Brine water temp safety....

JDoubleH

My water in cooler is about 42 for my turkey brine. Is there any danger here? Anybody worried about brine temps being a food safety issue? 

Thanks! 

nolaegghead

Throw some ice in there in ziploc bags.  You'll be fine.

Toxarch

Ice it down like nola said. Keep it below 40 degrees.

RRog17

Hail State!

Darby_Crenshaw

As a rule if you can keep it below 40, that's great

dirty little secret tho:  if your brine is truly a brine (enough salt), you can do it at room temp (the proverbial "cool dark place"). 

Prior to widespread refrigeration, lotta French farmhouses (especially) would have a large crock of brine with herbs (no nitrites, just salt, herbs, some sugar maybe) in which they would submerge joints of pork, loin roasts, etc.

they'd keep a board on it to keep things submerged. Maybe boil the board and brine every month or so to make sure there was no bacterial fermentation

these mild hams and bacons were the stuff that they ate through the winter

the salt concentration is enough to keep things safe. 

This isn't more stike-the-cheap-yankee talk. It's traditional storage methods

now, we have the luxury of refrigeration. So use it. Sure. I do. 

But don't panic about temps or whether it spen an hour at 45 degrees. It could spend a month in a proper brine

brines are akin to pickles (curing)

if your brine is weak though, it's probably fridge time. Ice in the water, etc

jtcBoynton

And what % salt concentration is it "truly a brine"? What is a "weak brine"?  I thought that the % concentrations we use for flavoring are much weaker than preservation brines.  I would like to know what is % needed for preservation.

gdenby

Also, recall that pathogen growth rate in the 40 degree range is still quite slow. Assuming the food was only slightly infected, it would be 3 -4 days before it was problematic, and that would be without the added salt and whatever preservative offered by herbs and spices.

DaveRichardson

Ice, Ice, baby!!!!  40 deg is the max!

Darby_Crenshaw

@jtcBoynton

if a people want to know, they'll find out.  if they want to be told, they won't remember the logic behind it anyway, and that causes more problems than it fixes

the only thing that works worse (on the internet) than a short answer, is a long explanation

JDoubleH

Thanks everyone. I'm going to roll with it, and make sure everything is cooked properly, even if it means letting it go a bit longer. 

Thanks for all the great info!

nolaegghead

Don't compromise by cooking longer!  It won't be any safer, just less tasty. You will be fine.

fishlessman

JDoubleH said:

Thanks everyone. I'm going to roll with it, and make sure everything is cooked properly, even if it means letting it go a bit longer. 

Thanks for all the great info!

cook it to the proper temp, thats the SAFE temp, you can NOT cook it safer

Canugghead

It's probably too late or not practical now, I don't brine often but when I do I try to substitute some water with ice cubes.

JDoubleH

Thanks again everyone and appreciate the feedback on not over cooking since it won't change safety. The bird still had a little ice in places when I put in cooler last night and after reading some stuff online, I got up and added half a bag of ice. Water temp was 38 all day today.  Bird's back in the fridge drying now. 

Thanks again and and happy thanksgiving!