Universal Cure Calculator.........

[diggingdogfarm]

SamfFor,

Sounds good!
Please let us know when it becomes available....and welcome to SMF!!!


~Martin

 

[mike w]

Thanks for making this calculator. I tried making some small hams with great success. My next project is a 6lb boneless Boston butt that I'll be curing whole For more ham. I plan to equilibrium brine it and I have to inject 10% of weight with the brine. I plan to use 2lbs of water for the brine.

Here is my question which I haven't had luck searching for: do I mix up the brine with cure and then take the 10% to be injected from that amount or mix up the brine and then a separate batch for the 10%. Hope that makes sense.

I intend to make larger and larger hams that'll fit in my fridge. Unfortunately I can't get a 5gal bucket into it.

 

[diggingdogfarm]

do I mix up the brine with cure and then take the 10% to be injected from that amount

Yes...no separate batch of brine.




~Martin

 

[starwars1138]

Hi Martin - thanks SO much for this thread and for the calculator.  I've been trying to wrap my head around the whole concept of EQ curing (brine or dry) for a day or so but being able to read this thread and then mash away at the calc it has finally made sense - so thanks for that!

Perhaps this question might be better asked elsewhere, but in asking it here, I figured the post would get a nice bump for visibility sake.

When adding additional ingredients - such as maple syrup - do you have a rule of thumb for how that would impact your amount of sugar % as derived from the calculator?  My assumption is that the sweetener form is irrelevant (especially in a brine so long as it will effectively dissolve).  So if you are using brown sugar instead of while sugar, you'd use the same amount (since brown sugar has the same sweetness as regular sugar - just the added flavor of the molasses).  I guess the issue comes down to what the "sugar" content of maple syrup is as compared to regular sugar... and then adjust accordingly.

Anyway - thanks again for helping make sense of this.  I'm doing the planning for breaking down a half hog soon and I wanted to make sure I had everything lined up ahead of time so when the meat hits the counter, I can concentrate on butchering it and not have to be all stressed out as to what/how I'm going to process/cure it.

Chris

 

[dstar26t]

I'm having an issue with this calculator when using an immersion equilibrium brine.  If I use Pops full strength brine with a 14.7 lb belly, I have to use 3 gal of brine to cover the slab (cut in half) in a bucket which by recipe requires 3oz (85g) cure #1.  After inputting everything into the calculator, it shows I used a 295 ppm nitrite solution and should have only added 31g of cure (108 ppm for rind-on belly).  It also shows I used 5.24 salt % and 5.96 sugar % which seems high.  If I reduce the brine volume to the recommended 1kg meat to 0.4L water, I still get 134 ppm nitrite.  Is there an explanation for this?

Thanks,

Nate

 

[daveomak]

Pops brine is designed to use 1 gallon of water and up to ~10#'s of meat...   This is a good lesson in, "If you're using a curing recipe, DO NOT CHANGE IT"... 

I'm impressed you took the  time to run it through the calculator...  Most folk wouldn't even think of that... 

Now for the reason.....

Along with the above note....   1 tsp. of cure#1 is good for 5#'s of stuff....   1 TBS. of cure #1 is good for 15#'s of stuff....    it doesn't matter if it's water or meat....   Ppm is based on weight : weight.......  1 gram in 1,000,000 grams is 1 part per million....  makes sense...

Cure #1 is 6.25% nitrite... or 62,500 Ppm... .nitrite...    the rest is salt, sort of...

Now for your problem....    cut the belly into ~4" wide slabs, across grain...  place in 2 gallon zip bag and add 1 gallon of Pops brine....   easy....

 

[dstar26t]

Thanks Dave.  I've spent a lot of time reading about this brine and no where did I see a mention of a maximum amount of brine per lb of meat.  Posts only say to make sure the meat is covered so that's what I did.  I also have 7.5 lbs of poultry breast in this 3 gallons of brine but that is still not within the 1 gallon max to 10 lbs.  Calculator shows 265 ppm nitrite for all that meat which is significantly over the 200 ppm allowable.

Any suggestions?

Even keeping the 1 gallon limit to 10 lbs of meat and 1 oz cure #1 in that gallon gives over 200 ppm nitrite.  This bugs me and I'm glad I found this calculator eventually.  Hopefully I can salvage this 22 lbs of meat somehow.

 

[dstar26t]

Also, I may have missed it but do you subtract the weight of bone for this calculator?

 

[daveomak]

 
Thanks Dave.  I've spent a lot of time reading about this brine and no where did I see a mention of a maximum amount of brine per lb of meat.  Posts only say to make sure the meat is covered so that's what I did.  I also have 7.5 lbs of poultry breast in this 3 gallons of brine but that is still not within the 1 gallon max to 10 lbs.  Calculator shows 265 ppm nitrite for all that meat which is significantly over the 200 ppm allowable.

Any suggestions?

Even keeping the 1 gallon limit to 10 lbs of meat and 1 oz cure #1 in that gallon gives over 200 ppm nitrite.  This bugs me and I'm glad I found this calculator eventually.  Hopefully I can salvage this 22 lbs of meat somehow.

 
Also, I may have missed it but do you subtract the weight of bone for this calculator?

Pops brine is close, very close to what folks need to cure stuff... If you read some of the recipes on the net for curing, they would scare you...   Pops recipe is for folks that want to cure a couple chickens, turkey, pork butt, slab of bacon etc. and anything else a first timer would want to cure...   

The results of anything you would cure in there are "safe enough" compared to other recipes..   Nothing in there will hurt you....  But like I said, if you find a recipe, don't change it....

A level TBS in one gallon is.........  8.3#'s water + 10 #'s of meat is not out of limits...    you must have forgotten to add the weight of the water     ... Even keeping the 1 gallon limit to 10 lbs of meat and 1 oz cure #1 in that gallon gives over 200 ppm nitrite. ....     Pops recipe is a good, safe recipe.... 

As a general rule, 120-200 Ppm is acceptable for ingoing nitrite...    skin and bones don't add a significant change in the calculation, unless you are controlled by the government...   The government will not allow Morton's Tender Quick to be used in bacon or any ready to eat meats....  because of the nitrate in it...  but it's allowed to be used by the general public....   go figure...  and calculations must be changed when curing bacon if the skin is left on...

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/110799/pops6927s-wet-curing-brine

 

[dstar26t]

Pops brine is close, very close to what folks need to cure stuff... If you read some of the recipes on the net for curing, they would scare you...   Pops recipe is for folks that want to cure a couple chickens, turkey, pork butt, slab of bacon etc. and anything else a first timer would want to cure...   

The results of anything you would cure in there are "safe enough" compared to other recipes..   Nothing in there will hurt you....  But like I said, if you find a recipe, don't change it....

A level TBS in one gallon is.........  8.3#'s water + 10 #'s of meat is not out of limits...    you must have forgotten to add the weight of the water     ... Even keeping the 1 gallon limit to 10 lbs of meat and 1 oz cure #1 in that gallon gives over 200 ppm nitrite. ....     Pops recipe is a good, safe recipe.... 

As a general rule, 120-200 Ppm is acceptable for ingoing nitrite...    skin and bones don't add a significant change in the calculation, unless you are controlled by the government...   The government will not allow Morton's Tender Quick to be used in bacon or any ready to eat meats....  because of the nitrate in it...  but it's allowed to be used by the general public....   go figure...  and calculations must be changed when curing bacon if the skin is left on...

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/110799/pops6927s-wet-curing-brine

Ok Dave, thanks for holding my hand through this, I appreciate it.  I did have the water included but what I didn't realize was that the in-going nitrite in the equalization curing brine won't equal the finished ppm in the meat.  I stumbled upon the immersion cure lab analysis thread (http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/181560/immersion-bacon-curing-lab-test-results) and it gave me some info I was looking for.  252 ppm nitrite in the brine initially but only 86 ppm in the pork belly after 14 days for Pop's brine.  Now what I'm wondering is if the nitrite take-up is the same for chicken/turkey/goat, etc, as it is for pork?  I found some nitrite test strips but they only go up to 80 ppm.  It might be possible to use those strips if the sample was diluted 2:1, depending on the concentration.  The only other way to measure that I've found requires a spectrophotometer which I don't happen to have at home.

There were also some unclear parameters in the brine thread you linked, e.g., level vs. heaping tbsp, amount of brine to meat ratio.  Even after reading every post.

If I could point you (or anyone who can help) toward this thread, I'd really appreciate some feedback regarding the poultry cross contamination.

 

[daveomak]

Poultry has some specific bacteria that is not common in other meats...   that is why poultry need to be cooked to 165 ish to kill those pathogens..   When you brine poultry and beef together, your beef NOW needs to be cook to 165...  

 

[palladini]

I viewed your site and looked good, Bookmarked it, my add blockers took out most of the top items.

 

[kit s]

Martian

Been using your calculator for a while. What a great tool you made. It saves so much time.

Used for dry and wet brine with good results.

Lately though the link for the calculator has been unavailable. Been redirected to a another site that ask for you to contact them.

Well not sure what is going on, but if you have another site or can tell me if this tool is going to be available again, please drop a note.

Hope there is some way that you can make it available again.

Thanks Kit

 

[diggingdogfarm]

Thanks Kit,
I'm going to try to look into it today if the hosting company is open, if not, tomorrow.

~Martin

 

[diggingdogfarm]

It should be up and running again.
If it doesn't load, clear your browser's cookies.
Please don't hesitate to contact me if you notice another issue.

Thanks again, Kit!

~Martin

 

[maiko]

Deleted

 

[mike1ranger]

OK, so this might be a dumb question but I'm just trying to learn everything I can before jumping into dry cured bacon. did a wet cured not too long ago but all I see is try both and see what you like best.

When using this calculator, you get your accurate weight of meat, work the calculator magic, mix the cure, sugar, and salt until well mixed and the cure is distributed evenly throughout, then just rub the cure mixture onto the bacon and then into a bag to cure for several days?

Regarding the salt and sugar, we're talking plain table salt or koshar salt and white or brown sugar, correct? Sorry if the questions seem too obvious or rookie-ish but just wanting to be certain before doing it.

Mike

 

[diggingdogfarm]

When using this calculator, you get your accurate weight of meat, work the calculator magic, mix the cure, sugar, and salt until well mixed and the cure is distributed evenly throughout, then just rub the cure mixture onto the bacon and then into a bag to cure for several days?

Yes

Regarding the salt and sugar, we're talking plain table salt or koshar salt and white or brown sugar, correct?

Non-iodized salt or Kosher salt or sea salt, etc.
White or brown sugar or a mixture of both.

 

[mike1ranger]

Thanks Martin. 2 more questions:

1. The calculator defaults to 156 ppm but can be changed. I see stuff out there saying dry cure/should be no more than 120 ppm. How/why did you come up with default 156, which I assume is a recommended value?

2. Will the dry rub/cure penetrate the fat cap of a piece of pork belly or should the entire amount be put on the meat side?