injector help. please?

  • 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.

susieqz

Smoking Fanatic
Original poster
Dec 9, 2014
375
14
high plains
i've been reading about curing n injecting ham til my eyes bleed.

i think i understand most, but something makes no sense.

i guess i need a 20 or 30% injection.  as i understand that, i add 30% cure inside the ham . fine

an 8 1/2 lb ham is 136 ounces, so a 10% is 13.6. a 30% is 40.8 ounces.

seems like a lot, but ok.

thing is those ounces are a weight measurement. the injector ounces are a volume measure.

how do i translate injector ounces into weight ounces?

can one of you math  wizards help?
 
suzieqz, evening..... I don't understand the math behind the injection % stuff either......

Sooooooo, I came up with my own personal method.....

If the ham weighs 10#'s as an example....
10#'s = 4540 grams..... that needs ~ 156 Ppm nitrite all through it for several good reasons....

4540 gms X 0.000156 = 0.71 grams of nitrite to be added to meet the 156 Ppm nitrite in the ham....

0.71 / 0.0625 (Cure #1 is 6.25% nitrite) = 11.33 grams of cure #1 will give that amount of nitrite.

Now your ham should have about 2.5% salt and 1.2% sugar or something like that..... which equals 113 grams of salt and 55 grams of sugar..... 4540 X 0.025 and 0.012 respectively.....

If you want to inject 10% of the original weight of the ham, weigh out about 454 grams of injecting solution... water, chicken stock, what ever... and add the 11.33 grams of cure #1 and 113 grams of salt and 55 grams of sugar to the liquid and dissolve them in the injection solution...
Now inject all of the solution into the ham being adamant about injecting along the bones, aitch bone, knee joint and in all the meat... the bone injections are critical to prevent bone sour...
Then make up a solution that is 156 Ppm nitrite, 2.5% salt and 1.2% sugar to submerge the leg in... If it will submerge in 1 gallon as an example..... 1 gallon = 8.3#'s or 8.3 X 454 = 3768 grams X 0.000156 = 0.59 grams nitrite / 0.0625 = 9.4 grams cure #1, and 3768 X 0.025 = 94 grams of salt and 3768 X 0.012 = 45 grams of sugar...

Set in the refer for a couple weeks or longer, and lift and lower the leg to keep the solution homogenized every couple days or so..

Now, if you inject 10 mls. per injection, that will be about 45-50 injections... that should get the cure evenly distributed through the leg... and with the 2 weeks, or longer, in the brine/cure mix, you will have something close to a very homogenized solution inside and outside the ham leg... You can leave it in the refer longer..... absolutely no chance of it getting too salty or over curing because you have weighed all the ingredients according to the weight of the ham and water... it's called an equilibrium brine/cure...

I hope that makes some sort of sense..... Dave
 
dave, thank you very much for a very over my head explanation.

i will do my best to follow  your advice if i can figure out grams n mls [milliliters?]

could you please tell me what the 10 mls/injection means? i could do that 50 times..

i have the ham soaking in brine but not yet injected. UPS lost my injector n the new one will be here tomorrow.

i'll take the ham out n inject it then.

i've done lots of fresh hams, but only as pork roasts. it's a family tradition. this is my first try at curing anything.
 
10 mls..... 10 milliliters.... 1 / 100 of a liter... 1 liter = 1000 cc or ml or grams if weighing water..... Learning the metric system, which takes about 1 hour, makes curing really easy...

1 ml = 1 cc = 1 gram of water... Ppm = W:W or V:V but not W:V unless it is water... If you have $1,000,000 dollars then $1 dollar would be 1 part of 1 million or 1 Ppm...

So.... If you have 1 million cups of sand then 1 cup of sand would be 1 Ppm sand.... the same if you weighed it... 1 million pounds vs 1 pound = 1 Ppm.. BUT you can't inter mix the 2 measuring techniques unless you are measuring water...

When it comes to curing, only the Weight measures are used...

1 liter = 33.814 liquid ounces ... Now that is so stupid to try and use numbers like the "American" system... It would be a nightmare.... and when trying to weigh something smaller than an ounce.... what do you have.... nothing... 1/10 of an ounce.... 16 ounces in a pound and 2000 pounds in a "short" ton.... lets not even talk about "long" tons... or barrels.... 32 gallon, 42 gallon, 48 gallon, 50 gallon, 55 gallon.... they are all barrels of some sort of measure..... the BEER barrel... UK 160 liters or 43 US gallons... USA 31 US gallons or 26 Imperial gallons or 119 Liters..... Yet, a liter is a liter is a liter no matter where you go....

Get an electronic scale or 2 and your life will be so simple... one that weighs to 25 #'s (11350 grams) and one that weighs to 100 grams or so, for weighing out cure...

You can get syringes at your local feed store... farmers buy them all the time... a 10 ml syringe with a 14 gauge needle cost about $2...

So. back to the curing.... weigh up the appropriate amount of cure, salt and sugar.... dissolve it in a suitable liquid for brining... and inject it a bunch of times in an attempt to get a uniform distribution throughout the meat.... especially around the bones and joints... submerge in an appropriate brine/cure mix and refer for a couple weeks or longer.... remove, rinse, dry.... It's that easy....

once you have a basic understanding of the metric system, this will make a whole lotta sense...

 
Last edited:
thanks, dave. i just ordered a metric scale from amazon. i'll follow your instructions. i want good results.

n thank you both for the feed store syringe idea. i thot i had to get them from amazon but i'm in n out of feed stores all the time.
 
If you find you need any questions answered.... You can always PM me..... Hover over my Avatar and Send PM will be displayed...
This curing stuff can seem pretty mysterious at first.... Down the road you will be curing all sorts of things....
Be aware of recipes from the internet, blogs, and U-Tube..... Some folks think they know what's happening.... Also, typos are prevalent and that can be dangerous... Folks will substitute Tbs. when tsp. should be used to be correct... as one example...

Enjoy your new found hobby..... Dave
 
SmokingMeatForums.com is reader supported and as an Amazon Associate, we may earn commissions from qualifying purchases.

Latest posts

Hot Threads

Clicky