Brine / Cure Concentration
Brine salinity or equilibrium salt percent, ingoing nitrite ppm (meat basis) or pickle nitrite ppm from curing salt #1.
Example
You enter
- Mode equilibrium
- Salt added (g) 25
- Meat weight (g, equilibrium) 1000
- Cure #1 (g, 6.25% nitrite, optional) 2.5
You get
- Concentration 2.5
- Nitrite ppm 156.25
Checked against published worked examples from: Mass-fraction chemistry + USDA FSIS 9 CFR 424 nitrite limit.
Details, formula, and sources
ScopeBrine salinity or equilibrium salt percent, ingoing nitrite ppm (meat basis) or pickle nitrite ppm from curing salt #1, and salt-to-add for a target, by mass fraction.
Formula or tablebrine% = salt/(salt+water)*100; equilibrium salt% = salt/(meat+water)*100; equilibrium ingoing nitrite ppm = cure*0.0625*1e6/meat (green meat weight), limit by product: chopped 156.25 (1/4 oz per 100 lb; FSIS prints 156) and dry cure 625 ppm (9 CFR 424.21(c)), bacon 120 pumped/immersion and 200 dry cured (424.22(b)); brine nitrite ppm = cure*0.0625*1e6/(salt+water+cure); salt-to-add = target*water/(1 - target) - salt for a brine and target*(meat+water) - salt for an equilibrium cure (never negative).
Source and editionFirst-principles mass-fraction chemistry. Prague Powder #1 is 6.25% sodium nitrite; ingoing nitrite limits from USDA FSIS 9 CFR 424.21(c) (chopped 1/4 oz and dry cure 1 oz per 100 lb; pickle 2 lb per 100 gal) and 424.22(b) (bacon).
Free accessFree at fsis.usda.gov and ecfr.gov; the user confirms the current FSIS ingoing limit.
What governsEstimate. AHJ and licensed professional govern.
API field namesmode, salt_g, meat_g, cure_g, concentration_pct, nitrite_ppm
- Cure #1 nitrite Prague Powder #1 is 6.25% sodium nitrite by weightUSDA FSIS
- Ingoing limit by product chopped 156.25 (printed as 156), whole-muscle dry cure 625, bacon pumped/immersion 120, bacon dry cured 200 ppm9 CFR 424.21(c), 424.22(b)