Question about my BBB ??

  • Some of the links on this forum allow SMF, at no cost to you, to earn a small commission when you click through and make a purchase. Let me know if you have any questions about this.
SMF is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

shoneyboy

Master of the Pit
Original poster
OTBS Member
Nov 3, 2010
1,895
58
Denham Springs La
I have made BBB 4 times now, the first three came out great
yahoo.gif
…..But this last one was missing something
th_crybaby2.gif
. I know the one change I made this last time was I had more meat that the previous cures. Previously I had been curing about 14-18lbs of Boston Butts, this time I had 22-24lbs of Butts in the cure. I didn’t do anything else different than before (I wrote down a procedure of what I did from the 2nd time I made BBB and have been following it exact, mainly because I really liked it). My meat was covered with the cure solution, but I’m wondering if it was because there was less room in-between the pieces and more meat is why it didn’t taste like they had enough seasoning? (My logic, if this makes sense, if I put a ½ cup of salt in 1/2 gallon of water to cure 1lb of meat it will be salty, but if I put 10lbs in the same amount of curing solution, it may not be salty enough) The last batch (3rd) I made had a real good garlic/onion/black pepper/smokiness taste (Thanks to Pop’s and Chef JJ
77.gif
) to it and this one didn’t, it didn't taste like it had enough salt…..which I really didn’t need anyway…… but the garlic/onion/black pepper just was not there this time. I will say that I like my BBB with a heavy smoke taste and I do recognize that it’s hard to repeat something like it was the first time, but this is just dis-hearting. I’m hoping that someone that has experienced this may be able to help me keep from doing this again…..I will keep trying and will not allow this to stop me from SMOKING TO MY HEARTS DESIRE, but it will be helpful to know….Thanks ShoneyBoy…….
 
Shoneyboy, morning....  I think you are on the right track...  Now onto a solution.....  If you really liked the ratio of 14#'s meat to a gallon of brine and your spice mix..... I would stick with that....  Weigh the meat on the next batch... say it is 22#'s meat... 22/14 = 1.57 x 1 gallon = 1.57 gallons of brine/spice  mix....  I would try that....  You could make 2 gallons for convience in measuring (doubling everything) and then just add 1.57 gallons to the brine bucket to maintain the consistency you were looking for.....  From your notes of flavor, salt etc., Your interpretation of the outcome makes perfect sense to me....   stop laughing...  I know I'm nuts.. now you know it too... 

The same formula should be applied if you only brine 10# of meat.... 

10/14 =  0.71 x 1 gallon = .71 gallons brine/spice mix for 10#'s meat....... 

Dave
 
Last edited:
Well DaveOmak, at least you took the time to listen to my crazy logic and reply. I "THANK YOU" for your in-site.... I have another twin pack of BB thawing which will be around the original weight. I will be putting them into cure by Friday. Hopefully this will be the test to confirm what my original thoughts were, along with your confirmations, I hope to get back to my original flavors, again Thanks. ShoneyBoy
 
SmokinHusker, thanks for the conformation too...It gives me assurances that I'm not causing ALL of the problems....LOL
 
Shoneyboy, morning....  I think you are on the right track...  Now onto a solution.....  If you really liked the ratio of 14#'s meat to a gallon of brine and your spice mix..... I would stick with that....  Weigh the meat on the next batch... say it is 22#'s meat... 22/14 = 1.57 x 1 gallon = 1.57 gallons of brine/spice  mix....  I would try that....  You could make 2 gallons for convience in measuring (doubling everything) and then just add 1.57 gallons to the brine bucket to maintain the consistency you were looking for.....  From your notes of flavor, salt etc., Your interpretation of the outcome makes perfect sense to me....   stop laughing...  I know I'm nuts.. now you know it too... 

The same formula should be applied if you only brine 10# of meat.... 

10/14 =  0.71 x 1 gallon = .71 gallons brine/spice mix for 10#'s meat....... 

Dave
what did he say??  2 X 2 = 3.481039
 
 
Wildflower, morning....  Did I goof up the math ?????  I am lost trying to figure out your comment...  Dave
 
Shoneyboy, You didn't say whether you brined the larger batch longer the the first smaller batches that you really liked.
The larger ones would require more time for the salt to be carried into the larger pieces.

You might want to consider pumping them, if you used the same brine and injected , say 10% of the meats weight, the salt would always be consistent no matter how big or small they are, because they will all have the same percent of brine in them .
 
Last edited:
Shoneyboy, You didn't say whether you brined the larger batch longer the the first smaller batches that you really liked.
The larger ones would require more time for the salt to be carried into the larger pieces.
You might want to consider pumping them, if you used the same brine and injected , say 10% of the meats weight, the salt would always be consistent no matter how big or small they are, because they will all have the same percent of brine in them .


yeahthat.gif
 
(My logic, if this makes sense, if I put a ½ cup of salt in 1/2 gallon of water to cure 1lb of meat it will be salty, but if I put 10lbs in the same amount of curing solution, it may not be salty enough)

Although your logic sounds solid, It's flawed. at least to the USDA and how they would figure a brined piece of meat. (but I do understand your thinking)
They figure any piece of meat, will absorb the same amount of cure it just the larger the piece the longer it takes. So your one lb pork chop will absorb let say, 10% of its weight in brine in a day, where as the 10 lb BBB will take 10 day to get the same amount of stuff into it.

That's the way I understand it anyways
 
Last edited:
Although your logic sounds solid, It's flawed. at least to the USDA and how they would figure a brined piece of meat. (but I do understand your thinking)
They figure any piece of meat, will absorb the same amount of cure it just the larger the piece the longer it takes. So your one lb pork chop will absorb let say, 10% of its weight in brine in a day, where as the 10 lb BBB will take 10 day to get the same amount of stuff into it.
That's the way I understand it anyways
that's how i think of it......i'm thinking it is the strength of brine and the size of the meat that will determine the length of time. a 5# hunk will have the same cure time whether it is in a 10 gallon or 100 gallon container as long as the brine % is the same.
 
 
SmokingMeatForums.com is reader supported and as an Amazon Associate, we may earn commissions from qualifying purchases.

Latest posts

Hot Threads

Clicky