Nitrite Cure Calculator

Wade · October 30, 2018

I have been asked several times to post up the cure calculator that I use. I have now made it a little more user-friendly and you can download it here. Currently it is only in Microsoft Excel format, however this format can be read by other spreadsheet programs. This Excel workbook contains no Macros or coding - only standard Excel formula and functions.

Nitrite Calculator 3.0 protected.xlsx

How to use the calculator

The workbook has two tabs

Calculate CURE - This is the main tab where the calculations are performed
Data - This is where the standard cure Nitrite and Nitrate %ages are stored

The Calculate CURE tab is password protected to prevent accidental editing of calculations however, although the Data tab is protected it has no password, which will allow you to add additional cures if required.

The boxes in green are where you enter the information for the meat that you are curing

Cure Type: - This is a drop down box to select the type of cure that you are using. For confirmation the boxes to the right show you the active ingredients that are present in that cure
Required Nitrite - You enter the required ingoing Ppm (or mg/Kg) of nitrite. The recommended maximum in the USA and the EU is 150.
Meat (grams): - Enter the weight of the meat that you are curing in grams
Salt % Required: - Enter the desired salt concentration.

As you enter the details the required weights for the Cure and salt are calculated and also the recommended level of sugar. These are displayed in the Dry Cure section below.

The specific calculations used for your piece of meat are displayed in the Calculation Details box

In this calculator any additional flavours/spices are ignored and so these can be added to the Dry Cure ingredients before applying to the meat.

The calculator can also be used to prepare Injection Brines and Immersion Brines

Most injection brines are made at 10 times the final required Ppm and then the brine equivalent to 10% of the weight of the meat is injected. This version of the calculator assumes a 10x concentrated brine and displays the amount of water required (in grams) in which the Dry Cure ingredients should be dissolved.

Immersion brines work on the principle that the brine diffuses into the meat and eventually an equilibrium will be reached between the meat and the brine. When creating an immersion brine it is therefore required to take into account the weight of water in the brine as well as the weight of the meat. When using this calculator, weigh both the weight of the water in the brine and also the weight of the meat. Add these two values together and this is the weight that you enter in the Meat (grams): box. The values that are shown in the Dry Cure section are the weights that need to be dissolved in the water to produce the brine before the meat is then added.