Reusing Brine?

[jp8nu]

I made a batch of brine for fish and used it once. If I keep it refrigerated can it be used more than one time? If so how long can brine be kept this way?

JP

[nsxbill]

I wouldn't reuse it.  

Bill

<i>There is room on earth for all God's creatures....on my plate next to the mashed potatoes.</i>

[Habanero Smoker]

I would never reuse a brine. For one reason, your concentration(s) of salt and/or sugar will be diluted and would not be effective any longer as a brine. When you brine there is an exchange of brine solution with the water contained in the cells of the meat. Also, since the brine solution is diluted, I would be concerned about possible bacteria growth. Manxman or JJC will probably address that concern when they see this post.

[Thunder Fish]

<font face="Century Gothic"></font id="Century Gothic"><font size="6"></font id="size6"><font color="red"></font id="red">NO !

[MWS]

Eeeeyooooo......[xx(]

<i><font color="green"><b>Mike </i></font id="green"></b>

<i><font color="black">"Men like to barbecue, men will cook if danger is involved".</i></font id="black">
 -John Wayne

[manxman]

The only occasion where I have reused brine was doing short brining sessions (10-20 mins in 80% brine following advice from a commercial operator)in quick succession for thin, small fish fillets.....herring and mackerel.

Even then I changed the brine after 3 short sessions totalling about an hour and discarded the brine immediately afterwards. I would not have done this for anything other than fish.

Some commercial operations do reuse brine but these are continuous flow processes whereby the brine is continuously monitored and controlled to maintain salinity, temperature etc. and they know optimum times when bacterial growth is likely to be an issue.

There are occasionally exceptions to every rule as we all know but, apart from the single example mentioned above,I would definately not reuse or keep brine for the reasons outlined very succinctly by Habanero Smoker.

In my view brine should be discarded immediately after single use.[}:)]

Manxman.

[SoupGuy]

Not only would I NEVER reuse a brine, I never mix meats/product in the SAME tank.

Rytek Kutas would roll over in his grave at the mere suggestion....

If your question was prompted by the frequently high cost of certain brine recipes, I would suggest you seek out simpler brines with a lot less expensive ingredients.

Basically, 'Brine' refers to a solution of Water, Salt, and Sugars. The primary purpose of the Sugars are to counteract the strong flavor of the salt used. The salt is obviously a preservative AND flaoring elemnt.

Sugar does NOT reduce the amount of salt, rather it simply makes it less salty-tasting or noticeable in the flavor of the finished product- whatever it is.. (meat,pultry, fish etc).

There are LOTS of recipes that include many flavorings, spices and wines etc. They can (DO) cost a lot of money- sometimes more than the product being smoked! It really depends on your taste and how much you feel is neccessary to spend.

I for one would recommend that you start with the most basic brine cure and add any 'extras' as you feel actually improve the finished product. Trust me, I've used many things in my brine over the years- some with success, others with unnoticable and unappreciated effort.

You did not mention what your are curing/smoking. Nor did you mention WET or DRY brining, so I'm a little challenged here in providing you with a general-purpose recipe. But I'll try!

WET BRINE:

BASIC, NO FRILLS, ECONOMICAL and VERY USEFULL: IE: your finished product will taste more like what it is rather than a disguised variation. As an example- your SALAD will taste more like the fresh vegatables it is made from rather than the dressing. Get it?

Use on the following:  Fish (any variety- most especially Salmon/Trout/Whitefish, Catfish and sturgeon) you're on your own for Carp or drum (YUK), Chicken (whole or cut-up), Pork (especially tenderloins, butt, HAMS, shoulder and picnic and venison)

A). 4 gallons COLD fresh water (if you have a well and it is full of iron/rust, use bottled water instead!)

B). 4 to 5 LBS Pickling or Kosher Salt (NEVER iodized 'table' salt'). Start with 4 LBS- MIX THOROUGHLY. Test using a fresh uncooked egg. If it floats, Done. Add up to a total of 5 LBS to get that egg to float.

C). Do NOT add your sugar until you've passed (B) above! If you do, you'll skew your results.

D) 2 LBS Brown Sugar. DARK is preferred, but just make sure it is PURE CANE SUGAR and not just "Sugar & Molasses". Read the ingredients on the package before purchasing!  

That's the BASIC brine above. You can add garlic, wine, onion powder/salt and a host of other things... but I doubt you or anyone else will really ever notice if one or two of your 20 extra things were ever omitted...

Brine TIME varies. It has everything to do with the thickness of the product.

FISH is generally 2 to 3 hours per inch of thickness (fillets). Whole fish need at least 8 hours (up to 4 LBS) and as much as 24/36 hours for BIG boys (you might consider steaking large fish to reduce brine times and ease of handling). You learn this by experience and your taste. HINT: an over-brined fish fillet (too salty) can frequently be RESCUED by applying an orange/pineapple juice after its done and refrigerating 24+ hours. SWEET counteracts SALT remember.

Chicken: a WHOLE bird needs 6 to 12 hours in the brine. Bigger equals longer. Use 'Fryers' NOT 'Hens' or 'Roasting chicken'. (these need spray injection as do turkeys of any size).

Pork: This is simply too hard to describe in this forum for all variety of cuts. Tenderloins/back-straps benefit greatly from higher sugar additions to the brine. Bacon is an entirely different animal and this recipe needs major changes to be safe and useful. PORK (and poultry) really requires Sodium Nitrite and in some cases Sodium Nitrate to be safe and successfull.

...stepping off soapbox...

Do NOT REUSE your brine! And TRY a SIMPLE/BASIC brine before investing in a host of add-on ingredients.

I also have DRY brine recipes, but there are usually used only on beef and certain pork cuts of meat. Ask if interested.

NO SOUP FOR YOU!

[ListerD]

Never! Never! Never! Never! Never! Never! Never Re-use brine!

Geez talk about a potential bacteria bomb...