Brine Calculator

Methods and testing

This page documents how the numbers on this site are produced and checked, so a reader can judge how far to rely on them. The site is operated by Nate and Kait LLC. Corrections go to [email protected].

One engine produces every number

The calculator, every table in the guides and every printable chart are generated by the same calculation engine, currently version 1.0.0. No salt amount, water amount or time in a guide is typed by hand. The engine covers 44 foods: 14 wet brines, 12 dry brines and 18 vegetable ferments.

Each food's data records a salt percentage for each strength, what that percentage is a percentage of (the water for wet brines and brine-style ferments, the food for dry brines and dry-salt ferments), a time window, and the safety messages that apply. The only numbers in the engine's code are unit conversions and rounding rules. Everything else comes from data files that cite a published page.

  • Wet brine. Salt is a percentage of the water by weight, so the salt follows the water. If you change the amount of water, the salt changes with it.
  • Dry brine and dry-salt ferments. Salt is a percentage of the weight of the food.
  • Salt by volume. The calculator works out grams first, then converts to spoons and cups for Diamond Crystal kosher salt, Morton kosher salt and table salt. The conversion uses the weight per teaspoon printed on the manufacturers' labels. One US quart of water is taken as 946.35 grams, which is an approximation.
  • Fermentation time. The engine does not interpolate. It shows the ranges the sources give for each temperature band and says which source each row comes from.

What the tests check

The engine has an automated test suite of 65,352 checks. It passes with no failures. The checks include:

  • The data files are complete: every food has sources, a time window or fermentation ranges, a default strength and the required safety messages.
  • 476 published test vectors: fixed inputs with the salt, water and time the engine must return.
  • The salt conversion between grams, ounces, spoons and cups for all three salts.
  • Property checks run for every food and strength: salt equals the percentage times the water (or the food), the reported water and unit conversions match, a weight outside a food's range is clamped and flagged, and a result never exceeds a stated maximum.
  • Rounding and display formats, such as how a time of 90 minutes is shown.
  • The datasheet for each food, which lists every number and source, matches the engine.

The site build runs a separate check on every page, and a browser test drives every food through the live calculator and compares what appears on screen with the engine.

How the sources were read

Sources are government food safety agencies and university extension services first, then established cooking publications. Most pages were read through a tool that returns a summary of the page, so each number was asked for more than once, in different words, before it was used. A quotation is kept only when two separate reads gave the same wording. Pages that would not open were not used.

Where sources disagree, the calculator uses the more conservative value, such as the lower salt percentage or the shorter maximum time, and the guide names the other value. A food without enough sources is left out of the calculator instead of being filled in with an estimate.

How the guides were checked

Each guide was written from the engine's output for its food. A second reviewer, who did not write the guide, then checked every number in it against the engine with a script, opened the outside pages it cites to confirm that they support the claims, removed or re-sourced claims that they did not, and checked each internal link. Where the reviewer found a mistake in a guide, it was corrected.

Where the evidence is thinner

Some numbers rest on less than others. The guides say so where it applies.

  • Most vegetable ferments use general fermentation times from extension services, not times written for that one vegetable. Cucumber pickles, red cabbage, sauerkraut and kimchi have times specific to the food.
  • Okra and Brussels sprouts ferments rest on one recipe each.
  • The pork loin brine at 5.71% rests on one page and is flagged as low confidence.
  • Fish brines use a 15 minute maximum from one test kitchen. Two other sources give shorter limits, and the fish guides name them.
  • Salt volumes depend on the salt. The same teaspoon of Diamond Crystal, Morton kosher and table salt weighs different amounts, so the calculator never gives a volume without naming the salt.

What this site has not done

The amounts and times are calculated from published sources and checked against them. They are not the result of brining and measuring each food in a controlled test on this site, and the guides do not report results from individual batches. Results in your kitchen depend on the cut and size of the food, the temperature of your refrigerator or room, and the salt you use.

If you find a number that looks wrong, contact us. See also the about page and the privacy policy.