Hog Killin

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Hog Killin

Postby mannytheseacow » Thu Sep 12, 2013 12:36 am

Well, that time of year is coming round again. I wanted to throw a question out to the Permsteading community, or at least those that butcher your own hogs: What are you using for a scalding vessel?

I've contemplated an old metal bathtub that I can stoke a fire under, but strange as it sounds, after looking and asking around all summer I can't seem to locate one. I have a big old water heater tank from an industrial boiler that I could use but dang it would take a lot of effort to cut it in half... and then I don't have a big tank anymore....

Everyone I know just has their hogs processed or skins them. :(
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Re: Hog Killin

Postby George Collins » Thu Sep 12, 2013 1:22 am

The old school way is to partially bury a 55 gallon drum into the ground on a slant.

Another thing I've heard recommended is a 90 gallon metal stock tank. When we home process our next hog, this is what we most likely use since Youngblood already has one that he'll probably rent out in consideration for being able to withstand a cussin.
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Re: Hog Killin

Postby matt walker » Thu Sep 12, 2013 7:09 pm

What we did at the workshop was use a regular 55 gallon drum, vertically on a stand, over a propane "crab cooker" burner. You need one of the super high output burners for this. The hog was hung from his foot tendons with a chan fall from a limb, and lowered about halfway into the barrel. 145°F water, hog in for 5 minutes exactly. Raise him up, scrape right there hanging over the barrel. Lower him, flip and re rig the hoist, and do the other half. I thought it was a great system as the smaller surface area of the water made it easy to reach scalding temp and keep it there.
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Re: Hog Killin

Postby mannytheseacow » Wed Sep 18, 2013 5:31 pm

I keep forgetting to reply to this.... Great info Matt! I can find a hoist and barrel and turkey burner without a problem. I thought a barrel would be too small but if you've done it this sounds like the best option I've seen so far. This site is always a great resource. ;)

How long did it take to do 1 hog? (scraping, dipping and all?)
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Re: Hog Killin

Postby matt walker » Wed Sep 18, 2013 5:36 pm

Cool, glad it helped. Uh, it maybe only took about 1/2 an hour to do the whole hog, but it was a workshop so we had four guys running scrapers on the same hog simultaneously, and two of 'em were pros. So, figure about 4 days. Lol, I kid, but it was hard work and I could only scrape aggressively for about 10 minutes at a go before I wasn't super effective and would trade off to a new guy. I suggest bribes of bacon for some helping hands.
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