking it. I did also run probe wires through the vents as well for meats that I had on the top shelves, and that was nice so I didn't have to worry about the wires each time I opened and shut the door.
He bbq lab what smoker would you recommed for a restaurant ? .... electric is expensive where i am at. So thats a no no . Any advice ?
How much smoked meat are you hoping to put out? Any idea on a budget you're looking to stay within?
@@TheBarbecueLab well it is going to be a new restaurant and want to smoke as much possible. Here in the caribbean it is all bbq so want to come with something different. Budget wise would say under 3k-5k. A smoker that u dont have to be checking every 30 min. Thanks for the reply.
@@krijnvanderbrug152 If you're talking about a budget between $3-5k, there are a whole lot of options out there. If you go straight stick burner, you'll need to feed it a split of wood every 45 minutes, but it's the best tasting smoke and smoke ring you can get. You could go charcoal with a gas assist like an Ole Hickory, and you can get charcoal and wood flavor by using wood chunks with the coal. You wouldn't need to babysit that, and you could do 35 butts at a time. There are pellet smoker options as well, but for capacity, flavor and ease of use, it's hard to beat an Ole Hickory in a commercial setting.
can this be converted over to natural gas. I have natural gas outside for my grill and generator and would like to convert to NG if possible
I'm sure it can be, but you'd probably need to change the orifice on the unit. I bet if you contact Masterbuilt, they'll hook you up with the right parts. Tell em we sent you!
@@TheBarbecueLab thanks. I'll be sure to mention you
@@benh554 I hope they can help you Ben. Changing out an orifice isn't too difficult, but it's critical to make sure the right amount of fuel is getting through.
What is the coating layer for the interior cooking chamber? And what is the coating layer for the exterior body? Thankyou
I'm not sure I'm privy to the information you're looking here Ahmad. I don't think the interior has a coating and the outside looks like it's a powder coat, but that's as much as I'm aware of.
@@TheBarbecueLab I'm afraid that inside the cooking chamber needs a high-temp powder coat or some sticky oily substance to retain the heat. But surely it's not a regular powder coat, is it?
@@ahmadzabelfachreza3321 The inside of the cooker had an oily coating, but once we sprayed the inside with cooking spray and seasoned the smoker, that's what gave the inside the ability for smoke to stick to the interior metal on ours. I'm not a smoker manufacturer, so I don't know the ins and outs of powder coatings and the like.
@@TheBarbecueLab Much appreciate for the explanation, btw great video man. Cheers!
@@ahmadzabelfachreza3321 Happy to help Ahmad.
Did you season the smoker before use?
I always season each smoker before using it for the first time. The goal for me is just to burn off any of the leftover grease or oil from the manufacturing process and get some smoke to stick to the metal all over. I just take a can of spray canola oil and coat all of the inside metal. Could do the same with a bottle of vegetable oil and a rag, but I’m lazy that way, lol. I usually run it at 350 for 45 minutes or so and then start cooking.
I have this smoker, and so far I haven't had much luck with it. My meat comes out tasting basically like burnt wood, without any of that smoky goodness. I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong.
Are you using it with charcoal or with the propane option?
@@TheBarbecueLab Using propane and apple chips. Doing 4-5 rounds of chips every 20 min, then let the ribs cook for 1 more hr, then wrapping and cooking until tender.
What is your output vent set to? Is it open or mostly closed?
@@TheBarbecueLab Mostly closed. Should I open it more?
If you're getting too much burned wood flavor, I would open the output vent at least half if not all the way to increase the airflow. That will keep the air clean and help circulation. Give that a go, and if it's still not enough, you could back down on how often you're adding wood. I added wood about once per hour when I was using this model and it seemed to be a good frequency for me. Best of luck!
Hmm not bad tbh
I am trying to decide between Pellet Smokers, electric and propane. I have read in different places that electric smokers have a hard time making the wood smoke. I think propane sounds good but have read that when the wood catches on fire it makes your temperature really shoot up. What is your opinion on which is easier to get smoke and hold consistent temps?
Pellet smokers are the easiest smokers that I've worked with when it comes to maintaining temperature and consistent smoke. There's a place for pellet smokers for people who want to smoke foods without needing to maintain a fire or worry about adding wood every hour. I like propane smokers over electric smokers. I'd pick a propane over an electric smoker every time I think. There can be swings in temperature when the wood you're using ignites, but I usually just plan on my smoking wood igniting at some point during the cook. When it ignites, it's time to replace it. My two cents, if you want convenience, choose a pellet grill. If you like open flame cooking, propane is the way to go, and just know that your wood is going to catch fire eventually and will need replaced. How long it will last depends on the smoker, but I prefer a smoker like this one over an electric.
@@TheBarbecueLab Thanks for the tips and thoughts. I like the pellet smoker but it just does not smoke enough for me. I think I will go with the propane but I wanted to be able to walk away from it for 3 or 4 hours without wrrying about the temps. How can you accomplish that?
What does adding water do to the smoker? Sorry it’s my first time using a smoker and I just picked this one up
Adding water creates a humid environment inside the cooking chamber. You can use it with water or without, and some users like to fill their water pan with apple juice, beer or other liquids to add flavor to the humidity. Give it a try, you'll learn whether you like a wet or dry smoking environment after a cook or two.