Brine Calculator

Why every brine recipe you find disagrees

One says a cup of salt per gallon of water. The next says 3%. The third says 1%. They are not contradicting each other — they are measuring different things. A percentage of the water is not a percentage of the meat, and neither is a percentage of the two together. This page states its basis on every line: salt as a percentage of meat and water combined.

Why you cannot over-salt this way

In an equilibrium brine the meat and the liquid trade salt until both sit at the same concentration. The meat approaches the strength of the brine and cannot pass it. Leave it in an extra six hours and nothing happens to the seasoning — which is the real advantage over the old “strong brine for four hours, then soak it out” method, where an hour too long ruins dinner.

The two-day limit is not about salt. It is about how long raw meat may sit wet and cold before spoilage becomes the problem.

Starting points by cut

Percentage of meat and water combined.

Cut	Range	Working point
Whole turkey	1.0–1.5%	1.2%
Whole chicken, chicken pieces	1.0–1.5%	1.2%
Pork loin, chops, shoulder	1.2–1.8%	1.5%
Beef brisket, before smoking	1.2–1.8%	1.5%
Salmon and other oily fish	1.5–2.5%	2.0%

Taste ranges from practice, not a published standard. Below about 1% the brine stops earning its fridge space; above 2% most people find poultry salty.

Time comes from thickness, not weight

Salt moves inward from every wetted surface at roughly the square root of time, so thickness decides the clock. A flat 2 kg of chops is done long before a 2 kg roast.

Thickness at the thickest point	In a brine
Up to 25 mm / 1 in — chops, fillets	4–8 h
25–50 mm / 1–2 in — chicken pieces, loin	8–18 h
50–100 mm / 2–4 in — whole chicken, small brisket	12–24 h
Whole turkey, 5–8 kg	18–36 h

Practice figures. The widely repeated “quarter inch a day” rule was written for a strong 2.5–3% cure; a 1–1.5% brine moves more slowly, so take the upper end of each range when evenness matters.

What is actually regulated

The three rules below have a published source. Everything else on this page — how salty, how much sugar, how long for flavour — is a cook's choice, which is exactly why the numbers differ everywhere you look.

Rule	Figure	Source
Meat and brine, the whole time	4.4 °C / 40 °F or below	USDA, brining guidance
Cold holding of food needing temperature control	5 °C / 41 °F or below	FDA Food Code §3-501.16
Longest safe cure without curing salt	2 days	USDA — salting does not extend the life of fresh poultry

Three more rules from the same guidance, with no number attached

Cool a brine that was heated before the meat goes in. Do not rinse poultry — splashing spreads contamination around the kitchen. Never salt at room temperature; if the fridge is full, put ice in the container rather than the meat on the counter.

When salt alone is not enough

Everything here assumes one thing: you salt the meat and then you cook it — within two days, at or below 4 °C, finished at a temperature that actually cooks. That covers turkey, chicken, pork, brisket before hot smoking, and fish before hot smoking or baking.

Curing salt is required, not optional, for any of these

Cold smoking, where the smoke runs below about 32 °C / 90 °F and nothing ever gets hot enough to make the food safe. Air-dried whole muscle — pancetta, coppa, bresaola. Fermented or air-dried sausage. And any cure running longer than two days. Use the curing calculator for those.

Cold-smoked fish is its own case. The FDA asks for a finished water-phase salt level of 3.5% or more, verified by measurement — and water-phase salt is salt relative to moisture, which you cannot check in a home kitchen without a lab. We give no numbers for it, and we would rather say so than guess.

Throw the brine away

Whatever was on the raw meat is in the liquid now. Pour it out as soon as the meat comes out. Do not re-use it for a second batch, and do not build a sauce on it unless the sauce gets boiled.

Sources

USDA — brining and handling poultry: 40 °F or below throughout, two days at most, cool the brine first, do not rinse the bird.
FDA Food Code §3-501.16 — cold holding at 41 °F / 5 °C or below.
FDA guidance for smoked fishery products — finished water-phase salt of 3.5% or more, salting step at 40 °F or less.
9 CFR 424.21(c) and 424.22(b) — nitrite limits, used on the curing calculator.

Published US rules are written for inspected plants and do not regulate home kitchens. We cite them because the alternative, in a calculation that can make somebody ill, is a forum post. This page describes published guidance and certifies nothing you make.