Brine Calculator

Using the brine calculator

The first choice is what you want to control.

• Brine salt level sets the strength of the liquid itself. Enter the brine percentage and the amount of water, and you get the salt to dissolve. This suits pickles, ferments and any recipe that names a brine strength.
• Target salinity sets how salty the finished food should be. You give the combined weight of the food and the water (or just the meat, for a dry brine), and the calculator returns the salt needed to reach that level overall.

Then say whether you are brining vegetables or meat and pick the type. Choosing a type fills the percentage box with a typical figure for it, such as 3.5% brine for pickling cucumbers or 2.5% for poultry, and Other / Custom empties the box. Type over the figure whenever you follow a specific recipe; if the box is left empty, the same typical figure is used. Meat can be wet brined or, with Target salinity, dry brined.

Water can be entered by weight (grams, kilograms, ounces, pounds) or by volume (milliliters, liters, US legal cups of 240 ml, imperial cups, US and imperial fluid ounces and gallons). Volumes are treated as water, where 1 ml weighs 1 g. The salt comes back in grams and ounces, or in kilograms and pounds for large amounts. For converting spoon and cup measures of other ingredients, see the cups to grams converter.

The percentage is the share of salt in the finished liquid by weight, salt divided by salt plus water. Some recipes define strength as salt divided by water alone, which gives a slightly higher number for the same brine, so check which one yours uses.

Salt brine percentage calculations

A brine with a given salt fraction p contains salt weighing p of the total. Since the total is water plus salt, the salt follows from the water weight:

salt = water × p ÷ (1 − p)p is the brine strength as a fraction, for example 0.03 for 3%.

The same expression works for target salinity: replace the water weight with the combined weight of food and water, and p becomes the saltiness of the whole mixture.

How to make a 3% brine. Take 1 liter of water, which is 1,000 g. Salt = 1,000 × 0.03 ÷ 0.97 = 30.9 g. The finished brine weighs 1,030.9 g and 30.9 ÷ 1,030.9 = 3.0% of it is salt. A shortcut of 30 g per liter is close, at 2.9%.

Larger batches. A US gallon of water weighs about 3,785 g, so a 5% brine needs 3,785 × 0.05 ÷ 0.95 = 199.2 g, or about 7 oz, of salt. A 2-liter batch of pickling brine at 3.5% needs 72.5 g.

Reaching 1% salinity. If a chicken weighing 1.5 kg and 1.5 kg of water are combined and you want the whole to land at 1% salt, the combined weight is 3,000 g and the salt is 3,000 × 0.01 ÷ 0.99 = 30.3 g. For salt measured out by volume, remember that coarse and fine salts differ a lot per spoon, so weigh it.

Wet brine versus dry brine

A wet brine soaks the food in salted water. The food takes up some water along with the salt, which helps lean cuts such as chicken breast and pork loin stay juicy. A dry brine skips the water: salt is rubbed directly onto the surface and the meat's own juices dissolve it, then the seasoned liquid is drawn back in. The result is well seasoned meat with a more concentrated flavor and drier skin that browns well.

For a dry brine the calculator works from the weight of the meat alone. Salting 2 kg of pork to 1% takes 2,000 × 0.01 ÷ 0.99 = 20.2 g. Pat the meat dry afterwards if you need the surface to crisp, and remember that the percentage is of the meat, so it is a much smaller amount than a wet brine for the same piece.

Equilibrium and gradient brining

In equilibrium brining the brine is made at the same salt level you want in the meat. Left long enough, the meat and the liquid settle at that concentration, so the timing is forgiving: you cannot over-salt by leaving it an extra day. Use the Target salinity option for this approach, with the weight of the food plus the water.

In gradient brining the brine is deliberately stronger than the final target and the meat is removed before it equalizes. It works faster but depends on timing, since salt keeps moving inward after the meat comes out and the longer it sits, the saltier it gets. The strengths the calculator suggests for meat reflect this approach, around 2.5 times the target salinity for most cuts.

Keep brining meat in the refrigerator, at or below 4 °C (40 °F), never at room temperature, and do not reuse a brine that has held raw meat. These figures are cooking guidelines, not food safety advice; see our disclaimer.

Brine strength for pickles and fermented vegetables

Salt controls which microbes thrive during lacto-fermentation. Too little and spoilage organisms win, too much and the useful lactic acid bacteria are slowed down. Most home ferments sit in a band of roughly 2% to 5% salt.

• Cucumber pickles and zucchini: about 3.5% brine.
• Cabbage and leafy greens: about 2.5%; sauerkraut is usually salted at around 2% of the cabbage weight.
• Cauliflower, green beans, potatoes, tomatoes: about 2%.
• Celery: the lightest in the list, around 1.5%.
• Onions and radishes: about 5%.
• Olives: much stronger, around 10%, because they are cured for a long time.

These are the starting points the calculator uses for each vegetable. If your recipe disagrees, follow the recipe: it was written around a particular salt, vegetable and temperature. To turn a recipe's cups or spoons into weights first, try the recipe converter.