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Regular/Kosher Salt Equivalents

FM Former Member
Like everyone else I do a good deal of brining and I use both regular (non-iodized) and kosher salt. I know that equal amounts of regular and kosher produce different brine salinity levels but I never knew exactly how much. I did some measurements to determine the actual conversion factors and I thought I'd pass them on for those who might find them useful. The results are useful to me because the numbers are very different from what I've read in various sources (BBQ FAQ, etc)

Conversions
===========

To Convert Kosher -> Table
multiply by 0.84 (reduce by just over 1/8)

To Convert Table -> Kosher
multiply by 1.19 (increase by 1/5)

The above were derived from the following measurements

Measurement Results
===================

Note: All measurements at 60 deg F

1/4 C Morton non iodized salt = 72 grams = 2.54 oz

dissolved in 4 C water (i.e. 1 C salt / gallon water proportion)

measures 27 on salometer

which is 7.127 % sodium chloride solution by weight

which is 0.639 lbs salt / gallon

--------

1/4 C Morton kosher salt = 56 grams = 1.98 oz

dissolved in 4 C water (i.e. 1 C salt / gallon water proportion)

measures 21 on salometer

which is 5.543 % sodium chloride solution by weight

which is 0.536 lbs salt / gallon

Note: The following table was used in some of the calculations http://www.afrf.org/handling/BRINE_T1.gif
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FM Former Member
Joseph,

You have way too much time on your hands, get back to Smoking some good Q.

Great idea, thanks for the detailed info. It would be tough to discuss, but wonder why the difference in the source you identified?

Question,

non-iodized 27 on the salometer
kosher 21 on the salometer.

to be "the same" would the salinity have to come out near the same?

Smokin'
FM Former Member
Smokin,

This was something I needed better numbers on because I've seen widely different figures for this, which resulted in inconsistant results for me. I've seen otherwise reliable sources say things like "Use 2 cups kosher or 1 cup table salt". That's way off, and it sure messed up some otherwise good product for me. It's actually "2 cups kosher or about 1 3/4 cups of table salt". A pretty big difference. And I'm happy now because I can use different types of salt and get the same results.

The answer to your question lies in the fact that the same volume of salt, in this case 1/4 cup, have different weights (72 grams vs 56 grams). So they have different densities.

Regards,
Joseph
FM Former Member
Sorry, maybe I wasn't clear. Equal volumes of table and kosher salt (I used 1/4 C here) are not the same salinity, hence 21 and 27 in the example. They have the same volume, but the 2 different types, being different densities, will yield different salinity levels.

Hope that makes sense.
FM Former Member
Smokin,

I completely agree. That's the reason I was looking for proper conversion factors... so I could determine the proper amount of a different type of salt to use to come up with the same salinity.

The only other problem I have here is that I find people's taste for salt varies widely. Where one person will find a partictular level of salt to their liking, another will find it to be too strong.

Ah well...
FM Former Member
Smokin,

I just looked through this again and I see the source
of your confusion. I did not mean to imply that the above
two samples are the same salinity levels. In fact, I said
they are not, by virtue of the fact that one is 27 and one
is 21.

The measurement results were included as a mathmatical
proof of the conversion factors, and were included so
that anyone interested could evaluate how I established
them. I was not implying that these are 2 brines with
the same salinity levels.

OK, no more mathematical proofs, I promise Smiler

Regards,
Joseph

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