can you reuse brine/cure

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doug56

Newbie
Original poster
Oct 6, 2011
12
10
Plymouth, MN
Well I did it again, a Black Friday deal at our local Target store had fresh whole turkeys for 39 cents a pound so I bought 8, 11 pound birds. On Saturday AM I skinned and and put them in a brine with 1 tbsp of cure per gallon of water with 1/3 cup salt and 1 1/2 cup sugar sub and 1/2 cup maple syrup. Mix up 5 gallons to cover, also added 2, 8 pound wild geese. I plan on smoking on Friday and on Saturday I want to brine some ducks, a venison ham, and a 6 pound pork butt. Will this brine ok to use again or do I dump it and start over.
 
Some of the spices and salt that was in the batch originally will have been taken in by the birds and you would have no way of knowing just how much so a new batch would be better. Also if there was any kind of nasties on any of those birds you wouldn't want to introduce them to even more meat by using the same brine
 
The Gentlemen above have it covered...JJ
 
Thats what I thought but was hoping that I could get two to three week or 200 lbs of meat thru one batch of brine.

I hate to waste anything, so I thought I would ask.

Thanks for all your help.

Doug
 
You can brine 200lbs of meat in One Batch of Brine...But it needs to be 20+ Gallons...not 1 Gallon over and over...Nature of the beast...
a37.gif
...JJ
 
You can brine 200lbs of meat in One Batch of Brine...But it needs to be 20+ Gallons...not 1 Gallon over and over...Nature of the beast...
a37.gif
...JJ


Was I short on brine using only 5 gallons on one hunderd pound of turkey? Had lots of room with everything flaoting. 
 
You can brine 200lbs of meat in One Batch of Brine...But it needs to be 20+ Gallons...not 1 Gallon over and over...Nature of the beast...
a37.gif
...JJ
I would like to see a url for that statement..or verification by Pops!!

  Thanks in advance!!

  Craig
 
 
I would like to see a url for that statement..or verification by Pops!!

  Thanks in advance!!

  Craig
 

Using an Estimate of 10lbs of any meat in a standard Brine of 1C Salt and 1tbs Cure#1 per Gallon...1GalX200lb/10lbs per Gal= 20 Gal...How many 10lb Turkeys you put in a Gallon of Brine? This is a Guideline with a margin of safety! It's not cut in Stone...JJ

I used the handy search function for this...http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/a/pops-wet-curing-brine   
 
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Was I short on brine using only 5 gallons on one hunderd pound of turkey? Had lots of room with everything flaoting. 
No you are ok, as long as there is room for Brine contact to all areas, your good to go...My 10lb Meat per gallon is a guideline so you and others understand not to Pack 4 turkeys in a 5 Gallon Bucket, dump 3-4 Quarts of Brine on and think, " I'm good, they are covered..."  Brine is Cheap...Hospitals Cost $$$...Err on the side of caution...JJ
 
 
Yes, JJ is right, never re-use brine; it becomes contaminated with raw juices and once used one time and should be dumped immediately afterwards.  What JJ meant was you need to make up one batch of 20 gallons of fresh brine to pickle 200 lbs of meat at one time; not that you can reuse 1 gallon of brine and pickle successive 10 lb batches of meat over and over again, reusing the same brine.  Sorry for the misunderstanding!
 
I would like to see a url for that statement..or verification by Pops!!

  Thanks in advance!!

  Craig
 
 
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