Brine Calculators: All 27 Free Tools

Meat and poultry

Wet brines at 3.5, 5 or 6% of the water, dry brines by the pound, and the time for each cut. All of them stop at 24 hours in a wet brine and give the USDA FSIS finish temperature.

• Turkey brine calculator Salt in grams and cups by turkey weight and salt brand, wet or dry, with the hours in the fridge.
• Salt water brine calculator Salt and sugar for any wet brine from the water volume at 3.5, 5 or 6%, with time by cut.
• Meat brine calculator Salt and time for chicken, pork, beef and lamb by weight and cut, with the finish temperature.
• Dry brine calculator Salt per pound rubbed on, by cut and salt brand, with the resting time uncovered in the fridge.
• Brining time calculator Hours for wet and dry brines by cut and weight, with the limit for each cut.
• Injection brine calculator How much brine to inject by pump percentage, and the salt and sugar that go in it.
• Pressure cooker brine calculator Salt for a brine that fits the pot, then the minutes at high pressure for the cut.

Seafood

• Seafood brine calculator Salt and sugar for smoking salmon, trout and shrimp, with the time and the 145°F finish.

Bacon, sausage and equilibrium brines

Salt figured as a percentage of the meat rather than the water, so a cut can only take up what you weighed out. Cure #1 is offered on the bacon and sausage pages, held to the federal nitrite limits.

• Bacon curing calculator Cure #1, salt and sugar by belly weight, with the nitrite ppm checked against the 9 CFR 424.22 limit.
• Equilibrium brine calculator Salt as 1.5% of the meat plus water, so the cut cannot over-salt, capped at 48 hours.
• Sausage calculator Back fat to add, then salt, Cure #1, ice water and pepper by meat weight, with nitrite held at 156 ppm.

Fermentation

Salt by the weight of the vegetables, 2% for cabbage, with the days and the room temperature the ferment wants.

• Kimchi and sauerkraut salt calculator 2% salt by cabbage weight, in grams and spoons for the salt you have.
• Fermentation salt calculator Salt percentage by vegetable, dry-salted or in brine, with the weeks at room temperature.

Pickling and canning

Vinegar quick pickles by the jar, fermented cucumbers in a 3.5 to 5% brine, and the pH check that decides whether a jar can go in a water bath.

• Pickle brine calculator Vinegar, water and salt for quick pickles by jar size, or a salt brine for fermented ones.
• Canning pH calculator Whether a pickle or ferment is at or under pH 4.6, the NCHFP line for water bath canning.

Salt and reference

One salt density table behind every tool on the site: label figures for Diamond Crystal, Morton, table, Redmond and Celtic, measured figures for the rest. These pages put that table to work.

• Salt conversion calculator Swap Diamond Crystal, Morton, table and sea salt by weight, with the spoons for each.
• Brine percentage calculator Check the percentage of a brine you already have, or make one to a percentage.
• Brine strength visualizer A gauge that shows where a salt percentage sits against the common brine bands.
• Conversion charts Gallons, quarts, liters, grams, ounces, temperature and salt by brand in one place.

Planning and batches

Scaling, container size, cost, several brines in one fridge, a printable card, a timer, and what to do when a batch goes wrong.

• Batch scaling calculator Scale every line of a brine recipe up or down and keep the percentage where it was.
• Brine batch planner Several brines at once: total salt and water, fridge space, and when to start each one.
• Container size calculator The bucket, pot or bag a cut needs with headspace, and how much brine covers it.
• Commercial scale calculator Salt by the kilogram and the bag for large batches, with the holding temperature.
• Brine cost calculator What a batch costs from your own salt and sugar prices, per batch and per pound of meat.
• Recipe card generator A one-page brine card with the weighed amounts and times, to print, copy or email.
• Brining timer A countdown for the brine with halfway and 15-minute reminders while the page is open.
• Troubleshooting tool Too salty, mushy or under-seasoned: the likely cause and what to do next time.

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