Smoking Catfish
- Chuckwagon
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- Location: Rocky Mountains
Hey, hey, Butterbean!
I've suspected that you were a wizzard and now you've proven it. Wow, that cat looks good enough to eat!
Your brine works out to be a concentration of 5.55% with a salinometer reading of 21 SAL . Very nice indeed.
Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon
I've suspected that you were a wizzard and now you've proven it. Wow, that cat looks good enough to eat!
Your brine works out to be a concentration of 5.55% with a salinometer reading of 21 SAL . Very nice indeed.
Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon
If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it probably needs more time on the grill!
- Butterbean
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- Location: South Georgia
Chuckwagon I'm glad you mentioned the 21 degrees cause I've been begging to ask this for some time since I'm not exactly sure of the proper method of using a salinometer. My salinometer read 30 degrees but this was a measurement of the whole brine mixture and this is how I have been measuring my brines. Of course, I've questioned this since by definitiion the salinometer should be measuring salt in solution. However what has puzzled me is since sugar is often used as a substitution for salt to tone it down the saltiness should this too not be accounted for in the mixture? So with this in mind, I have been measuring the total brine solutions I make rather than just the salt. However, I don't know if I'm doing this properly since I've never read anything detailing this question nor have I ever had anyone tell me the correct way of doing this. I would greatly appreciate any instruction you can give me in this area. Thanks.
Butterbean, I can help here. The salinometer measures the percent of saturation in a salt only solution. So a reading of 21 would mean that the solution is at 21 percent of saturation. If you add sugar you will raise the specific gravity of the solution but you won't change the total salt and you will get a false reading. So make your solution first with salt only to the degree that you want and then add the sugar
Ross- tightwad home cook
- Butterbean
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- Location: South Georgia
Thank you. I thought I was probably doing it wrong but somehow I rationalized it this way. I'm going to have to adjust my way of thinking then cause my actual brines are less than I have noted. Kinda silly I guess. It is afterall a salinometer. And wouldn't you know, I got a 50/50 chance at guessing the proper way and I choose wrong. This is exactly why I don't buy lottery tickets. Thanks again.
- Butterbean
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- Location: South Georgia
- Chuckwagon
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Hey BeanO,
Ol' Rosscoe is right about the sugar in the brine. Measure it with salt only. Also, be sure to only use sugar in a brine that is quick or going to be refrigerated as it could start the fermenting process.
Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon
Check out the following link. It should help you to calculate brine effectively. http://wedlinydomowe.pl/en/viewtopic.php?t=5743You wrote:
So with this in mind, I have been measuring the total brine solutions I make rather than just the salt. However, I don't know if I'm doing this properly since I've never read anything detailing this question nor have I ever had anyone tell me the correct way of doing this. I would greatly appreciate any instruction you can give me in this area. Thanks.
Ol' Rosscoe is right about the sugar in the brine. Measure it with salt only. Also, be sure to only use sugar in a brine that is quick or going to be refrigerated as it could start the fermenting process.
Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon
If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it probably needs more time on the grill!
- Baconologist
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