# Leftover curing brine



## Sowsage (Nov 23, 2019)

I put a venison roast in pops brine last weekend. I poured the brine over the roast in a zip lock back and into the fridge. I only used half of the curing brine and the rest of it is in a container in the fridge. It has not been in contact with any meat. I have a boneless Turkey breast roast i want to get into some cure this weekend. Am i good to use the leftover unused brine from last weekend? Or just make another batch? I would assume its ok. But we know what assume means lol!


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## Hawging It (Nov 23, 2019)

I may be totally incorrect but it seems if it never touched any meat and was refrigerated,  it would still be good to use again. Others on here probably know more about brine than I do.  Watching.


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## Sowsage (Nov 23, 2019)

Hawging It said:


> I may be totally incorrect but it seems if it never touched any meat and was refrigerated,  it would still be good to use again. Others on here probably know more about brine than I do.  Watching.


That was my same thoughts. I just want to make sure . Could be something im not aware of


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## DanMcG (Nov 23, 2019)

I'm not a big brine guy, but I'd agree with you guys and say it's fine.


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## Sowsage (Nov 23, 2019)

danmcg said:


> I'm not a big brine guy, but I'd agree with you guys and say it's fine.


As far as the brine part of it goes i would say its good for sure. Its the curing salts  in the mix that im curious about


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## chopsaw (Nov 23, 2019)

Sowsage said:


> As far as the brine part of it goes i would say its good for sure. Its the curing salts  in the mix that im curious about


Use it up . Just make sure it's enough to cover the meat .


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## Sowsage (Nov 23, 2019)

chopsaw said:


> Use it up . Just make sure it's enough to cover the meat .


Thanks chopsaw there is plenty left so covering wont be an issue.  Going into the brine now! Going to be Turkey pastrami .


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## chef jimmyj (Nov 23, 2019)

Good job with the answers. Unused brine, covered in the refer, is fine to use. Just dont try to stretch Pops Brine too far. Meat needs to be Swimming not just Moistened. Don't use Spent Brine as the salt and cure amounts may be less than you need for a safe cure.  Besides, what does brine cost to make? A couple of dollars, if you load it with Exotic Herbs and Spices?...JJ


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## daveomak (Nov 24, 2019)

If you mix a batch of curing brine, the amount of cure you add is usually measured for a certain amount of meat...  only using half the brine, there may not be enough cure to cure the meat properly....   DO NOT mix half batches...  DO NOT use 1/2 of a batch...
Do the math to understand what I'm saying....


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## Sowsage (Nov 24, 2019)

daveomak said:


> If you mix a batch of curing brine, the amount of cure you add is usually measured for a certain amount of meat...  only using half the brine, there may not be enough cure to cure the meat properly....   DO NOT mix half batches...  DO NOT use 1/2 of a batch...
> Do the math to understand what I'm saying....


Well crap. Now im confused.  I thought it didnt matter with a wet curing  brine with the meat completely submerged in it. The way pops explains it for his curing brine you could cure single pork chop in a 55 gallon container or 100lb of bellies in 20 gal.  As long as the concentration is corect.  And of course injecting thicker cuts as well.  Should i not be using this method?


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## dr k (Nov 24, 2019)

I did pops wet curing brine before I saw the digging dogs farm calculator. A rounded tablespoon of cure 1  weighs about 21 grams so that calculates to cure 10lbs of meat in one gallon of water. You add the weight of water to the meat to figure cure 1. I just wet brined 6.36lbs of eye of round in one gallon of water 8.34lbs and it came to a total weight of 6,668 grams to plug into the calculator which gave 16.64 grams of cure. Pop's says if it covers it cures and is supposedly FDA approved but the caculator is specific to 156ppm and 200ppm is max so you should be ok. The calculator also figure 1% sugar and 2% salt by default but you can adjust those. I keep it at default and I'm using less cure 1 per gallon vs pops but it's up to you.


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## daveomak (Nov 24, 2019)

A gallon of water with the sugar and salt weighs about 10#'s (4540 gms)...   Adding 21 grams (x 0.0625) = (1.31 gms nitrite) of cure#1 makes the brine/cure solution 289 Ppm...   If you  use 1/2 the gallon of mix, you will have 0.65 grams of cure in 5#'s of brine...  adding 6 #'s of meat will make the mix....  11#'s in 0.65 gms nitrite... 0.65/4994= 130 Ppm in the mix... a bit below recommended...

The correct way to make a curing brine is....  weigh the meat and liquid and all the ingredients...   Add cure#1 at a rate of 1.13 grams of cure#1 per pound of meat and mix... - 165 Ppm nitrite...


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## dr k (Nov 24, 2019)

daveomak said:


> A gallon of water with the sugar and salt weighs about 10#'s (4540 gms)...   Adding 21 grams (x 0.0625) = (1.31 gms nitrite) of cure#1 makes the brine/cure solution 289 Ppm...   If you  use 1/2 the gallon of mix, you will have 0.65 grams of cure in 5#'s of brine...  adding 6 #'s of meat will make the mix....  11#'s in 0.65 gms nitrite... 0.65/4994= 130 Ppm in the mix... a bit below recommended...
> 
> The correct way to make a curing brine is....  weigh the meat and liquid and all the ingredients...   Add cure#1 at a rate of 1.13 grams of cure#1 per pound of meat and mix... - 165 Ppm nitrite...


I haven't been adding the weight of the salt 118 gms and sugar 68 gms in with the meat and water it was .4lbs  which I'll have to start adding. the digging dog farms calc is 1.13/lb


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