Was going to try Pops cure on venison. Mixed up batch of full strength recipe and now realize container with meat in it will only hold 1/2 gallon of water. Will it be OK or do I need to dump 1/2 out and add a quart of fresh water. Also would it be OK to inject into 4" roast.
Did I make my cure to strong?
- Thread starter BC Buck
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Get a bigger container... Do not make 1/2 batches... There is not enough nitrite in a 1/2 batch to properly cure the meat..
bill ace 350
Master of the Pit
- Dec 28, 2013
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Are you suggesting diluting the full strength brine? You don't want to do that, the concentration would be low. My notes on Pop's brine call for injecting meats >2", and also immersing them. in brine
It sounds like BC Buck started with a 1 gallon batch, (which would have the proper concentration), but will only be using half of it?
Okay, I've been trying to wrap my head around this. Are you saying a 1/2 batch is a different strength (in PPM) than making a 1 gallon batch? Or was your reply based on the weight of the meat?
EDIT - I think I've figured it out, I didn't have the PPM calculation in front of me, and we don't know the weight of BC Buck's venison.
EDIT #2 - Back to being partially confused... read posts #21 and #22 in THIS thread.
Last edited:
BC, as long as you mixed a gallon with the proper amount of cure ( 1 Tbsp ) you are good, as long as the meat is completely submerged. But the meat has to stay completely submerged. And yes you can inject it. That is the nice thing with pop's brine, as long as you use 1 Tbsp of cure 1 per gallon of water the concentration stays the same. So in this case if you had a 5 gal bucket and mixed 5 gallons of pops brine using the proper amount of cure 1 per gallon the concentration would be the same...you would just be wasting brine. The weight of meat does not matter.
Hope this helps. Now with all that said, I would also get a bigger bucket.
Ryan
Hope this helps. Now with all that said, I would also get a bigger bucket.
Ryan
What I did was add correct amount of ingredients for one gallon of water. Container with roast in it would only allow me to add 1/2 gallon of water. Rookie mistake. No room in refrigerator for bigger container.
Eye, morning.... Sorry for the delay....
A brining/curing solution is not based on Ppm..... It is based on weight of nitrite, salt, sugar etc....
If you make 1 gallon of brine cure, then only use 1/2 gallon to cure the meat in, you will have half the weight of nitrite...
A table spoon is 3 tea spoons.... 1 teaspoon is adequate to cure 5#'s of meat or 5#'s of stuff, including the weight of the brine solution... That will return ~156Ppm nitrite....
A proper brine/cure solution is, weigh the meat and water... If you have 5#'s of water and 10#'s of meat, add 1 TBS of cure#1 and salt and sugar to the brine... Inject if over 2" thick....
A buddy of mine did the same thing recently. These cartoons helped him understand why it may be a bad idea to use half the cure:
Slide 1: Meat in Brine (Meat is white, NaNO2 is pink)
Slide 2: NaNO2 begins to enter the meat (pink bleeds into white)
Slide 3: Meat cured. Equal levels of NaNO2 in the brine and in the meat (pink mixed evenly)
What happens if you only use half of the brine?
Slide 1: Meat in Brine
Slide 2: Remove half of the brine
Slide 3: NaNO2 begins to enter the meat (pink bleeds into white)
Slide 4: Equal levels of NaNO2 in the brine and in the meat, but it may not be enough for proper cure (pink mixed evenly – but color too pale)
Slide 1: Meat in Brine (Meat is white, NaNO2 is pink)
Slide 2: NaNO2 begins to enter the meat (pink bleeds into white)
Slide 3: Meat cured. Equal levels of NaNO2 in the brine and in the meat (pink mixed evenly)
What happens if you only use half of the brine?
Slide 1: Meat in Brine
Slide 2: Remove half of the brine
Slide 3: NaNO2 begins to enter the meat (pink bleeds into white)
Slide 4: Equal levels of NaNO2 in the brine and in the meat, but it may not be enough for proper cure (pink mixed evenly – but color too pale)
Actually on that Posts # 21 & #22 confusion, SmokinAl was right & it was confirmed by Pops:
As long as you have the proper ratio of Cure #1 to Water, it doesn't matter how much the meat weighs, as long as there is enough of that liquid Mix to cover the meat you are curing.
Bear
bill ace 350
Master of the Pit
- Dec 28, 2013
- 2,167
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That's not correct... The nitrite is shared between the liquid and the meat.... same as sugars and salts..
Think of it this way....
You have 200 Ppm nitrite in 10#'s of water.... You add 10#'s of clean water to that container.... The Ppm in the new mix is 100 Ppm.....
bill ace 350
Master of the Pit
- Dec 28, 2013
- 2,167
- 1,856
So if you have 200 Ppm nitrite in 10#'s of water and split it into 2 5# containers, you still have the same concentration in each.
I guess I'm not sure the OP diluted his mixture based on his post.
Was going to try Pops cure on venison. Mixed up batch of full strength recipe and now realize container with meat in it will only hold 1/2 gallon of water. Will it be OK or do I need to dump 1/2 out and add a quart of fresh water
I'm not sure what he did either....
Bill, morning.... It's not the Ppm that cures the meat... It's the weight of the nitrite available to cure the meat to attain ~156 Ppm....
If you add 1.1 grams cure#1 per pound of meat or 1 tsp. cure#1 per 5#'s of meat, then add more meat without more cure#1, the math doesn't work... Also, if you have 1 tsp. of cure#1 ready to add to your 5# roast, and decide to add on 1/2 tsp., the math doesn't work...
I'm not sure what he did either....
Bill, morning.... It's not the Ppm that cures the meat... It's the weight of the nitrite available to cure the meat to attain ~156 Ppm....
If you add 1.1 grams cure#1 per pound of meat or 1 tsp. cure#1 per 5#'s of meat, then add more meat without more cure#1, the math doesn't work... Also, if you have 1 tsp. of cure#1 ready to add to your 5# roast, and decide to add on 1/2 tsp., the math doesn't work...
bill ace 350
Master of the Pit
- Dec 28, 2013
- 2,167
- 1,856
Sorry Dave,
I double checked with
pops
before I posted that.He said if anybody doesn't understand it, I should send them to him.
So I'm sending you to Pops, before you confuse any more people.
Bear
Who said anything about adding 10#s of clean water to a mix.
The fact is like I said, AS LONG AS THE PROPER MIX BETWEEN CURE #1 & Water stays the same, it doesn't matter what the meat weighs, as long as the meat is submerged.
The weight of the meat doesn't matter. If you add another gallon of water, you have to also add the proper amount of Cure with it. But you don't have to weigh the meat !!
Bear
got to agree with you bear, i've used pop's brine quite a few times and as per pops there is no need to weigh the meat, which I never did, as long as it's submerged your good to go. never had a problem.
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