How much salt should I use for a brine?
When mixing a brine within which you will submerge your fermentables, it is common to mix to a salinity level between 1.5% and 5% with the sweet spot being in the 2-3% range. This percentage is actually a proportion by weight, so if you divide the weight of your salt by the weight of your water used, you will come up with the percentage. For example, a brine typically will have approximately 2.5 TBS salt to 4 cups of water, in my kitchen, those weights are:
- 4 cups water – 960 grams – 32 oz
- 1 TBS sea salt – 19 grams – .67ounce
Making your brine
to mix 4 cups of brine to various salinity percentages, dissolve the following amounts of salt into 4 cups of water:
2% brine – 1 TBS sea salt
3% brine – 1.5 TBS sea salt
4% brine – 2 TBS sea salt
5% brine – 2.5 TBS sea salt
