# Brine Calculator

> Computes the grams of salt (and optional sugar) for a wet brine from the water volume and a percentage concentration expressed relative to the water weight (6 % = 60 g per litre).

- Calculator id: `brine` · Category: Food & Cooking (`food`) · Tool name: `calculate_brine`
- Canonical page: https://tttkmbb.com/food/brine · This document: https://tttkmbb.com/food/brine.md · JSON definition: https://tttkmbb.com/food/brine.json

## Purpose

Computes the grams of salt (and optional sugar) for a wet brine from the water volume and a percentage concentration expressed relative to the water weight (6 % = 60 g per litre).

**Use when:** You are brining poultry, pork or vegetables and need the salt for a given amount of water at a target strength.

**Do not use when:** You need a dry brine or an equilibrium brine based on the meat's weight (salt = 0.5–2 % of meat + water weight), or curing with nitrite salts, which follow different rules.

## Input

| Parameter | Type | Unit | Required | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `water_liters` | number | L | required | Volume of water in litres (1 L = 1 kg). (> 0, max 1000) |
| `salt_percent` | number | % | optional, default 6 | Salt as a percentage of the water weight: 3–4 % mild (long brines), 5–6 % standard for poultry (4–12 h), 8–10 % quick brines (1–2 h). (min 0.5, max 30) |
| `sugar_percent` | number | % | optional, default 0 | Optional sugar as a percentage of the water weight (often half the salt). (min 0, max 30) |

## Output

| Field | Type | Unit | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `salt_g` | number | g | Salt to dissolve in the water. |
| `sugar_g` | number | g | Sugar to dissolve in the water. |
| `water_g` | number | g | Water weight. |
| `brine_total_g` | number | g | Water + salt + sugar. |
| `salt_percent_of_solution` | number | % | Salt as a percentage of the finished brine weight, the convention used in food science tables. |

## Formula

`salt_g = water_liters × 1000 × salt_percent / 100; sugar_g = water_liters × 1000 × sugar_percent / 100; salt_percent_of_solution = 100 × salt_g / (water_g + salt_g + sugar_g)`

Percent of water weight (w/v) is the usual home-cooking convention; a 6 % brine is 60 g salt per litre, close to the USDA guideline of ¾ cup table salt per gallon (≈ 58 g/L). Sea water is about 3.5 %.

## Data Sources

- USDA FSIS – Poultry: Basting, Brining, and Marinating (¾ cup salt per gallon of water; brine in the refrigerator) — https://www.fsis.usda.gov/food-safety/safe-food-handling-and-preparation/poultry/poultry-basting-brining-and-marinating (government, retrieved 2026-09-23)
- Wikipedia – Brining — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brining (reference, retrieved 2026-09-23)

Data freshness: `static`. Deterministic formula with fixed constants; results never go stale. Inputs supplied by the caller determine the output.

## API

- `GET https://tttkmbb.com/api/v1/calculate/brine?water_liters=…`
- `POST https://tttkmbb.com/api/v1/calculate/brine` with JSON body `{"inputs": {…}}`
- Response: unified envelope (`success`, `request`, `result.values`, `result.units`, `sources`, `freshness`, `timestamp`, `next_actions`, `links`); see https://tttkmbb.com/docs/response-format.md
- Schema: https://tttkmbb.com/api/v1/calculators/brine · OpenAPI operationId `calculate_brine` in https://tttkmbb.com/openapi.json
- Authentication: none. Rate limit: fair use, see https://tttkmbb.com/docs/rate-limits.md.

## MCP

- Server: `https://tttkmbb.com/mcp` (Streamable HTTP, JSON-RPC 2.0, no auth)
- Tool:  `run_calculator` with `{"calculator_id": "brine", "inputs": {…}}`

## Example

- 2 L at 6 % salt, 3 % sugar: inputs `{"water_liters":2,"salt_percent":6,"sugar_percent":3}` → `{"salt_g":120,"sugar_g":60,"water_g":2000,"brine_total_g":2180,"salt_percent_of_solution":5.5}`
- 4 L at 3.5 % salt: inputs `{"water_liters":4,"salt_percent":3.5}` → `{"salt_g":140,"sugar_g":0,"salt_percent_of_solution":3.38}`

```
GET https://tttkmbb.com/api/v1/calculate/brine?water_liters=2&salt_percent=6&sugar_percent=3
```

## Limitations

You need a dry brine or an equilibrium brine based on the meat's weight (salt = 0.5–2 % of meat + water weight), or curing with nitrite salts, which follow different rules. Percent of water weight (w/v) is the usual home-cooking convention; a 6 % brine is 60 g salt per litre, close to the USDA guideline of ¾ cup table salt per gallon (≈ 58 g/L). Sea water is about 3.5 %. All values are computed from the formula above; no measurement or live data is involved.

## FAQ

**How many tablespoons is that?**

It depends on the salt: table salt ≈ 18 g per tablespoon, Morton kosher ≈ 15 g, Diamond Crystal kosher ≈ 9 g. Weigh salt whenever possible.

**How long should I brine?**

At 5–6 %: whole chicken 4–12 h, turkey 12–24 h, pork chops 1–4 h, shrimp 30 min; always in the refrigerator. Rinse or reduce added salt afterwards.

## Related

- [Turkey Cooking Time Calculator](https://tttkmbb.com/food/turkey-cooking-time.md) — Roasting time for the brined turkey.
- [Cooking Measurement Converter](https://tttkmbb.com/food/cooking-converter.md) — Convert gallons or quarts of water to litres.