How to heat up the pot for plucking..?

[Tlammy]

I am new to processing and i am wondering how to heat a big pot to a high temp in a short amount of time? How do you guys do it..??
Thanks!

 

[bigredfeather]

I use a turkey fryer burner and a 20 gallon galvinized trash can. It takes about 45 minutes to reach 150 degrees.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

The quickest way I've found is to half fill a 5 gallon bucket with the hottest tap water I have. Then I heat the rest of the water to a rolling boil on the stove. That brings the bucket to about 150 or more so it takes 10 minutes or so. Then I refill the pots on the stove simmering to bring to a quick boil as my bucket starts to cool.

I think the turkey fryer is a good idea though because you don't have to keep adding hot water.

 

[SC-ChickMom]

I use a turkey fryer and a huge pot I got a Lowes.

 

[booker81]

I do my work inside because I don't usually do more than 12 birds at a time, so I use my big canning pot on the stove. I fill it with hot tap water, add a squirt of soap, and bring it to temp. I've done it a lot, so I know I just have to set the stove to medium to keep the temp steady between birds.

I also rinse the birds off before scalding to clean off poo and blood, and the wet birds help the scald water get in quick and heat them fast. Rinsing them off and the dish soap seems to really cut down on the smell of scalding as well (because if you think of it - poo, dirt and blood doesn't make a nice smelling "soup").

 

[Franzen Farms]

I brought home a burn ring from work and welded a grate in it to hold the pot. We just start a camp fire under the pot, seems to be doing a great job for turkeys so far.

 

[ericsplls]

I use the regular turkey fryer with the same pot used for frying turkey. Put the pot on and turn it up on high. Then gather knives, gloves, lay down my tarp. Then set uo everything the way I want it. Put chickens in cones, cut, give them a few minutes to drain and the water is ready. All you have to do is figure out how long it takes to get to temp and plan accordingly. I mostly do one or two at a time now so I just skin and skip all the plucking fun.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

Keep in mind that the water need not STAY at that temp, just be at that temp while you're scalding. If you've got a crew to help and are dunking birds almost constantly, you can keep the water hot over a camp fire or propane burner, or even a gas grill. Otherwise you can have water boiling elsewhere to add to your scalding pot when needed. I use a plastic 5-gallon bucket for dunking and use water heated on the stove when it's time to pluck.

 

[Yukonchick]

The last time I slaughtered meat hens, I would dunk them in a pail of water til they stopped flapping and then they were clean, then I would dunk them in the hot water for easy plucking. I think the first dunking is a good idea because not only do the chickens get clean, but the flapping in the water prevents bruising and blood spraying everywhere.

 

[Yukonchick]

thats a good point. I'll probably do the double dunking again like i did last time. Never thought of using soap though. What kind do you use? Just dish soap? Maybe an antibacterial dish soap would work.???