Salt Brining calculator

[docblonder]

A new salt brining calculator. Discusses why we salt brine, which levels are appropriate for which purposes, and the difference between equilibrium and gradient brining. Before unleashing on the world outside the Pit, interested in your comments and suggestions.

http://www.genuineideas.com/ArticlesIndex/saltbrinecalculator.html

[Jerod Broussard]

If one was wanting to dry brine just enter "zero" in the liquid amount?

[docblonder]

Yes, but only in the equilibrium calculator where you also enter the meat's weight.

[Jerod Broussard]

Kewlness. Thanks.

[Danjohnston949]

Thanks docblonder , My Basic Ritmatic required me to use all my fingers and toes Prior to this calculator!
I believe it is going to be Useful!
Eat Well and Prosper! From a Backyard Cremator in Fargo ND, Dan

[Henrik]

Thanks for supporting both metric and imperial units, awesome! As for salt levels in the first paragraph: I would argue that 5% isn't that salty, or rather, quite palatable. I know, everyone has different taste buds, but I usually (wet) brine eye of round in a 10% solution and then cook it, and it is quite nice. Salty, yes, but good flavor. But perhaps I'm not reading it right. Do you mean the brine itself?

Minor spelling error: in the third paragraph it says "...The meat is then remove from". There should be a 'd' added to 'remove'.

Some UX feedback: why not make the "dry brine" a radio button (with the "cups", "quarts", et.c.) in step 4? That way you will save yourself a lot of 'how do I' questions :-) even though it is stated explicitly in the first paragraphs.

Great calculator, thanks for making it!

[docblonder]

Henrik-- Added the "dry brine" button and fixed the errant "d", thanks!

5% brine is fine IF you are gradient brining and remove after a few hours. 5% IN the meat is pretty salty for my taste. How long do you wet brine in 10%? (of course the Swedes are used to Lutefisk...)

[Henrik]

Thanks, just wanted to provide some helpful feedback. As for the brine level, I realize now you must have meant the salt level in the final product. If so, I agree with you. When I brine in 10% I usually leave it for 2-4 hours, as it becomes plenty salty. I then slice (the eye of round) to use for sandwiches. Think of salami slices.

Another thing I came to think of now that I tried the calculator again: would it make sense to have pre-populated values? As in: I don't have to click each and everyone to get to 'the end' and see how much salt to use. Yes, it won't match everybody's preferences, typically, some folks prefer imperial, other metric, but at least I only need to click the ones I want to change, as opposed to all of them.

Thanks again for a cool calculator!

[docblonder]

We debated pre-populating, but as you point out, not only do some readers prefer metric over imperial, but people often mix units. They weigh out the salt in ozs but use a liter container to measure the water, because they have a liter soda bottle. So we started with a blank slate.

Also chose to ignore Imperial unit buttons. We are assuming most of the EU and BE likely prefer metric, while imperial is a hold-over. For our nitrite calculator, accidentally hitting a metric gallon vs US is a 20% error, and might not be noticed if there were too many choices. Not as big an issue here, but trying to keep things simple.

[AlexS]

I'm trying to follow the recipe for curing bacon. I need to convert from Morton's Kosher Salt (which I don't have) to Trader Joe's SeaSalt (which I have a lot of), but that is not on the conversion list. Can anyone tell me the density of Morton's Kosher Salt, and then I can just do the conversion by weight? I have a good scale... Thanks.

[docblonder]

Just click on the radio buttons in the salt section here

http://www.genuineideas.com/ArticlesIndex/saltbrinecalculator.html

it lists the salt density in the left column. Assume TJ sea salt same as Baleine

[fuzzydaddy]

Welcome aboard! We'd love to get an intro from you over in the Introduce Yourself channel when you get a minute. https://pitmaster.amazingribs.com/fo...troductions-aa Thanks!

[AlexS]

Got it! 1.01 g/cc for Morton's Kosher salt, to convert the amounts on AmazingRibs to mass. Its even a conveniently round number... Thanks for the tip DocBlonder. fuzzydaddy, I'll get around to the intro one of these days.

[DeusDingo]

can we now fix the bacon recipe on the site so it isn't bland and undeserving of being hosted with the rest of the recipes that are actually good?

[Willy]

Question on the Archimedes method: I assume this must be done quickly, before much salt dissolves? Or does even the dissolved salt displace at a 1:1 ratio?

[docblonder]

From a practical view point, it does not matter. But if you measure verrrry carefully, when the salt dissolves. the ions can slightly pack into nooks between the water molecules, dropping the water level a bit more than expected. Turning a 6% brine into a 6.01% brine.

[Willy]

Thanks!, docblonder I ain't even coming close to measuring that precisely! My question was based on simple syrup (hummingbirds, margaritas, and whiskey sours!) where 1 + 1 doesn't even begin to equal two. Bigger molecules. I suspect?

[docblonder]

Yes, sugar is 6x more soluble in water than salt. So it "disappears" into the liquid. But the molecules still takes up space, so the Archimedean method continues to work.

[Willy]

Thanks, docblonder , I'm beginning to get with the program. I have always assumed that SOME of the reduction in volume when mixing water and salt or was due to the "fact" that the water molecules and Na and Cl ions "packed" together "better" (made use of some interstitial space), like adding a bucket of tennis balls to a bucket of grapefruit would not yield two full buckets of the mixture. I assumed (I know, when one assumes...) that if a solid block of salt was added to a volume of water, that the volume would drop over time as the salt dissolved. I think you are basically saying that salt and water mixing is essentially like mixing all tennis balls, so the volume change between the solid block and the dissolved salt is negligible. Is this correct?.

[docblonder]

Close enough. Water molecules are "V" shaped, and don't pack perfectly. But interact strongly when a molecule enters the V. Equal parts of pure alcohol and water ends up about 5% lower in volume than expected from their original volumes. Salt only 2%. Pretty tightly packed.

[Willy]

Thanks very much for taking the time to explain it to me; it's appreciated.

[ecowper]

Well docblonder I got to use this calculator today. I'm doing a batch of bacon and had half a pork belly handy. That, of course, is not exactly 3 lbs like Meathead's bacon recipes call for. So, threw it on the kitchen scale and then ran it through your calculator. Much more precise than doing rough estimate calculations of numbers of half teaspoons of prague powder, etc. Thank you .... now I can experiment with my bacon recipes without worrying about my brine being dangerous! you are the man.

[DeusDingo]

docblonder general curing question: is it perfectly safe to cure the meat in just water and Prague powder, and then later applying all the other ingredients as more of a dry rub?