Is there a minimum time for brining......

[norcal2500hd]

Last week, I smoked my first whole chicken. I had it in the brine for 24 hours. Came out perfect. I have some friends coming over and wanted to do 2 more for this evening. Is 2 hours in brine going to give me the same affect as 24?
Thanks
Brian

 

[tasunkawitko]

i usually go about 4 hours. the more delicate a meat is, such as poultry or fish, the more likely it is that extended time in a brine will adversely affect the meat.

two hours should be fine!

 

[grampyskids]

For whole birds I like to go 3 hours, but since I usually forget, 2 hours will work just fine.

 

[fire it up]

Like the others said 2 hours will be fine though with a whole chicken and only about 2 hours of brine time I would have injected as opposed to brining and allowed it to sit at room temp for 45 minutes then back into the fridge for the rest of the time.

 

[travcoman45]

A two hour brine will not give ya the same effect as a 24 hour brine. Will it help, yes, it depends on how much salt ya got in that brine.

With my brine, I let whole birds go over night about 10 hours on average, but my brine is lower in salt then many.

Like was mentioned, ya can inject bout 10% by wieght if ya gotta rush the process some.

Now some poultry is already injected or "enhanced" an ya can almost get by without brinin, yet it still is able ta add some additional flavour by brinin.

I also wanna add that there will come a time when a piece a meat equalizes out an won't accept anymore. That depends on the meat, the salinity a the brine, time an brinin temp. A good basic brine will do it's job in 8-10 hrs in my humble opinion.

 

[baker2828]

I did a turket breast today on my electric grill indirect with an aluminum foil pack and hickory. I brined for 5 hrs and it came out super tender and super flavorful. The bird was about 5 lbs, her is a link to the bird. It sat for about 30 minutes and still had a ton of juice. Seems to me if you have a high salt concentrate a 1lb for 1hr time frame might work or at least it did for me today.

http://picasaweb.google.com/10095880...eat=directlink