New scald tank!

[mandelyn]

Last weekend we processed 3 Turkeys and 2 chickens and it took 6 hours, when you account for how long it took to get the water hot enough for scalding in the 90 gallon wood fired stock tank. HOURS and hours to get the water hot enough to start.

We had been using a turkey fryer that's propane fired but the Turkeys don't fit in there for scalding. Easy-peasy for the chickens, we knocked them out fast.

This monster stock pot is 160 qts, 23.5x23.5. We tried it out last night for the shrink bags. It took 2.5 hours to get the water to 180 degrees, so I should have bought the lid for it (the lid was $40 more)

While Turkey fryers are on sale this week I'm going to pick up another one for the propane burner. That way we can have 2-3 pots going for when we do chickens and turkeys at the same time. Scald tank and a clean water shrink tank.

The 140qt size stock pot probably would have worked too, but I didn't want to risk it if I ever brought home double breasted Turkeys to raise.

These Narragansett dressed out at 15.1 and 16 pounds at 7 months old.

The important thing about a scald tank is to make sure you have enough space in there to swish the bird around and get the water to the skin, where it matters. This 160qt has a ton of room!

 

[Ted_Harrell]

Awesome, you are an inspiration to the rest of us...

 

[imnukensc]

Can you explain the clean water shrink tank part of the process? I'm not familiar with that.

 

[mandelyn]

Can you explain the clean water shrink tank part of the process? I'm not familiar with that.

So for plucking you need a scalding tank to loosen the feather follicles. That will make the water in that tank dirty after a couple birds, with loose feathers and blood and whatever else.

With the shrink bags, you can use them right there at processing time, if you have clean water to use for sealing them. So by having a 2nd tank with hot water at 180 degrees (compared to 140 or so for scalding) you have a clean water source to do that final step of bagging them.

No need for a vacuum sealer if you have a shrink bag and clean hot water. If they're bagged on the spot after processing, they can go straight into the freezer/fridge.

 

[archeryrob]

I am considering those bags. I have a really nice Vac Master Pro 350 for sealing up venison and all the products I make from it and even set on low it wrinkles up the skin and looks like it half crushes a whole bird.

 

[NH-hamneggs]

What were the sizes of your turkeys?.........never mind on that, I see the weights now.
We process our two today, dressed weight was 45.5 and 30.0 LBS.
We had a hard time finding a big big enough and went with garment vacuum bags.
Both will be cooked on Thanksgiving so they wont be in the bags long term.

We will need to find a source of large shrink bags for next year.

That 160 Qt pot is killer !

 

[Sandy_01]

I have stock pot envy.

 

[mandelyn]

What were the sizes of your turkeys?.........never mind on that, I see the weights now.
We process our two today, dressed weight was 45.5 and 30.0 LBS.
We had a hard time finding a big big enough and went with garment vacuum bags.
Both will be cooked on Thanksgiving so they wont be in the bags long term.

We will need to find a source of large shrink bags for next year.

That 160 Qt pot is killer !

If we did a lot of ground Turkey I would do broad breasted and grow them that big. I got the bags off of Amazon, 16"x25". Measure your birds while you have them so that you can get a good fit next year. I had to guess at last year's bird size and the bags I ordered first were too small. Our vacuum sealer isn't big enough to work with Turkey width.

I have stock pot envy.

Got it on stupid Amazon. I hate buying on there but they have the most random stuff I need, like massive stock pots and 16"x25" shrink bags.

 

[aart]

It took 2.5 hours to get the water to 180 degrees,

Turkeys take hotter water to scald before plucking?
I do 155° for chickens....and start at ~140° after cranking up the household water heater for about 30 mins. and drawing water from laundry tub which is about 6' from water heater.

Nice pot!!

 

[mandelyn]

Turkeys take hotter water to scald before plucking?
I do 155° for chickens....and start at ~140° after cranking up the household water heater for about 30 mins. and drawing water from laundry tub which is about 6' from water heater.

Nice pot!!

It's their wings. We start with those, one at a time. For the rest it doesn't take much, just a quick dunk for 3 seconds. We're dreaming of a processing room in the barn with a concrete floor, floor drains, utility tub with a tankless water heater and an 8ft stainless steel counter top/work space.