Wet cure calculation

[slavikborisov]

I think i posted this in the right section.

I'm butchering two hogs tomorrow and might have attempt bacon with the belly's

Just so I'm comprehending everything. 0.25% for cure #1, 1.5% salt, 0.75% sugar for a wet brine.
Ive read mixed posts about weighing the water and meat for just doing pop's brine. I like weighing everything in grams to be precise.
So if I have a 10lb belly and 1 gallon of water that equals in the metric system....
4.53kg belly + 3.78kg (or 3785ml) water= 8.31kg of water and meat weight
So my weights would be
Cure #1= 20.77g
Salt = 124.65g
Sugar = 62.32g

If I increase to 2 gallons of water I would just adjust my values for that additional weight.

Brine for 10-14 days. Pat dry. Fry test. If good refrigerate for 24 hours. Smoke to and IT of 145.

Please let me know if anyone see any miscalculations here and if its a good starting point for a first time noob.

 

[kilo charlie]

If you're using Pops Brine there is no weighing of meat involved. If you're using another method then by all means weigh everything.

Pop's Brine is very specific per gallon of water. If you need more than one gallon you make a complete second gallon. You do not try to make a half a gallon etc. The Salt, Sugar and Curing salt in Pop's Brine are weighed for each gallon. The meat weight is not a factor.

Other methods do different things but this is the way from Pops.

 

[PolishDeli]

Math look good.

If you double the water, you do not necessarily double the cure#1.

After brining, soak in water/rinse for 30 min.

Good luck

 

[BrianGSDTexoma]

Have consider just doing a dry brine? I have done both ways and cant really tell the difference in bacon. Dry takes up a lot less room.

 

[slavikborisov]

Math look good.

If you double the water, you do not necessarily double the cure#1.

After brining, soak in water/rinse for 30 min.

Good luck

Thank you!

 

[slavikborisov]

Have consider just doing a dry brine? I have done both ways and cant really tell the difference in bacon. Dry takes up a lot less room.

Interesting never looked into it ….Do you just put it a plastic bag and follow the same steps?

 

[tallbm]

I think i posted this in the right section.

I'm butchering two hogs tomorrow and might have attempt bacon with the belly's

Just so I'm comprehending everything. 0.25% for cure #1, 1.5% salt, 0.75% sugar for a wet brine.
Ive read mixed posts about weighing the water and meat for just doing pop's brine. I like weighing everything in grams to be precise.
So if I have a 10lb belly and 1 gallon of water that equals in the metric system....
4.53kg belly + 3.78kg (or 3785ml) water= 8.31kg of water and meat weight
So my weights would be
Cure #1= 20.77g
Salt = 124.65g
Sugar = 62.32g

If I increase to 2 gallons of water I would just adjust my values for that additional weight.

Brine for 10-14 days. Pat dry. Fry test. If good refrigerate for 24 hours. Smoke to and IT of 145.

Please let me know if anyone see any miscalculations here and if its a good starting point for a first time noob.

Here is a calculator that makes this all easy for you. The key to doing a wet cure is to take the Water Weight + the Meat Weight = Total Weight.

You then put that Total Weight (in grams) into this calculator and adjust your salt and/or sugar % and you are done (don't mess with Cure#1 value if you have USA style Cure#1).

Calculator:
http://www.diggingdogfarm.com/page2.html

If you want to do an Equilibrium Brine you use the same calculator and process just don't add any Cure #1 and you have a brine that is good to go.

1 gallon of water weighs roughly 8lbs/3,689gm.

Understand, all the other processes and options being discussed to this point in the thread are good to go.
The approach I'm mentioning is what I usually recommend and discuss because there is no guess work in the numbers. You know exactly how to scale it up or down and you will be precise with your salt, sugar, and cure #1 numbers every time with out worry of over salting, or using too much or too little cure #1 :)

I hope this info helps as you decide which approach works best for you :)

 

[tallbm]

Interesting never looked into it ….Do you just put it a plastic bag and follow the same steps?

I'll let Brian answer you directly but for bacon a dry brine is easier.
I just posted about how to use that digging dog calculator for wet brine BUT it can also be used for a dry brine. How? You use it the same way but there is no water weight to add hahaha.
So Meat Weight = Total Weight.
Punch that in to the calculator with your desired % of salt and sugar and you are done!

I dry brine my bacon. I cut it into big squares that fit 1 gallon plastic bags easily. I then weigh the meat and use the digging dog calculator to figure out my Cure#1, Salt, and Sugar weight for each piece of pork belly and then put that meat into the bag, add the seasonings and cure, massage it all over and seal it.
The salt and cure#1 will travel 1/4 inch (0.635cm) per day on all sides. So you just figure out how many days it needs to penetrate all the way and add a day or 2 to be extra safe and you are done :)

 

[DougE]

Do the dry brine.
1.5% salt
0.75% sugar
0.25% cure#1

Rub half of the curing mixture on each side of the belly, bag it, and massage and flip daily, or at least every other day. Let it ride in the fridge 14 days. It won't get too salty with length of cure as you're controlling the amount of salt added.

 

[slavikborisov]

Here is a calculator that makes this all easy for you. The key to doing a wet cure is to take the Water Weight + the Meat Weight = Total Weight.

You then put that Total Weight (in grams) into this calculator and adjust your salt and/or sugar % and you are done (don't mess with Cure#1 value if you have USA style Cure#1).

Calculator:
http://www.diggingdogfarm.com/page2.html

If you want to do an Equilibrium Brine you use the same calculator and process just don't add any Cure #1 and you have a brine that is good to go.

1 gallon of water weighs roughly 8lbs/3,689gm.

Understand, all the other processes and options being discussed to this point in the thread are good to go.
The approach I'm mentioning is what I usually recommend and discuss because there is no guess work in the numbers. You know exactly how to scale it up or down and you will be precise with your salt, sugar, and cure #1 numbers every time with out worry of over salting, or using too much or too little cure #1 :)

I hope this info helps as you decide which approach works best for you :)

tallbm thank you for that I remeber visiting that site once it’s very handy but I think I’m on the same track as the calculator in case I lose the link or forget and add on paper it easier to remember with 2.5 x (kg of meat) for cure #1 along with salt at 15 x (kg of meat) and 7.5 x (kg of meat) for sugar I was just double checking the addition of the water and weather I was calculating to correctly if I were to do a wet brine but it sounds like the dry brine is the way to go.
Thank you guys for the input I will be doing a dry brine and see how it turns out! I’ll keep you all posted.

 

[slavikborisov]

Do the dry brine.
1.5% salt
0.75% sugar
0.25% cure#1

Rub half of the curing mixture on each side of the belly, bag it, and massage and flip daily, or at least every other day. Let it ride in the fridge 14 days. It won't get too salty with length of cure as you're controlling the amount of salt added.

I will do that thank you!!

 

[BrianGSDTexoma]

Interesting never looked into it ….Do you just put it a plastic bag and follow the same steps?

Looks like they have you covered. I drop the salt to 1.75 for me. Flip the bag everyday. Give a good rinse and let air dry for a day.

 

[slavikborisov]

First time dry cure turned out great thanks for the help and advice everyone.

i ended up doing .25% cure #1, .75% sugar, 1.5% salt 14 days in ziploc bags
Hot smoke on pellet grill at 180F till 145 IT
The next day cold smoke for 4-5 hours with pellets which I thought I messed up with the thick white smoke but it worked out well on the test taste!!
Can’t wait to try Canadian bacon which I might have to inject so that’ll be a first as well.

 

[DougE]

First time dry cure turned out great thanks for the help and advice everyone.

i ended up doing .25% cure #1, .75% sugar, 1.5% salt 14 days in ziploc bags
Hot smoke on pellet grill at 180F till 145 IT
The next day cold smoke for 4-5 hours with pellets which I thought I messed up with the thick white smoke but it worked out well on the test taste!!
Can’t wait to try Canadian bacon which I might have to inject so that’ll be a first as well.
View attachment 529182View attachment 529183View attachment 529184View attachment 529185View attachment 529186View attachment 529187

Some good eating right there. Nicely done!

 

[pc farmer]

Looks great.

 

[slavikborisov]

Some good eating right there. Nicely done!

Thank you!!

 

[slavikborisov]

Looks great.

Thank you!!

 

[pc farmer]

Thank you!!

Your welcome. This is the first I seen this thread. I have tried brine and dry cure bacon. I now dry cure all my bacon.

 

[slavikborisov]

Your welcome. This is the first I seen this thread. I have tried brine and dry cure bacon. I now dry cure all my bacon.

Yeah it was much simpler and easier than I thought it would be now I just have to keep my eye out for good pork belly prices.

 

[SmokinEdge]

The Salt, Sugar and Curing salt in Pop's Brine are weighed for each gallon. The meat weight is not a factor.

Please post up a link or quote to where Pop’s brine ingredients are weighed. They are, as far I as I have seen, all volumetric. Nothing weighed. So random brine with random amounts of meat.