It is very common for it to get funky towards the end of the soak; it is osmosis - salts and cures going into the meat, blood and fats and moistures coming out, makes it thick and gooey, perfectly normal. You know it's working then! Esp. when we are curing a lot of meat in a relatively small container with a limited amount of brine; it goo's up. That's why it is important to dump the brine, DO NOT attempt to re-use it, it is contaminated with bloods and fluids.
Thanks Pops!
Glad to run across this thread, and see your post.
I've got some more eye of round in your brine for sos (dried beef), and it's due to be processed in another 3-4 days. (14-15 days in brine). I was gonna mix another batch of brine and cure for it, but now I'll just wait 3 days and rinse well. It doesn't have stringy looking things in it, just feels a little sticky gooey as you described.
I should be ok with this, right?