Universal Cure Calculator.........

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diggingdogfarm

Master of the Pit
Original poster
Jun 23, 2011
4,648
176
Southern Tier of New York State
I set up a javascript Universal Cure Calculator on my website.
Here's the link for anyone who wants to play around with it....

http://www.diggingdogfarm.com/page2.html

The calculator can be used to calculate the amount of cure and salt required in sausage...the amounts of cure, salt and sugar for a dry cure mix...it can also be used to calculate the ingredients for an equilibrium brine, etc.

[COLOR=#red]The calculator is preset for Cure #1 at 6.25%, do not change that number unless you know what you are doing.[/COLOR]

Update: I changed the 6.25% value to "read only" so it can't be changed.

There's also a handy weight converter for converting pounds to grams.

Please only use the calculator if you have a full understanding of the technical and safety issues involved.

Triple check your work!!!

Have fun!

~Martin
 
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I've had a couple folks ask about equilibrium brining, below is a brief description that I wrote up.

Equilibrium brining is a method of brining that makes it impossible to over-salt or over-cure meat when using a reasonable percentage of salt and the proper amount of cure. In equilibrium brining the submerged meat and the cover brine (or cover brine and injected brine, in larger pieces of meat) act as a single system and are considered a single unit when calculating salt, sugar and cure amounts. Over time, the ingredients in the brine migrate into the meat until levels in the meat tissue and in the brine are balanced via osmosis and diffusion. Therefore, the calculation for ingoing salt, sugar and cure is based on the weight of the meat plus the weight of the water or other liquid used in the brine.

~Martin
 
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Nice work Martin, that will come in handy!
also nice food pic's, especially the sopressata
 
Cool Calculator Martin

Can you save this as a WIKI?

Where does the Nitrite ppm come from?

If it's a standard, maybe you want to fix the cell, so someone does not alter it

Can I assume this calculator will work for a brine solution, as well as a dry cure?

TJ
 
Thanks Martin,

Appreciate your efforts and making it easier for me...
points.gif
 
Martin, morning.....Very nice calculator.....   Will you add a section for liquid ????  say I want to use 2 quarts of water with a 5# chunk of meat... Like I might use when doing turkey breast or legs.... or pork hocks and shanks....  that would be really handy....  

You needed something else to do today anyway.....   Dave
 
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The calculator is only good for recipes using cure, and in the case of brining, an equilibrium brine. Equilibrium brining takes time and the ingredients are often less than what's used in a typical brine.
Larger pieces of meat should be injected, and a high ratio of meat to liquid (4:1,2:1, etc.) should be used for best results.

Here's an example of a 2:1 ratio (meat:water) equilibrium brining project.

We'll do immersion cured (rind-off) bacon which requires no more than 120ppm nitrite.

Our piece of bacon weighs 1000grams so the amount of water required for our 2:1 brine is 500grams, adding the two together we get 1500grams.
We now calculate the cure, salt and sugar for a total of 1500 grams of meat and water.
Our bacon is less than 2-1/2 inches thick so injecting isn't required.

Here's the results from the calculator:



I hope that makes sense.

~Martin
 
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I typically do 2:1 or even 4:1 brines, but here's another example, a 1:1 ratio equilibrium brine for corned beef.

A 2-1/2 inch thick, 1000gram piece of brisket, requiring 200ppm nitrite and 1000grams of water.
Total of the meat and water 2000grams.



~Martin
 
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I've been asked where the nitrite limits can be found.
They're in the USDA's Processing Inspectors' Calculations Handbook.

www.fsis.usda.gov/OPPDE/rdad/FSISDirectives/7620-3.pdf

Please be sure that you understand the technical and safety issues involved.
It's especially important to understand what's meant by 'dry cured' in the handbook, the associated ppm numbers do not apply to short term curing.


~Martin
 
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I've been asked where the nitrite limits can be found.
They're in the USDA's Processing Inspectors' Calculations Handbook.
www.fsis.usda.gov/OPPDE/rdad/FSISDirectives/7620-3.pdf
Please be sure that you understand the technical and safety issues involved.
It's especially important to understand what's meant by 'dry cured' in the handbook, those numbers do not apply to short term curing.

~Martin[/quote

Great link. Just spent a little time there and seem to understand things a little better. I know see your concern for the "dry cure" terminology being used.

David
 
Very nicely done.The conversion table and calculator are a nice addition...JJ
 
I have a problem viewing it.  The calculator on the bottom is meshed in with the universal Cure Calculator on the left and making the calc unusable and hard to read the UCC on the bottom half.
 
Just curious, do you happen to have your browser font size set to larger than normal?
I was able to re-create the problem by doing that.
Some browsers also render the font naturally larger making the calculator larger and causing the overlap.
I'm asking so that I can prevent the problem in the future.

~Martin
 
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