Brining Timer: Countdown With In-Page Reminders

Tick "Also try a browser notification" and the browser asks for permission; allow it and the page will try to send one at each reminder. It is optional. Every reminder shows on this page whether or not you allow it, and a notification only works while the browser itself is open and your device is not in Do Not Disturb or a focus mode. If you blocked it by mistake, most browsers let you change it under site settings, then Notifications. Treat the notification as a bonus and the phone alarm as the backup.

The end time is a fixed clock time, so whenever this page is open the countdown is right, even after the tab has been asleep. The page also tries to remember a running timer in this browser's storage; if your browser allows that, opening the page again in the same browser picks the timer up with the right time left, or tells you it finished while you were away. What no web page can do is ring a closed tab. For anything that matters, set a phone alarm for the end time the page shows.

It depends on the strength of the brine, so name it. In this site's 5% brines: chicken pieces 30 minutes to 2 hours, a whole chicken 4 to 8 hours, pork chops 30 minutes to 4 hours, a whole turkey about 1 hour per pound and never more than 24 hours, shrimp 15 to 30 minutes. America's Test Kitchen's stronger brine (1/2 cup table salt per 2 quarts) is faster: whole chicken and pieces 1/2 to 1 hour, pork chops 1 hour, pork roast 1 1/2 to 2 hours, whole turkey 6 to 12 hours. Morton's 1 cup of kosher salt per gallon is 4 to 5 hours, overnight at 1/2 cup. USDA FSIS puts a separate limit on the fridge: brined poultry stays refrigerated no more than 2 days in total. The brining time calculator has the full table by cut and thickness.

The meat takes up more salt than the seasoning needs, and past the top of the range the texture goes soft and ham-like; past 24 hours in a wet brine the outer layer turns spongy. Poultry shows it first. If a batch went long, soak it in plain cold water for 30 to 60 minutes, changing the water every 15 minutes, then pat dry and cook it without added salt. It is a texture and flavor problem, not a safety one, as long as it stayed at 40°F (4°C) or below.

Yes, as a check-in reminder rather than an end point. Switch the timer to "Ferment check-in" and it accepts up to 6 weeks. The National Center for Home Food Preservation gives sauerkraut about 3 to 4 weeks at 70 to 75°F and 5 to 6 weeks at 60 to 65°F, and warns that above 75°F the kraut may go soft, so a 7-day timer is a reminder to taste and check the brine level, not a finish line. The kimchi and sauerkraut calculator works out the salt and the weeks for your temperature.

The browser has to be open, the tab may need to be open too on some phones, the device must not be in Do Not Disturb or a focus mode, and the operating system has to allow notifications for that browser. Any one of those stops it. That is why the reminders on this page never rely on a notification: the halfway, 15-minute and completion messages show on the page itself and stay until you dismiss them. Keep the tab open, and put a phone alarm on the end time if you will be away from the screen.

No. USDA FSIS says to brine in the refrigerator, at 40°F (4°C) or below. Its 2-hour figure (1 hour above 90°F) is the limit for perishable food left out, not a brining allowance, and time out of the fridge adds up across the whole process. If the fridge is full, dry brine instead (it needs a tray, not a bucket), or use a cooler with ice around a sealed bag and a thermometer in it to check it stays at 40°F or below.

You can pause this timer and it will pick up where it left off; the meat cannot. Once it comes out of the brine the salt keeps moving inward and evening out, and putting it back later gives an uneven result, plus every minute out of the fridge counts against the 2-hour limit. If you have to interrupt a brine, call it finished, rinse, pat dry and cook. Plan the hours so the whole brine runs in one stretch.

It uses your device's clock and stores the end as a clock time, so it is as accurate as the clock and it does not drift if the tab sleeps; pause shifts the end time by exactly the paused minutes. The limits are the ones any web page has: it cannot ring a closed tab, and a browser notification can be silenced by the device. For an overnight brine, note the end time it shows and set a phone alarm for it.

Thickness at the thickest point sets the time, not the bone as such. America's Test Kitchen's chart gives chicken pieces one range, 1/2 to 1 hour in its brine, bone-in or not; bone-in pieces are usually thicker, so they sit at the top of a range and a boneless breast at the bottom. Measure the thickest part, use the top of the range for a thick bone-in piece, and check with a thermometer when cooking: 165°F for poultry, 145°F with a 3-minute rest for pork (USDA FSIS).