Immersion heater? and what size pot? to scald chickens and larger birds like small geese or turkeys?

[R2elk]

Nice 20"dia pot!

I went a lot cheaper and got a 1 1/2 bushel galvanized basket for scalding turkeys.

 

[aart]

I went a lot cheaper and got a 1 1/2 bushel galvanized basket for scalding turkeys.

That'd work...what are the dimensions?

 

[R2elk]

That'd work...what are the dimensions?

Approximately 13" deep and 18" in diameter. It has handled BBWs and heritage turkeys without any problems. Even the plastic ones are fine to use as long as you don't heat the water in them. I heat my water in large pots on the stove.

 

[mominoz]

I got this pot: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0085ZPZ20/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
and this propane burner:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B071ZM8YVC/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I've used this pot for 40lb (dressed weight) BBW turkeys. Too bad I didn't have a block & tackle to pull them out, but fitting them in wasn't a problem. The turkeys are too big for my plucker, but they're easy enough to pluck once scalded, so long as you have a secure place to hang them. Needlenose pliers for the long wing feathers on the heritage breeds.

You could use a water heater element installed permanently into a steel barrel, but that was more fiddling around than I wanted to do. You need your heat at 145-160° and you need good recovery. That means you're gonna want a large enough tank so that a) it stays hot enough during the scalding process, b) you can easily submerge your bird, & c) it can recover temperature before you need to scald the next bird. My ideal temp is 150-155°, but one can't be too picky about these things. Nothing's perfect. I squeeze a good squirt of Dawn in the pot to help the water penetrate through all the feathers.

If you do waterfowl, you'll also probably be floating some paraffin wax on the surface of your hot water which, to me, is yet another reason to use propane--but lots of people do use electric and they like it just fine. I don't know whether they use it for geese, though.

The propane heater works reasonably well. I would say very well, but it's windy here and I have to set up all sorts of make-shift windbreaks to keep it from blowing out. I really should build something but I haven't gotten around to it.

If you use a water heater element you'll need to start your water heating the night (or day) before and you'll likely need to insulate your tank (which can get messy unless you make some sort of permanent outdoor kitchen/processing area. And of course it suffers with regard to recovery time. The propane is easier for me. I use the size tank common for outdoor grilling.

I process alone and I generally do 2-3 chickens or 1 turkey all the way through to the drying racks before I start on another round. My problem is more how to keep the water from getting too hot without turning the burner down until I can't protect it well enough from the wind.

wow, those are pricey. pots... guess I will go with propane burner... and try and find a pot, maybe cut a barrel in half if I can find one... I was looking at some that were 50$ and thought that expensive for a pot..maybe I will try and find something local when we can get out again... I do have a large pressure cooker...need to go measure it. Immersion heaters mostly don't have a thermostat...

 

[CindyinSD]

wow, those are pricey. pots... guess I will go with propane burner... and try and find a pot, maybe cut a barrel in half if I can find one... I was looking at some that were 50$ and thought that expensive for a pot..maybe I will try and find something local when we can get out again... I do have a large pressure cooker...need to go measure it. Immersion heaters mostly don't have a thermostat...

You can probably find the pot cheaper on ebay. I didn't know about that when I bought mine. I'm glad I bought the size I did, though. Not sure a smaller one would accommodate the BBWs or even the larger heritage turkeys. Before you choose a pot, consider whether it was designed to use over a heat source. R2 fills his with water heated inside, so that could be an option for you. Another member turns up the water heater the night before and uses house water. Our water heater is electric though, and I'd rather not do that.

 

[mandelyn]

We bought a 160qt pot (didn't come with a lid, that was sold separately) and it's plenty big enough to swirl around a Turkey in. We use the smaller pot that came with the turkey fryer burner for chickens.

 

[CindyinSD]

We bought a 160qt pot (didn't come with a lid, that was sold separately) and it's plenty big enough to swirl around a Turkey in. We use the smaller pot that came with the turkey fryer burner for chickens.

I just got a smaller one, too. It came with the fry basket, which I like. I'll use mine for scalding chickens, making bone broth, maybe frying birds of various denominations, possibly alter the lid to accept a copper coil so I can distill water for DH's CPAP in case the flupocalypse or something else prevents me being able to buy it (it's been out of stock for a while now, but we have lots anyway, having bought it for the water treatment system used to prevent pipes from filling up with iron gunk.)