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When brining meat you will often come across this statment or something similar that tells you to ensure that the meat is fully covered in the brining liquid. If you have done this before you know that meat floats and there is always some of it above water. I tried a number of different ways to weight the meat to make sure it was covered and all but one has failed. I now use this technique with chicken, turkey, corned beef and any thing eles that requires full immersion. Depending on the size of the meat I will use either a one gallon or five gallon plastic food bucket. I'll prepare the meat and brine and place the meat in the solution and fill till it floats. Now the trick.

If using the large bucket I fill a one gallon zip lock bag half full of water, if using a small bucket I'll fill a sandwich bag half full. Place the bag on top of the meat/bine and the water in the bag will find the level water level in the bucket, the air will keep it on top and my meat is fully immersed in my brine.

Yep, some folks use that technique for weighting down sauerkraut during fermentation.....many use brine in the bag in the off chance the bag springs a leak.

~Martin