Brine calculator
The classic pickling brine: salt as a share of the water, from 1.5% for half-sours to 3% for full sours in Polish recipes.
Salt as a percentage of the water weight, the classic pickling brine (cucumbers 1.5–3.5%).
The classic pickling brine: salt as a percentage of the water, dissolved before it goes over the vegetables. Polish cucumber recipes run from 1.5% for half-sours to 3% for cucumbers meant to keep.
How it works
Percent of the water
The percentage is taken from the water alone: 3% of 1000 g of water is 30 g of salt, which is AniaGotuje’s two flat tablespoons per litre for full sours. Her half-sours take one spoon, about 15 g, so 1.5%. Kwestia Smaku writes a heaped tablespoon per litre and does not weigh it. Serious Eats packs its dill pickles under 2 tablespoons of pickling salt per quart, 35 g by the recipe’s own weights, so 3.5%. The vegetables give up water and thin the brine as they ferment, which is why the strength you dissolve is not the salinity you end up eating.
Which salt
Non-iodised rock salt without anti-caking agents, as every Polish recipe insists; Serious Eats says pickling salt or any other pure salt. Weigh it. A spoon of fine salt and a spoon of coarse salt are different amounts, and AniaGotuje’s flat tablespoon of rock salt weighs about 15 g.
Setting it up
AniaGotuje pours the brine boiling over the jars and says she sees no difference after fermentation between hot and cooled. Serious Eats stirs the salt into cold water and reaches for distilled water where the tap water is poor, because chlorine slows the bacteria. Either way the vegetables stay under the surface, with a weight if they float, and the jar stands somewhere cool: three days in the kitchen and then a cool pantry at AniaGotuje, 16–21 °C at Serious Eats.
Sources & methodology
Every percentage in this calculator traces to the published sources below — nothing is invented. Where respected sources disagree, the default sits inside the documented range.
- AniaGotuje — ogórki kiszone — The figure the page opens on: “2 płaskie łyżki soli kamiennej na 1 litr wody, czyli około 30 g” (3%) for cucumbers meant to keep, the brine poured boiling.
- AniaGotuje — ogórki małosolne — The bottom of the band: one tablespoon per litre, about 15 g (1.5%), for half-sours eaten within the week.
- Kwestia Smaku — ogórki kiszone — A heaped tablespoon of pickling salt per litre of water, unweighed: confirms the method, sets no figure.
- Serious Eats — Lacto-Fermented Dill Pickles, Christina Ward — The American dill pickle, and the top of the band: 2 tablespoons of pickling salt per quart of water, 35 g by the recipe’s own weights (3.5%), after a soak in a quarter-cup bath; 16–21 °C.
- USDA National Center for Home Food Preservation — Dill Pickles (fermented) — The USDA reference, saltier and with vinegar: half a cup of salt and a quarter cup of vinegar to 8 cups of water, by volume; 3–4 weeks at 70–75 °F.
FAQ
What percentage for cucumbers?
1.5% for half-sours you will eat within the week (one tablespoon per litre at AniaGotuje) and 3% for cucumbers meant to last the winter (two). The American fermented dill pickle is saltier: 3.5% at Serious Eats, and the USDA recipe adds half a cup of salt and a quarter cup of vinegar to eight cups of water.
Tap water or boiled?
If your tap water is heavily chlorinated, boil and cool it or let it stand overnight; Serious Eats goes for distilled water where the water quality is in doubt. Chlorine slows the lactic acid bacteria down.
My brine went cloudy. Is that bad?
Cloudy brine and sediment are the normal result of lactic fermentation. A whitish film on the surface is yeast and can be skimmed. A smell of mould or rot, or cucumbers gone grey and soft, means the batch is lost.
How is this different from the equilibrium calculator?
This one takes the percentage of the water only, the way Polish and American cucumber recipes state it. The equilibrium calculator takes it from water and vegetables together, the Noma method, so the final salinity is known before the jar is packed.
More from Fermentation & brine
Equilibrium brine calculator
Equilibrium brining: salt as a share of water and vegetables together, the Noma method at 2%.
Sauerkraut calculator
Dry-salted sauerkraut: 2% rock salt on the shredded cabbage, packed into jars and left to ferment for a week or two.
5 × 410 g
Fermented dill pickle calculator
Polish ogórki kiszone: cucumbers under a 3% brine with dill, garlic and horseradish, two to three weeks to a full sour.
4 × 1015 g
Kimchi calculator
Napa cabbage kimchi from one weighed recipe: brined quarters, a gochugaru paste with fish sauce, garlic and pear, three days out and then the fridge.
Hydration 28% · 2470 g
Fermentation and brine calculators6 calculators