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Kent Kent is offline
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Default salt/cure level for brining at warmer temperature


> wrote in message
ups.com...
> Hello there folks. I make something called buckboard bacon. It's
> essentially a pork butt marinated in a brown sugar and molasses brine
> over a 2-3 week period, after which it is smoked. The brine is about
> 16% salt by weight, and I use curing salts as well that contain both
> sodium nitrate and sodium nitrite. One of the curing salts I use is
> especially strong, and as a result of both the cures and the salt, the
> pork does lose a lot of water weight over that 2-3 week period. I would
> estimate a 25% loss in weight, and that's prior to smoking it.
>
> When curing the pork in the refrigerator, I typically like to keep the
> temperature around 40 degrees fahrenheit. The last time I made it, my
> refrigerator malfunctioned, and for one day the temperature was around
> 60 degrees. However, the pork did not spoil. In fact, I got better
> flavor penetration on that batch than I did in previous ones. So, I
> would like to raise the temperature the next time I brine the bacon. I
> would hope to achieve better flavor penetration, and possibly be able
> to shorten the brining period. Is there any way to determine how much
> leeway I have in increasing the temperature? Thanks for any tips you
> can provide.
>
>
>

16% NaCl by weight, given a specific gravity of 1.65, means you are using
slightly more than 3 oz of table salt per quart of cure.

ounces by volume of Mortons per quart
% of Mortons per quart by volume
ounce by weight of Mortons per quart
% of Mortons per quart by weight

1.00
3.13%
1.625
5.08%

2.00
6.25%
3.25
10.16%

2.25
7.03%
3.65625
11.43%

3.00
9.38%
4.875
15.23%



In addition to that I'm guessing you are using Prague powder #1. How much of
that is
in your formula? What is your concentration of nitrates and nitrites in your
cure?

Kent