Als homemade pastrami - halving the amount of water in the brine

[dirtdog]

Hello

I had a hard time fitting the beef and all the brine into my cambro so I halved the amount of water in the pastrami brine of Al.

Realizing I should've halved the amount of salt I am now not sure how long I should brine my brisket flat. Can anyone help me?

Many thanks!

 

[pops6927]

Halving the water means you've doubled the concentration of the brine. Did you have a predetermined length of time to cure it, and how much curing salt did you use? The plain salt is not so much a problem, you can soak out some of the salt after doing a fry test if it's too salty; but it is the concentration of the curing salt that is the worry.

 

[dirtdog]

Thanks for your reply pops!

I used 30 grams of curing salt (about 1 oz).

I was planning to brine the brisket for 7 days.

Oh, and the brisket weighs 4.4 pounds.

 

[pops6927]

Please allow me to clarify - did you halve the amount of water or halve the amount of curing brine mixture? Using half the amount of water doubles the concentration. Half the amount of curing brine mixture does nothing to affect the concentration; you can cure a boneless chicken breast in 4 ounces of curing mixture or 55 gallons of curing mixture with no effect on its potency.

 

[dirtdog]

I only halved the amount of water in the brine - not the other ingredients.