Hot water heater scalder

[bigredfeather]

I recently came across a 3 year, gas hot water heater free for the taking. I of course jumped on it. I took it to my neighbor who is a metal worker. He cut it a little less then halfway off, cut the chimney off and capped the hole in the bottom. This week I got the regulator that allows me to hoop it up to a propane tank. Another one of my neighbors has 10 meaties that need butchered, so I told him to bring it over for a "test run." It may take a bit to get the temp set right where I want it, but I'm hoping once it's set, my scalding worries will be over. I am curious to see how long it takes to heat up compared to the turkey fryer I had been using for scalding. It took almost an hour to get hot. I'll take some pics and let you know how it works.

I'd like to thank Jaku for the inspiration.

 

[Ridgerunner]

If you can fill it with hot water to start with, you can speed the heating process up.

Sounds like it might be a real good solution. I can get everything else set up while the water heats. That's why if I am only doing a few young ones, I skin instead of pluck. Sounds like you are more heavy duty than I am though. I just do a few at a time for personal consumption and keep the others fresh on the claw. Good luck.

 

[bigredfeather]

Quote:
We're doing 700 this year, so I'm trying to streamline and simplify as much as possible.

 

[PotterWatch]

My husband built a whizbang scalder this year. He's going to be adding the automatic dunker to it but for now, we are just using it as a regular scalding tank. I love it! Keeps the water at the right temp all the time. We will probably end up doing about 1000 or so this year and there's no way we could do that many without our scalder and plucker.

 

[Saltysteele]

couple thoughts-

water heaters are not all the same. some have hotter heating elements than others, and thus, will heat quicker. they will all get the job done, though.

secondly, put a piece of plywood (or whatever) over the top of it while heating up, and between dunking. this allow it to heat up quicker (just like a lidded pot on the stove) and will also help maintain and recoup temps between birds.

you may already know these things, though. this is my first time perusing the meaties section.

don't forget your detergent, either (i'm sure you know this, though)

 

[PineappleMama]

OH definitely keep posting, this is fascinating!

 

[newchickerluver11]

SO I have a crab cooker that we are planning on using and I can regulate the heat what is the best temp to get the water to? I am doing my first 11 this month. ans I have no clue what i am doing.

 

[bigredfeather]

Quote:
It depends. The trick is to find a scalding time that pairs up with the water temp you have. I had been heating the water to between 146-150, then scalding for 30-45 seconds. With that temp, the skin can tear, and on some of the breasts, it looked almost cooked on the outside. This year I am going to lower the temp to 140ish and scald them 55-60 seconds. I think it would be best to expirement a little and find a combination that works for how you're processing operation runs.

 

[Saltysteele]

we've never actually measured the temp in ours. knowing the temp hot water heaters get, i would guess 140?

we hold them by the legs, dunk with a slow agitation/swirling motion, checking every 10 seconds or so by grabbing a hunk of feathers and seeing if they pull off easily (only pulling the rear section out of the water, enough to grab some feathers).

be sure to have your plucking table nearby, literally within 5 feet. you don't want them to cool down.

you won't get every bit of the feathers off, so focus on large groups of feathers (in other words, don't waste time trying to get every last feather or bits, keep moving). at the end, you'll end up with small feather stumps (don't know what they're called, it's like the base of the feather), which you can work on after all the feathers have been taken off.

some chickens will also have down-like feathers (real fine, hair-like) that won't come off easily with plucking. you can get them when you singe

 

[Knoxguy]

Skinning---heard of it and want to know if it's easier and cleaner than plucking. Have 10 Cross X's three weeks out from the freezer and want to know some methods.

Thnx