Who's got the best meat processing set up?

[sea2summit]

Need to butcher my first round of meat birds on a large scale and figured I may as well set up something that can support cleaning fish, hogs, deer etc. I'm thinking about a 6-8' long table capable of being pressure washed and maybe a sink.

Would love to see photo's of your set up.

 

[/pine]

A stationary tub with both hot and cold water is a big advantage...

 

[Jstpssng]

Are you going to build a plucker for your birds?

 

[sea2summit]

Are you going to build a plucker for your birds?

I was thinking about it, I was thinking next year but I do have some turkey's for thanksgiving/christmas so that alone might make it worth it.

 

[SandburRanch]

For birds you'll need some killing funnels.

 

[Jstpssng]

I was thinking about it, I was thinking next year but I do have some turkey's for thanksgiving/christmas so that alone might make it worth it.

About 3 weeks ago I came home from work and found that my biggest Tom had slipped while coming off his roost and had been dangling from his foot all day. He had a seriously broken leg and other injuries. I'm not one to let an animal suffer so even though I wasn't set up for it I killed and cleaned that night. By the time I got water heated, bought ice and got set up it was well after dark. Even after dipping in hot water I finally gave up and skun the bird, the next morning before work I quartered and breasted it, and put it in the freezer.
I just had my last two turkeys slaughtered this weekend, for .50/ lb it was worth it.

 

[TnAndy]

Don't know if it's the best, but it sure works for us:

I added a 12x22' room on the back of my garage for an 'auxiliary kitchen'. We actually used it as the main kitchen for about 4 months while gutting the main kitchen down to the studs and rebuilding.

Now, it's my meat cutting room. I started by knocking a hole in the back garage wall big enough to put a set of double 30" doors. Cut the existing floor to tie in drain plumbing.

Then poured a slab for the room. Built a flue for a wood cook stove also, as I couldn't figure a way to get one in the main kitchen layout.

Framed it up. Lumber is off my place, as is all lumber used here. Hole in the back wall is for window AC unit that will run the walk-in cooler yet to be built.

Found a used cooler door mounted in frame. Set that into wood framed opening. Rest the cooler is 4" of foam on walls/ceiling, with white fiberglass panels on the inside for a nice washable finish. Floor is tile, with drain in center.

Mounted some big eye bolts in the ceiling, and it will hold 3 hogs, or a full cow/etc. Finished room is about 6x6.

Space to the right of the cooler is a floor-ceiling shelved pantry for canned goods. Main room is tiled with center floor drain, tiled 4' up the walls, so I can hose the entire thing down. Put a 30 gallon electric water heater under the cabinets, and ran a hose connection off it so I can hose everything down with hot water (nice). Put a used wood cook stove out there.

View to other side of room. Work counter, Corian tops (bought some from salvage yard and built the tops myself) Commercial 2 compartment sink (Craig's list), dishwasher for running canning jars (out of the main kitchen). Door/drawers not finished yet in this shot. We use a 3x5 stainless table in the center for cutting.

When not in use for meat cutting/canning, we keep two chest freezers in there on caster bases. They can be rolled out in the garage when the room is needed to work.


For chicken processing, I built a "Whiz Bang" plucker this past year (after years of hand plucking, one of my least favorite jobs). Does a GREAT job.....30 seconds, you have a completely plucked bird.

 

[Jstpssng]

Nice job, TNAndy. :thumbs up:

 

[EddieWalker]

Very impressive and informative. I recently bought a 3 bay sink very similar to yours that I'm going to put in my processing room. It's 12x24 and for now, we will also put out weights in there to work out, but down the road I think I want to build a bigger gym when I build my workshop and convert that part of the room to a walk in cooler. Do you only use the window unit to keep it cool? How cold can you keep it and how long do you store stuff in there?

 

[TnAndy]

Thanks, fellows. Just one of those things we've worked out around here. I like doing our own butchering because

A: I KNOW I got my meat (you never know with processors if you got yours, or ALL of yours. My guess is those guys don't buy any meant. )

B: We take our time, cut it the way we want it cut

C: I know it's cleaner, because my wife is a cleaning nut...."wash your hands, wipe that with bleach, change your apron, etc"..trust me....USDA ain't got NOTHING on her but a stamp !

D: Animals here suffer zero stress. You load them up, take to a processor, run then thru their chute with electric prods, they smell the whole place, and you KNOW they are pumped full of adrenaline by the time they hit the slaughter house floor. Here, one quick head POP, and stick to bleed out, and they never know pain.

Do you only use the window unit to keep it cool? How cold can you keep it and how long do you store stuff in there?

Eddie,

I use a "Coolbot" controller on a 10,000BTU window AC. The controller allows me to take the room down to 34-35 degrees and hold it there as long as I want. As to length of time, pigs we chill over night, and usually cut up the next day, or day after that at the latest. A beef, I'll hang 10 days to 2 weeks to age it some. I don't run the cooler most of the time, just when we have something to butcher. Otherwise, I roll the bandsaw, and other stuff in it to store out of the way.

The Coolbot over rides the normal AC controls. Most window AC units will shut down around low-mid 60's, since they assume you don't want to cool a room below that. This controller you set the room temp you want (33 on the lowest setting), and it has a little heater deal that applies heat to the window AC sensor so it never 'senses' it's down to 65, and it just keeps running. I can take the 6x6 cooler room down to mid 30's in 4-5 hours.

Go to the Coolbot website.....he has LOADS of good info, including cooler design, which AC to buy, and which to avoid, and so on.....worth the tour. The Coolbot was designed for small produce producers, to keep their stuff cold before going to market....but they work just fine for a meat cooler as well.


Build Your Own Walk-In Cooler With Coolbot