Brine for vegetables..
No need to heat the water, in fact we never actually measured the salt, just added it till the water tasted a bit salty, using extra salt if the brine was for cucumbers.
Of course, we also used my grandmother's family recipe for refrigerator pickles. These were made daily all summer, and were on the table at every meal except breakfast. Granny always made them in the next to largest bowl of her pyrex mixing bowl set, and didn't measure, she could tell all the amounts by the level in the bowl.
Refrigerator pickles:
Start by mixing 2 cups white vinegar, and 1 cup cold water. (Don't use cider vinegar, it isn't sharp enough). Add about 1 cup sugar, 3/4 tsp salt, and a few dashes black pepper. Whisk it all until the salt and sugar are dissolved, then slice in a whole white onion, and about 6 decent sized cucumbers, peeled and sliced. Cover and refrigerate a few hours. Granny would make these after breakfast every morning, and by dinner time, they were perfect. The brine can be used for a few days, just add more cucumbers and onions as needed.
The amounts of salt and sugar are approximate. If the cucumbers are very large, and have developed a touch of bitterness, or the sugar isn't very sweet, (some people don't realize beet sugar and cane sugar vary wildly on sweetness levels), you may need up a bit more sugar. And of course, depending on your taste, you may want additional salt as well.
