im confused about brining

[scotty]

We have just cut up a large brisket for making 2 pastramis and one corned beef
http://s35.photobucket.com/albums/d199/ ... NG%20FOOD/

The weights of the future 2 pastramis combined is 10 pounds give or take a small amount.

The weight of the future corned beef is 5 pounds give or take a bit.

I put the items in 2 separate containers because of the sizes of the glass.


The 2 that are going to be pastramis are in one and the corned beef in the other.


Now the larger glass accepted the 2 pastramis and one full gallon of brine which i mixed according to a recipe that i have used before with proper results.


The confusion in my mind is about the amount of Prague powder for the 5 pound corned beef

It is clear in the instruction an my question is since i only needed 1/2 gallon of brine, should i have mixed a gallon batch with the amount of Prague powder for 5 pounds of meat then used only the amount of brine i needed
OR mixed 1/2 gallon of brine with the amount of Prague powder recommended for 5 lbs of meat??


I hope i didn't make the question confusing also
__________________

[saucisson]

I would have thought you would make up your gallon and then use half of it, but I will defer to Oddley if he says differently,

Dave

PS Nice pictures by the way, I especially liked the one of (you?) sitting on the porch watching the thermometers intently.

[Oddley]

I agree with saucisson.

Yep, it's always nice to see a picture of what you are doing.

[johnfb]

Recipe for Curing Brine:


Water 20.00 Litres
Salt 5.400 kg
Salt petre 0.113 kg
Brown Sugar 0.570kg
Juniper Berries 0.028kg
Pimento 0.056kg
Coriander 0.056kgkg
Total 26.223kg
Once mixed use as an immersion brine for a minimum of 9 days.

[Oddley]

I calculated the scobies commercial cure, to illustrate, how difficult it is too work one out satisfactorily, especially, for a batch cure. One size fits all.

Scobies Immersion Brine

76.2689 % Water 20.00 Litres
20.5926 % Salt 5.400 kg
0.4309 % Salt petre 0.113 kg
2.1737 % Brown Sugar 0.570kg
0.1068 % Juniper Berries 0.028kg
0.2136 % Pimento 0.056kg
0.2136 % Coriander 0.056kgkg
Total 26.223kg
Once mixed use as an immersion brine for a minimum of 9 days.

http://www.scobiesdirect.com/ItemInfo.a ... dCat=13400

1 Kg brine

762.689 mL Water
205.926 g Salt
4.309 g Salt petre
21.737 g Brown Sugar
1.068 g Juniper Berries
2.136 g Pimento
2.136 g Coriander

Total 1000 g

I have assumed that the spices are ground and water soluble.

If we use a 2 Kg piece of meat and the 1 litre of brine, and do an equalisation cure ie: 20 days. If we analyse this cure we get a final amount in the every 1Kg meat, of:

At 10 days per 1 Kg of meat

68.642 g Salt (21.3% Brine concentration. 6.8642% of meat)
1.436 g Salt petre (1436 m/Kg)
7.246 g Brown Sugar
0.356 g Juniper Berries
0.712 g Pimento
0.712 g Coriander

As you may notice you have in my opinion far too much salt and saltpetre in the final product. So if we now adjust our cure to an immersion, dissipation and guess the time, say the 9 days minimum you get a final amount in the meat of (Given that the dispersion rate is constant. This we have no idea about.) about:

****************************

9/20 = 0.45 the ingredient amount

At 4.5 days per 1 Kg of meat

30.8889 g Salt (21.3% Brine concentration. 3.08889% of meat)
0.6462 g Salt petre (646 m/Kg)
3.2607 g Brown Sugar
0.1602 g Juniper Berries
0.3204 g Pimento
0.3204 g Coriander

This looks to me Ok with about 3% salt and about 646 ppm saltpetre.

****************************

Also you may have noticed that 1 litre of cure is not a lot to cover 2 Kg of meat you would need a very tight fitting container. So what if we use the displacement weight of the meat in brine ie: 2kg of the brine. You will still need a close fitting container

2 Kg Brine

1525.378 mL Water
411.852 g Salt
8.618 g Salt petre
43.474 g Brown Sugar
2.136 g Juniper Berries
4.272 g Pimento
4.272 g Coriander

Total 2000 g

Final amount in the meat

At 10 days per 1 Kg meat

102.963 g Salt (21.3% Brine concentration 10.2963 % of meat)
2.154 g Salt petre (2154 m/Kg)
10.868 g Brown Sugar
1.068 g Juniper Berries
0.534 g Pimento
0.534 g Coriander

At 4.5 days per 1 Kg meat

46.33335 g Salt (21.3% Brine concentration 4.633335 % of meat)
0.9693 g Salt petre (969 m/Kg)
4.8906 g Brown Sugar
0.9612 g Juniper Berries
0.43254 g Pimento
0.43254 g Coriander

In conclusion:
I have calculated all this to show how, with even small differences in time and quantities used, how large the restricted chemicals and salt can accumulate in the meat. In the scobies cure, we should have been told to use half the amount of brine too meat weight and cure for 4.5 days per Kg of meat.

That's why I don't calculate immersion cures any more.

[scotty]

I made the gallon and used half.

Thanks for the help YOUSE GUYS OK so i'm from brooklyn