> wrote in message
oups.com...
> Thanks Kent. Let me give you some more detailed information. I use
> 4.44 lbs of brine per 10 lbs of pork. The brine is very dense and
> sticky, and about 80% of the weight is brown sugar and molasses. I was
> slightly off on the original NACL %, since I did not account for the
> NACL in the cures I use. Here's how everything breaks out.
>
> Salt (NACL) - 18.970%
> Sodium Nitrite - 0.117%
> Sodium Nitrate - 0.072%
> Brown Sugar & Molasses - 80.842%
>
>
>
What volume of water do you add this to to make up your brine? I'm guessing
your percentages above are percent by weight of dry cure that goes into
solution to become a brine. As we all know the lower the volume of water to
the weight of the ingredients determines the % of salt in your solution. If
all of this is true, you are using .8316 lbs, or 13.3056 oz of NaCl in 4.4
lbs of your cure. If 13.3 oz, by weight of salt were dissolved in 128 oz
water, or 1 gallon water, or by, that would give you a salt concentration in
your brine of 10.4 %. That translates to 8.1 oz curing salt by volume to one
gallon of water. Most of us use volume measurement when brining. That's the
most widely used salt concentration used by the majority of posters in this
NG. I would worry about raising your brining temp if all of the above is
true. I suppose there is a point in the salt/nitrite/nitrate concentration
of a liquid you are approaching of you accomplish with a dry cure. I keep
looking at the pork hams being cured at room temp hanging from the ceiling
at my local meat counter wondering how it can happen.

Kent