Can I wash off the pork belly brine and start over?

[AwaitingTheFish]

Just getting started smoking, and could use some help!

I am wet-curing pork belly
9.9 lbs of meat, used 3.5 Tablespoons Prague Powder, not the 2 teaspoons I should have used (according to the calculator at https://amazingribs.com/tested-recipes/salting-brining-curing-and-injecting/curing-meats-safely/).

I am about 24 hours in on a 3 day process (for the 1.5:" pieces), and 5 days (for the 2 " pieces).

Can I stop, rinse, and start over? Other options?

 

[thirdeye]

Welcome aboard.

Just so we're all on the same page.... when you used the calculator can we assume you entered the correct weight of meat, and the actual amount of water you are using? Or was there an error that caused you to use more Cure #1 than you believe is correct? Also where did you arrive at the 3 and 5 days of curing?

 

[AwaitingTheFish]

Scaled up a recipe that called for 3/4 teaspoons of Prague powder for 3 #s of pork belly (https://fundiegofamily.com/cooking/cole-cooks-big-green-egg-smoked-bacon-recipe/), but used 2.25 Tablespoons instead (multiplied .75 t x 3 = 2.25 t, but misread and used Tablespoons). Because the recipe was for 3 pounds and I had a piece of pork belly that was just shy of 10 # (9.9), I added a generous extra pinch of Prague Powder on top of that.

Then landed on the above calculator that explained how bad my approach was, and how much more Prague Powder I used than I should have, and why that was a Bad Thing.

The calculator at the above link contains a section that specifies a length of cure based on the shape and thickness of the meat. I cut the 9.9 # slab of pork belly into 3 (to fit in my zip-lock bags). 2 of those pieces are 1.5" thick, the other, 2". The calculator says to brine the 1.5" pieces for 3 days, and the 2" piece for 5 days. Of course, now that I think of it, maybe I need to treat them as 3-3# pieces and see what the calculator has to say...

 

[SmokinEdge]

I’m with Thirdeye, we need to know how much water was used in the brine.

 

[AwaitingTheFish]

3.9 cups for the brine. 1.55 cups of water, 1.55 cups maple syrup, .8 cups of bourbon

 

[SmokinEdge]

Officially I’m going to tell you to through it out and start completely over. This gets very technical and can be confusing for new at curing. Be safe and learn from the mistake.

Pm me if you want to know more of the technical details.

 

[Fueling Around]

I am far from an expert on the cure formulas.

Did you remove from the wet batch cure after you realized your mistake? If not , I would toss it.
That should be enough cure to let it sit dry for 3 days

 

[GaryHibbert]

Throwing out 8 cups of bourbon can be classed as alcohol abuse.
Gary

 

[daveomak]

Kudos for taking the interest in further checking and finding your mistake.... Mistakes are a VAlUABLE learning experience you will NOT soon forget.....

 

[daveomak]

Throwing out 8 cups of bourbon can be classed as alcohol abuse.
Gary

Gary, evening.... It ain't that bad.... 0.8 cups is the number ... "WHEW", is he lucky....

 

[AwaitingTheFish]

Thanks for the advice. I’ll proceed with greater caution and more attention to detail!

 

[thirdeye]

3.9 cups for the brine. 1.55 cups of water, 1.55 cups maple syrup, .8 cups of bourbon

For conversation purposes let's not worry about the specific gravity of maple syrup, and assume bourbon is close to water. So, this gives us roughly 8 cups of liquid.... which Mr Google claims is 1890 grams. To this weight, you have roughly 4,540 grams of pork belly. Which means in your curing bucket you have a total of 6,430 grams OR 6.43 kilograms.

The amount of Cure #1 you need is 2.5 g/kg which is:
2.5g X 6.43kg = 16 grams of Cure #1

A teaspoon of Cure #1 is roughly 4 grams, which means 4 teaspoons is needed. You used 3.5 tablespoons which is 10.5 teaspoons.

daveomak , please double check this.