Want to make sure I have this right...

[steve0617]

It’s not exactly Willy Nilly on any of it, but that said, salt and cure #1 are the drivers of curing. You need to keep the cure #1 at .25% to meat weight. Salt can range from 1.5-3.0% to meat weight. The sugars and aromatics are all up to you. I apply sugar at a range of .5-1.0% but you can run that up to 6% if you like that.

Gotcha. Thanks for the info.

 

[DRKsmoking]

Great post , and it can be printed a hundred times and I always read and let it sink in.
I have it printed out and I still second guess my numbers . But that is just me and how I roll.

I always like seeing it printed out here and explained by the brains of the site , And no disrespect meant at all. I am serious about this.
I know you guys are out there when I am doing my cures, and I always come back and read again the posts , just to make me fell like I am doing it right
and not alone.

Wow got that off my chest.

David

 

[DougE]

I have it printed out and I still second guess my numbers .

I've done it enough where the percentages are stuck in my head, but I still do my calculations twice. So far as yet, I get the same each time, but I still double check myself.

 

[DRKsmoking]

but I still double check myself.

Thanks, I get that.

David

 

[tallbm]

Seems to be gone.

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www.diggingdogfarm.com

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This site seems to be using the digging dog calculator (they cite using it rather than claiming the calculator is their own creation) since the original one is down:

Cure Calculator

forums.egullet.org

Feel free to double check it and confirm the numbers are right :D

 

[thirdeye]

Curing Mathematics - For example let's say you have a 5.29 pound (2.4 kilogram) pork belly and decide on a formulation that is 2% salt, 1.5% sugar and 0.25% Cure #1. For every kilogram (1000 grams) of meat you will need:

• 20 grams of salt
• 15 grams of sugar
• 2.5 grams of Cure #1

Here is a sample calculation if you have a 2.4 kilogram pork belly. You multiply the grams needed per kilo times the weight in kilos of your pork belly:
20g X 2.4kg = 48g of salt
15g X 2.4kg = 36g of sugar
2.5g X 2.4kg = 6g of Cure #1

 

[indaswamp]

This is the cure calculator I use. Created by a pH.D. Physicist....

https://genuineideas.com/ArticlesIndex/nitritecuringcalculator.html


*edit- for a dry brine, type 0 in the fluids section...

 

[DougE]

The math really isn't that complicated to do yourself. No online calc needed. Can be done with pencil and paper if the need arises.

Say we have a piece of belly weighing 1850 grams.

Our dry cure ingredient percentages are:
0.25% cure#1 (never changes for the cure %)
1.5% salt
0.75% sugar

Cure#1 - 1850 x .0025 = 4.625g

Salt - 1850 x .015 = 27.75g

Sugar - 1850 x .0075 = 13.875g

It isn't that hard.

 

[SmokinEdge]

The math really isn't that complicated to do yourself. No online calc needed. Can be done with pencil and paper if the need arises.

Say we have a piece of belly weighing 1850 grams.

Our dry cure ingredient percentages are:
0.25% cure#1 (never changes for the cure %)
1.5% salt
0.75% sugar

Cure#1 - 1850 x .0025 = 4.625g

Salt - 1850 x .015 = 27.75g

Sugar - 1850 x .0075 = 13.875g

It isn't that hard.

Looks pretty straight forward to me.

Plus if you work in Kg on meat. We know that 1 Kg is 1000 grams.
So in your example Doug, 1 Kg you don’t even have to do math other than in your head, per 1000 grams,

.25% cure #1 = 2.5grams

1.5% salt = 15 grams

.75% sugar = 7.5 grams

then if doing multiple Kg’s just double for each one. In metric the math counts out just like money, everything in 10’s.

 

[DougE]

Plus if you work in Kg on meat. We know that 1 Kg is 1000 grams.
So in your example Doug, 1 Kg you don’t even have to do math other than in your head, per 1000 grams,

I do that with sausage where I am (mostly) working in 1 or 2 kg batches for sure.

 

[Culinary Otter]

I'm just spitballing and have no idea if this would work. I have no idea of the underlying workings of this forum. Also for the record I manually calculate everything now after belonging to the amazing ribs forum and seeing some... Shortcomings. The loss of digging dog has clearly had an effect on the forum.

But perhaps there's an appetite to create an SMF calculator? Something hosted internally on the site and members could weigh in on (hah pun intended) on what they're looking for? I can't see it being that difficult and would gladly raise my hand to help with.

At the wurst, (also not sorry), members would at least know it's not going anywhere as long as the forum exists.

 

[SmokinEdge]

I'm just spitballing and have no idea if this would work. I have no idea of the underlying workings of this forum. Also for the record I manually calculate everything now after belonging to the amazing ribs forum and seeing some... Shortcomings. The loss of digging dog has clearly had an effect on the forum.

But perhaps there's an appetite to create an SMF calculator? Something hosted internally on the site and members could weigh in on (hah pun intended) on what they're looking for? I can't see it being that difficult and would gladly raise my hand to help with.

At the wurst, (also not sorry), members would at least know it's not going anywhere as long as the forum exists.

All that’s needed is someone good with Excel. Its just a spread sheet with a face.

 

[DougE]

All that’s needed is someone good with Excel. Its just a spread sheet with a face.

That wouldn't be me but if someone is going to go for it, they need to make an improvement by separating the cure and salt instead of combining both as a total salt content.

 

[DougE]

I haven't talked to him in a few years, but a dude I used to game with was an excel whiz. He could do this calc in his sleep.

 

[indaswamp]

That wouldn't be me but if someone is going to go for it, they need to make an improvement by separating the cure and salt instead of combining both as a total salt content.

The cure calculator I posted is like that.

 

[cptnding]

That wouldn't be me but if someone is going to go for it, they need to make an improvement by separating the cure and salt instead of combining both as a total salt content.

I'm curious why.
I haven't used diggingdogs calculator in a long time. I wound up making my own spreadsheet to use as a reference so I could take notes and keep a record of what we preferred.
I always liked that the diggingdog one accounted for the salt in #1. Otherwise if you input say 1.5% you're actually using about 1.74% right?
I will say that created confusion when checked with your own math. But it was right. Just not real clear what it was doing. Maybe it should have been labeled as Total Salt Content?

 

[ConrodM]

I started using this as my guide for my 1st bacon attempt. The sugar level is high but we prefer “sweet bacon “. I now skip the pepper & bay leaf and add 1/2 cup of maple syrup.
Edit: I also do a full vacuum on the bag to make it easier to flip/massage.
Curious to know if pulling the vacuum will speed up the cure?

I too use an xcell spreadsheet and just double checked my cure & salt math. Perfect!

Thanks guys!

 

[DougE]

I'm curious why.

Because if someone wants 1.5% salt in addition to cure#1 and enters 1.5% salt in the calc, they are actually getting 1.25% salt. It is much more straightforward to separate the values.

I only knew digging dog combined the two because, well, math. I'm sure a lot of people were unaware the calc did this.