Tool Example
Brine Salt Calculator
Brine Salt Example: 2% Sauerkraut from One Cabbage
This example uses a hypothetical head of cabbage, shredded and salted directly with no added water, to show how a recipe's 2% instruction becomes a weight.
This example uses a hypothetical scenario to show how the calculator works. It is a curated example page, not a saved user result or a claim about a real person.
Inputs used in the example
| Input | Example value |
|---|---|
| What you are salting | Shredded, no added water |
| Vegetable weight | 1400 g |
| Target salt strength | 2% |
| Salt you will measure with | Diamond Crystal kosher salt |
| Room it will ferment in | Room, 18-24 C / 65-75 F |
Output interpretation
2% of 1400 g is 28 g of salt. That is the whole calculation, and it is the number to put on the scale.
In Diamond Crystal kosher, 28 g is about 3 tbsp plus 1 tsp. In fine table salt the same 28 g is about 1 tbsp plus 1 3/4 tsp, which is why a recipe written for one salt cannot be scooped with the other.
Shredded cabbage makes its own brine, so no water is entered and the percentage applies to the cabbage alone.
What to check next
- Weigh the shredded cabbage after trimming and coring, not the whole head at the shop.
- Press until the cabbage is under its own liquid, and top up with a matched brine only if it never covers.
- Write down the weight, the percentage, the salt, and the room, so the next batch is a comparison rather than a fresh guess.