Minimum Quantities for Brining Meats

[Rambling Sid Rumpo]

Hi. Is there a lower limit to the weight of a piece of meat for brining? I'd love to have a go at corned beef, pastrami or salt beef, but don't think my other half will be that keen on it.

[Damo the butcherman]

G'day,
I have had sucess in brining small amounts, the trickest part is weighing up small amounts of ingreadents a couple of tips to help you,
1 if using a salinometer pour the brine into a long skinny bottle to check salt levels
2 use a marinate injector to pump in brine they can handle small amounts.
3 put the meat and the brine in a large zip lock bag expelling as much air as possible seal the bag stand it inside a dish to keep it upright and give it a massage every couple of days
Good luck, one thing for sure if it works well you will be making bigger batches from then on
Damo

[Rambling Sid Rumpo]

Thanks Damo. I don't have a salinometer or a marinate injector, so I have a couple of further questions. Can I just use a non-metalic container and 'soak' the piece of meat and (I think I the answer is no) is it possible to scale down a brine recipe without affecting its performance? I do have scales which measure down to 0.01g.

[wheels]

What sort of weights are we talking of?

Phil

[Rambling Sid Rumpo]

Probably about 500g Phil.

[wheels]

I can't see why it can't be done, I'd be happier with 1kg for immersion curing. But it's certainly "not outside of the realms of possibility" lets say.

Phil

[Rambling Sid Rumpo]

Thanks Phil. I might try a 1kg piece to start. Can I scale a brine recipe?

[wheels]

Yes, I'd use Oddleys 2:1 method:

http://forum.sausagemaking.org/viewtopic.php?p=35912

For using cure #1 see:

http://forum.sausagemaking.org/viewtopic.php?p=35942

Phil

[salumi512]

Brines are based on the amount of liquid as the base ratio, not the meat that's going in them. As long as you use enough to cover your meat then it doesn't really matter if you make a large amount of brine and only use part of it.

[Rambling Sid Rumpo]

Thanks for all your help guys.

[wheels]

Small amounts of meat in nitrite brines are likely to get near (or to) equilibrium and as such will absorb different amounts of salt/nitrite etc depending on the amount of brine that they are in. See the bottom para of page 21 et seq of the USDA Processing Inspectors' Calculations Handbook

Phil

[salumi512]

Small amounts of meat in nitrite brines are likely to get near (or to) equilibrium and as such will absorb different amounts of salt/nitrite etc depending on the amount of brine that they are in. See the bottom para of page 21 et seq of the USDA Processing Inspectors' Calculations Handbook

Phil

I stand corrected for itty bitty pieces of meat. I will remember that the next time I am brining pig snouts, as they use in an example

[wheels]

Yeah weird init!

But a particular issue for home curers who tend to cure smaller pieces of meat (That is for those who worry about such things! )

Phil

[Damo the butcherman]

Thanks Damo. I don't have a salinometer or a marinate injector, so I have a couple of further questions. Can I just use a non-metalic container and 'soak' the piece of meat and (I think I the answer is no) is it possible to scale down a brine recipe without affecting its performance? I do have scales which measure down to 0.01g.

I don't see why you couldn't soak as you suggested If the meat is not completly covered by brine I would proberly put some plastic over the top so the expoesed meat does not dry out and then I would roll it everyday.
Good luck Damo

[saucisson]

Yes, I'd use Oddleys 2:1 method:

http://forum.sausagemaking.org/viewtopic.php?p=35912

For using cure #1 see:

http://forum.sausagemaking.org/viewtopic.php?p=35942

Phil

I've just added Oddley's 2:1 method to the Curing FAQs here:

http://forum.sausagemaking.org/viewtopi ... 9875#79875