Hello: I need some help determining how much pickling salt to add today to maintain my 10% brine. Last night I started a batch of brined cucumbers according to the Ball Blue Book of Preserving, page 45. I started out with 7 3/4 pounds of cucumbers. I made a 10% brine with 1 cup of pickling salt and two quarts of distilled water. that was not enough so I made another batch, and then another 1/2 batch. most of the last 1/2 batch went into a gallon ziplock bag to lay on top of the plate that is weighing down the pickles. Now here is where I get lost. The directions say on day 2 add 1 cup salt for each 5 pounds of cucs to maintain the 10% brine. but I have approximately 2 1/2 batches of brine in there now and 7 3/4 pounds of cucs. Here are my questions then: 1) Does that mean I need to add 2 1/2 cups of salt since that was my original amount of salt used to make the brine or 2)Do i just add based upon the 7 3/4 pounds of cucs? I'm thinking 2 1/2 cups based upon the original brine mixture. but I am not sure of the actual volume of brine in there so should I pour out and measure the brine or just start over with new brine. There is an additional calculation that will happen once a week for the next 4 to 5 weeks. One each week I am supposed to add 1/4 cup of salt per 5 pounds. So again I will need to follow as I end up doing today. Help!!
The amount of salt to add is based on the pounds of cukes. Which in your case would be a smidgen over 1 and 1/2 cups.
I called Ball today and I was basically told that there was no way they could help me because i deviated from the origional recipe. This does not make sense to me as their description of containers discusses large batches of pickles but gives no ratio for large batches. I feel that since the directions call for 1 cup per 5 pounds and the origional brine calls for 1 cup with the assumed use of a single batch of brine, (8 cups water)that I should add and equal amout of salt on day 2 IE: 2.5 cups. Toni you say to stick to the weight are you an experienced pickler? Is that the way you would do it, as you already indicated? Thanks, Matt
I have made many batches of pickles over the years but never used a recipe like the one you are using. My 3-Day Sweet Pickle recipe is in this forum too. How many pounds of cukes does the recipe call for? Increasing or decreasing the quantities from what the recipe is written for can mess up your end product. All jelly and jam recipes have a warning not to change any of the quantities,i.e. do not use less sugar and do not double the recipe. You could break your one big batch down into 2 or more batches, each one following the recipe and continue on from there to make sure the pickles are edible when finished. Also, when the recipe states to use 1 cup of salt for every 5 pounds of cukes, then the quantity of the brine does not factor into the process. Using 2.5 cups of salt would be valid if you had 12.5 pounds of cukes in the brine.
I may have to break into two batches. I have done a bit of canning in the past 4 years and am very strict about sticking to tested processes. It does not seem like making a big batch should be this hard. thanks Toni
Well I decided to cut the batch down. I picked the smallest of the cucs (4.5 pounds) and made a new batch of brine that covered them. Now I can add my 1 cup of salt tomorrow and follow the directions properly. I am still troubled by the whole how to scale up the recipe. What if I wanted to pickle a 5 gallon bucket of pickles? How would i determine how much brine and additional salt to use? Oh Well
Thanks Toni: I see what you mean about the 1 cup to 5 pounds. I am expecting another big harvest of cucs later this week and will most likely make a big batch and stick to the 1 cup salt to 5 pounds of pickles as the Ball blue book indicates. I guess I make things harder on myself by over thinking things at times. Seeya, Uncle Jabba
