Another Brine Question ?

[q dawg]

Want to try makig some CB.....I am a little confused on the quanity of Prague Pwdr to use in the brine....what I have been reading is....some brines say to use a quanity that is determined by the meat size and others seem to have a quanity that is based on the gallons of brine being made.....

I will be using more in the 3-6 lb range of meat..... 1 gallon of brine !

Is there simply a standard that one can use for the quanity of brine being made....and if so what would it be ?


Q Dawg

 

[rodbuilder]

I brined CB a couple of months ago in 5 quarts of water for 10 days... There was approx 5# of pork loin in the brine... I used 2 TBL of cure #1 and the CB was wonderful...

 

[travcoman45]

This is a wet cure more then a brine, but the basics are:

1 gallon a water
5 oz Cure #1

Or it works out ta:

1 gallon a water
8 flat Tbl cure #1

This falls within the safe guidelines an ya can pump yer meat upta 10% by wieght an still be safe.

 

[rodbuilder]

Just curious where you got this information from... Rytek Kutas canadian-style bacon call for 1/4 cup (4 TBL) of cure for 5 quarts of water... I cut that in half because it seemed to be a lot of cure to me...

 

[q dawg]

The package the Instacure came in had a direction of 24 lbs. of powder for 100 gals. of brine....this works out to be 3 3/4 oz. of pwdr per gal....this was for 10% pumping.
So would this be for any brine/cure liquid you were making up ?

 

[q dawg]

Just weighed out the Instacure on a good electronic scale.....a level (flat) tablespoon of Instatacure weighs 1/2 oz....so 8 level tablespoons would be right in there with 4 oz. like the directions say for a gal of water.....so Travcoman45's recipe seems to be right in the ballpark....!!!

Q Dawg

 

[travcoman45]

Was a basic family cure fer ages, updated ta the new style cures (well new style in our family anywho) an if ya research alot from the better an trusted resources on the web, many use the same recipe. Ain't sayin it's the only one out there, but is one of the more popular ones.

A wet cure is different from a dry cure, yer countin on it replacin the moisture in the meat by osmosis, not soakin inta the meat with it's own moisture.

It will work with most anythin ya wanna wet cure as a basic wet brine. Yer differences fer other meats an cuts comes inta the amount a salt ya wanna use usin old school methods acourse. Thats where a salometer comes in, when yer makin a different percentage a salt for say, ham, bacon an such. Length a time is one a yer other variables to.

 

[travcoman45]

Ryteks got some good recipes fer starters, that other quart a water ain't gonna make a great deal of difference, also depends on wheter yer usin a flat tablespoon er one that be rounded. Weight is the best way ta measure yer cure an salt, takes out many a the variables. But fer the average joe, measurin works to. Were not hangin meat like they used ta, ya know down in the cellar an such, so when were done smokin it we usually put it in the ice box er the freezer. Still need ta be fairly accurate with what we do from a safety standpoint, but have a little leeway that the old timers didn't.

Also, as a side note, we use cure #1 fer short term curin, cure #2 was developed fer long term dry curin a meats. Saltpeter was a little a both. In the old days much a the salt had some nitrates in em already. Taday it's so processed that there not in there anymore.