What can I use as a scalder?

[Amyh]

I don't have $200 to buy an electric scalder. What can I use to do the job? I have a pressure canner. That is the larges pot I've got. Would that work? How do I keep the water hot outside?

 

[becky3086]

I use my boiling water bath canner over a fire in the yard. (the fire has blocks around it and I set the canner on the blocks or on a grate over the fire. ). I have heard of people using their turkey fryers.

 

[yinepu]

I use my turkey fryer with the propane tank and burner... have also used one of the BIG canning pots on the burner for really big birds

 

[Sunny Side Up]

I use a 5-gallon plastic bucket! Not directly over the heat, of course, but filled with smaller pots of boiling water with water from the hose added to bring it down to the right temperature. The water doesn't need to stay at 150 degrees all afternoon while you're processing, just when you're ready to scald & pluck. You can keep smaller pots filled with water to boil on your kitchen stove or over a campfire or gas grill.

The next time I process I'm going to try using an electric hot-plate set out near my processing station with a long extension cord. I'll set some bricks around it and place an iron grill over the bricks, so the heavy pot isn't setting right on top of the hot-plate. Then I don't have to fuss with a fire and having smoke blow in my eyes while I'm trying to work.

I usually process alone, and do the birds in small batches, 4-6 at a time. I do them in pairs, so I only have to make scalding water 2-3 times. I have a teen son who will carry the water out from the kitchen for me.

 

[Tracydr]

Quote:
Do you have a canning pot? They are less than $25 at Walmart. You can heat these on a propane grill.

 

[PotterWatch]

Before we made a water heater scalder, I also used my water bath canner. Worked just fine.

 

[Roccomanchickens]

I use a free standing propane burner (about $50 new). A canning pot is good. The camp stove idea is good also, if you already have one and don't buy it specifically for processing.

 

[itsy]

I used one of those large canning pots, but instead of heating the water outside - I boiled a large pot that we use for macaroni inside. It was over 150 degrees when I brought it outside. I poured it into the canning pot and added hose water until it came down to temperature. It worked just fine for that bird and would have likely worked for one or two more birds without losing too much temperature. If you had to do a whole mess of birds, it would require you to boil more water on the stove and bring more out to the pot.

I just wanted to add to Sunny....

Aren't you worried about what the plastic from the bucket is leeching into the boiling water? Plastic products scare me. I don't even like drinking out of plastic water bottles. I wish everything was in glass bottles. I wouldn't mind paying extra for glass.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

Quote:
I can appreciate your concerns, and since you feel that way then a plastic bucket wouldn't be a good choice for you. It doesn't bother me because I'm only dunking the birds in for about 10 seconds, and after that they get their feathers plucked and the skin gets washed & washed during the rest of the processing, then soaked in ice water for hours after that. Any leached plastic cooties shouldn't last long on the chicken. I've been using the same bucket for a while now and there is no visable sign of decay from all the hot water being in & out of it.

 

[dan455tx]

I just did a few cornishx ... Once I bleed it, I throw it in a 5 gallon bucket and pour boiling water over it, grab it by its feet, dunk it a few times and hang it back up. The five gallon bucket works great.