# Did I possibly use too much cure?



## checkerfred (Feb 21, 2019)

So I hardly ever make cured jerky. Only have a few times.  I tried it again and read on here about adding weight of meat and water together and then input into the curing calculator (digdogging farm one) when calculating how much cure.  I did that but calculated it based on 156ppm instead of 120ppm.  Would this give me too much cure?


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## pops6927 (Feb 21, 2019)

No, not at all.


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## checkerfred (Feb 21, 2019)

pops6927 said:


> No, not at all.


Thanks!


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## checkerfred (Feb 21, 2019)

How many grams per pound and does it change when adding in a liquid or water and spices or marinate?


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## DanMcG (Feb 22, 2019)

1.1 grams per pound is what you want for 156ppm.
0.88 grams per pound for 120 ppm

How much liquid are you adding?


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## BGKYSmoker (Feb 22, 2019)

Cure #1 is 6.5g per every 5lbs of meat. How hard is that?

Adding 2-3 g of cure per every pound of meat is just too much.


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## indaswamp (Feb 22, 2019)

One ounce of cure per 25# of meat for 156ppm. Since 1 ounce = 28.35 grams, take 28.35 and divide by 25# and you get 1.134g per pound of meat. Multiply that by however many pounds of sausage meat you have. That's how much cure in grams you need.


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## checkerfred (Feb 22, 2019)

danmcg said:


> 1.1 grams per pound is what you want for 156ppm.
> 0.88 grams per pound for 120 ppm
> 
> How much liquid are you adding?


Usually 1:1


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## checkerfred (Feb 22, 2019)

indaswamp said:


> One ounce of cure per 25# of meat for 156ppm. Since 1 ounce = 28.35 grams, take 28.35 and divide by 25# and you get 1.134g per pound of meat. Multiply that by however many pounds of sausage meat you have. That's how much cure in grams you need.


Yeah I get that and do that for sausages...I wanted to know if the amount changes if you are adding liquid to marinate then meat


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## checkerfred (Feb 22, 2019)

nepas said:


> Cure #1 is 6.5g per every 5lbs of meat. How hard is that?
> 
> Adding 2-3 g of cure per every pound of meat is just too much.


It’s not hard to figure that out.  I guess my last post wasn’t clear.  I’m interested in knowing if it changes based on liquid/water being added.  I’ve read on here to add the weight of the meat + water/marinade and have also been told to not do that.  I’m just a little confused on that is all.  I use the exact amount you said when doing sausage or even dry curing.


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## indaswamp (Feb 22, 2019)

checkerfred said:


> It’s not hard to figure that out.  I guess my last post wasn’t clear.  I’m interested in knowing if it changes based on liquid/water being added.  I’ve read on here to add the weight of the meat + water/marinade and have also been told to not do that.  I’m just a little confused on that is all.  I use the exact amount you said when doing sausage or even dry curing.


If you are doing an equilibrium cure, then yes, you need to add the weight of the meat and liquid together because not all the cure dissolved in the liquid will travel into the meat, it will only travel into the meat so long as the meat and solution are not in equilibrium...i.e. the same cure concentration in the meat and solution. Once that has been achieved, the meat will not take up any more cure.


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## indaswamp (Feb 22, 2019)

With smoke sausages, we do add water, but most of that water will be lost during the smoking process from evaporation and cooking so we do not add the weight of the water when adding cure to sausages....


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## DanMcG (Feb 22, 2019)

Yes add cure for the total weight of the meat and brine.


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## checkerfred (Feb 22, 2019)

indaswamp said:


> If you are doing an equilibrium cure, then yes, you need to add the weight of the meat and liquid together because not all the cure dissolved in the liquid will travel into the meat, it will only travel into the meat so long as the meat and solution are not in equilibrium...i.e. the same cure concentration in the meat and solution. Once that has been achieved, the meat will not take up any more cure.


 Does the water need to be exactly 1:1 for this?


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## checkerfred (Feb 22, 2019)

indaswamp said:


> With smoke sausages, we do add water, but most of that water will be lost during the smoking process from evaporation and cooking so we do not add the weight of the water when adding cure to sausages....



So in that regard, if you’re making jerky you’re taking out most of the water too. So would you just add the normal amount in this case?


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## indaswamp (Feb 22, 2019)

No... but the meat needs to be surrounded by the brine/cure. The cure can not travel into the meat if the meat is not in contact with the brine.


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## indaswamp (Feb 22, 2019)

checkerfred said:


> So in that regard, if you’re making jerky you’re taking out most of the water too. So would you just add the normal amount in this case?


Yes.


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## checkerfred (Feb 22, 2019)

indaswamp said:


> Yes.


So just to be clear, for jerky I’d just use the correct amount of cure for the meat weight, and not the weight of the meat/marinade or meat/water/spices?

Then an equilibrium brine would be more for something like brining say pastrami or other meats that are cooked but not dried?


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## indaswamp (Feb 22, 2019)

If you are using a marinate-with the cure IN THE MARINATE, you need to add the weight of the meat and the marinate together to calculate your cure. If you are making ground jerky with a jerky gun for example, you just weigh the meat, add the appropriate amount of cure, and then squeeze out the jerky strips and dry.


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## indaswamp (Feb 22, 2019)

checkerfred said:


> Then an equilibrium brine would be more for something like brining say pastrami or other meats that are cooked but not dried?


They could be dried...
The curing process is just the curing process....either dry brine (no liquid added; only what is extracted from the meat via osmosis) or a wet brine where you use a liquid. Once cured, you can dry it....like jerky for example; or not......like ham.....


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## checkerfred (Feb 22, 2019)

indaswamp said:


> They could be dried...
> The curing process is just the curing process....either dry brine (no liquid added; only what is extracted from the meat via osmosis) or a wet brine where you use a liquid. Once cured, you can dry it....like jerky for example; or not......like ham.....


Ok thank you! That makes perfect sense.


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## indaswamp (Feb 22, 2019)

You can do ham either way...like a country ham where salt is massaged/packed over the meat and left to cure...

Or you can do a "city ham" which is wet cured in brine....

Traditionally, if you are going to dry it though, a dry brine is used in order to prevent the meat from up-taking additional water which would lengthen the drying time.


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## checkerfred (Feb 22, 2019)

indaswamp said:


> You can do ham either way...like a country ham where salt is massaged/packed over the meat and left to cure...
> 
> Or you can do a "city ham" which is wet cured in brine....
> 
> Traditionally, if you are going to dry it though, a dry brine is used in order to prevent the meat from up-taking additional water which would lengthen the drying time.


Thank you!


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