Whole chicken wet salt brine time?

[Chasdev]

I lost my chicken brine notes and when I search the intertubes I get so many differing methods my head is swimming.
This is a salt and water brine only question, so how much water to how much kosher salt and for how long?

 

[sandyut]

this is my fav for all poultry.

Slaughterhouse Poultry Brine By Tip Piper of Hillbilly Vittles
1 ½ Gal Water
½ C Salt - Kosher
½ C Dark Brown Sugar
2 tsp Garlic Powder
2 tsp Onion Powder
2 tsp Cajun Spice (Louisiana Cajun Seasoning)
2 tsp Celery Seed

 

[normanaj]

1/4 cup salt to 1 gal. water is what I do. Overnight to 24hrs for time.

 

[Chasdev]

Thank you sir!

 

[civilsmoker]

I have moved to a 2% by wt bird and water. I use the equal wt of turbino sugar as the salt. I have two small birds in a soak right now……overnight to 24-36 hours

 

[Chasdev]

Just enough water to cover or are you going with a straight up gallon with 2%?

 

[Chasdev]

Or is it the combined weight of the water (just enough to cover?) plus the bird weight?

 

[pineywoods]

this is my fav for all poultry.

Slaughterhouse Poultry Brine By Tip Piper of Hillbilly Vittles
1 ½ Gal Water
½ C Salt - Kosher
½ C Dark Brown Sugar
2 tsp Garlic Powder
2 tsp Onion Powder
2 tsp Cajun Spice (Louisiana Cajun Seasoning)
2 tsp Celery Seed

I agree with David try this you won't be disappointed it also isn't going to make your bird to salty or require you to soak it forever to get rid of the saltiness

 

[Chasdev]

I’m sure there’s a long list of brine combos that rock BUT the wife is trying to recreate the flavor profile her daddy used to make back in the day and adding herbs and sugar are verboten.
I almost created an issue insisting she let me brine at all so it’s a baste in butter lemon juice and worchester kind of deal.
I have to tread lightly because when my new Only Fire stainless Weber 22 rotisserie kit hit the porch she got that “not again” look.
As in why is there no room to walk around on th patio because of my fleet of cooking gear parked there and anyway am I allowed to order more stuff off Amazon in the first place?
Looking forward to my first rotating bird on the Weber!

 

[civilsmoker]

Or is it the combined weight of the water (just enough to cover?) plus the bird weight?

Enough water to cover and then it’s water and bird wt added together then 2% salt. sandyut post about a 1 to 1.5% blend. That is also a very good brine mix. @ 1-2 % you don’t have the risk of a salt bomb.

 

[civilsmoker]

Ps a quart is 33.4 oz so 0.67 oz of salt pert qt. Then add 0.16 oz per 1/2 lb of bird. You can get a digital kitchen scale for 10-15 bills if you don’t have one

 

[Chasdev]

Thanks

 

[millerbuilds]

Lot of great recipes above, here is the one I use (Alton Brown Recipe that I modified a bit):
1 C Kosher Salt
1/2 Brown Sugar ( I use dark)
1 Gallon Vegetable Stock
1 Gallon Very Cold water
1 course chopped shallot
1 TBS Black Whole Peppercorns
1-1/2 tsp (or more) All Spice Berries
1 TBS Chopped Candied Ginger
4 cloves peeled and split
1 tsp Tabasco

I heat up the veggie stock and add the salt, brown sugar, peppercorns, allspice berries, ginger, garlic, shallot, and Tabasco and bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer until all is dissolved (45 min - 1 hour) Let cool in fridge and 1 gallon Cold water. Once brine is below 40 (I like it closer to 35 degrees)
Add chicken and brine for up to 24 hours. Dump the brine and rinse the bird, then cook/smoke.

- Jason

 

[zwiller]

All good info. Used to wet brine a long time but I found a dry brine works as good or better. I am also big fan of LONG brine times. 48hrs is absolutely min to me. The thicker the cut the longer I go. For chicken a 4-5 days usually and will go 2 weeks say for a rib roast.

https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/wood-fired-yardbird.314837/

 

[thirdeye]

The oldest 'rule of thumb' for salt content I can recall was 1-cup of kosher salt to 1-gallon of water. This was always too salt heavy for my tastes. The lighter brines above, or calculating a 1.5% or 2% salt is more realistic. Plus I like using canning salt because it dissolves so easily, but with it's fine grain you must calculate the weight and not use volumetric measurements.

I have used a couple of commercial brines and injections made for competition BBQ, and I cut way back on their recommended strength.

 

[chopsaw]

Plus I like using canning salt because it dissolves so easily,

Yup , I do the same , for that reason . I do use it in a 1/2 cup measure to 1 gallon of water with good results . I also use 1/2 cup white , and a half cup brown sugar to the gallon , so maybe that helps with it not being salty .

 

[sandyut]

All good info. Used to wet brine a long time but I found a dry brine works as good or better. I am also big fan of LONG brine times. 48hrs is absolutely min to me. The thicker the cut the longer I go. For chicken a 4-5 days usually and will go 2 weeks say for a rib roast.

https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/wood-fired-yardbird.314837/

We (mostly my wife) made a dry brined turkey this Thanksgiving. It was very good! and much easier for sure.

 

[cptnding]

The oldest 'rule of thumb' for salt content I can recall was 1-cup of kosher salt to 1-gallon of water. This was always too salt heavy for my tastes. The lighter brines above, or calculating a 1.5% or 2% salt is more realistic. Plus I like using canning salt because it dissolves so easily, but with it's fine grain you must calculate the weight and not use volumetric measurements.

I have used a couple of commercial brines and injections made for competition BBQ, and I cut way back on their recommended strength.

Using a wet brine at 2% do you have to worry about a commercial rub making the chicken too salty in the end? I've always dry brined pork and beef but would like to give wet brining some spatchcocked chickens a try.

 

[bigreds123]

Overnight is adequate.

 

[tallbm]

I lost my chicken brine notes and when I search the intertubes I get so many differing methods my head is swimming.
This is a salt and water brine only question, so how much water to how much kosher salt and for how long?

I'm late to the party but my never fail equilibrium brine method is:

• Get Total Weight in grams
  • Weight of bird (or chicken parts) in grams
  • + (plus)
  • Weight of water (1 gallon weighs 8.333lbs or 3,780gm) that you know will cover chicken in your container/tub
• Measure out 1.65% of that weight in Salt (Total weight X 0.0165) in grams
• Blend/Dissolve salt into water to make brine
• Put chicken in container/tub and pour in brine to cover the chicken
• Brine at least 12 hours but you can go as long as you like and it will NEVER get too salty. You can also inject the the brine solution all over into the bird and again it will never get too salty!

This removes any guess work and you can brine for as long as you like and if brining and you get delayed on cooking there is no problem because it will never get too salty no matter how long you brine :D

I do the same when using Cure#1 but reduce the salt grams by the amount of Cure #1 grams it takes to cure the Total Weight. Cure #1 is mostly salt along with the nitrites.