I have a vacuum tumbler (identical to a Marinade Express Vacuum Tumbler) and I have read allot about them. From my experience they work, but not because of fancy cell structure science and vacuums. They work more on boring science like gravity and mechanical tenderizing. The vacumme just insures it all stays in while it tumbles… I have had great success with everything from chicken to jerkey to burgundy tri tip.

Now the rub. I bought my unit used on ebay for $70. When I got it the vacuum tubes were shot and I was lucky enough to have the tubing to fix it. I asked for a $25 refund so I got $45 in mine plus some time tax. At $45 I love having it, but I wouldn’t spend the money for a brand new unit unless I had some specific processes I wanted to improve.

So yes they work and cut down on time and increase the amount of marinade a piece of meat will take and also tenderizes at the same time. Anyone selling you cellular transposal molecular worpspeed machine has dressed up gravity bucket with vacuum seal.

mikemikemike try bottom round for 24-36 hours. Then fridge it for 4 hours before slicing. I just perfected an Italian beef recipe that my chicago inlaws are loving.

So I built a Stumps gravity feed clone smoker a few years ago an I want to use it for smoking cured meats. I do have a digital controller with fan so maintaining 130< Fahrenheit should be possible.

Has anyone used this style smoker, any tips or tricks I should have up my sleeve?

mikemikemike

I didn’t say Vacuum wasn’t a big part. Without it the whole operation would be everywhere instead of neatly in the bucket. Based on the reading and scientific experiments I have watched a vacuum at the levels of a home marination device do not facilitate the process like you would think, but the vacuum does make the operation of tumbling possible.

These experiments were done under .5atm of vacuum which translates to 14.96 inch of mercury
https://genuineideas.com/ArticlesIndex/pressuremarinade.html

Make of it what you will.

If you have some other articles that prove your point about 20+ inHg I would be willing to read them and maybe go as far as measuring the amount of vacuum my unit is taking or could take. The Marinade express says it goes to Maximum vacuum level of 26 in of mercury (Hg) so I would wager mine is in that vicinity.

I will even go a step further if folks are interested. Walmart accidentally delivered me some chicken breasts on my last order so I would be willing to sacrifice them in the name of science. If folks are interested to do an experiment let me know what parameters would answer the most questions.