Thawing chicken... yup.. another thread
Ok so preamble:
We thaw mass amounts of chicken. We do it in a temperature controlled environment. We thaw to 32 degrees F then store and we put them on hold for micro testing if it gets over 40 degrees F. We used to thaw them in solid pallets but found that the thawing process was too slow and that thawing wasn't even between boxes so we recently changed to putting them on a pallet with 5 cases per layer and 5 layers per pallet and the layers are on black plastic spacers that allow air between the layers. Now the chicken thaws faster but we have been finding where the center of the case will be 30 degrees but the outside will be ~38-40 degrees. Generally the thawing room is around 50 degrees give or take.
Any ideas on how we can get the cases to thaw more evenly than what we are doing right now? The only idea we currently have is to blow fans in the room to help move air around more vigorously.
Yep, I agree, fans, spacing out. The warmer your room, the quicker it will be but also the likelier it will be that you exceed the maximum temperature.
Can you plan differently so you can give it more time? What's your product? Is it critical it's totally defrosted? I used to work in a ready meals factory and I forget the limits but we were certainly fine with packing cooked, frozen chicken chunks at -2oC as it would be defrosted by the time it got to store.
Are you talking chicken pieces, whole chickens, raw, cooked?
We are thawing chicken pieces for RTE dips/spreads/etc.
One main issue is that summer vs winter indoor temps change the thawing profile. Even though our room is "temperature controlled" southern heat is a cruel mistress and seeing as we thaw in our cold receiving it has outside walls and it will be hotter come summer than it is now.
We can try the fans and see how they work.
Yep, I agree, fans, spacing out. The warmer your room, the quicker it will be but also the likelier it will be that you exceed the maximum temperature.
Can you plan differently so you can give it more time? What's your product? Is it critical it's totally defrosted? I used to work in a ready meals factory and I forget the limits but we were certainly fine with packing cooked, frozen chicken chunks at -2oC as it would be defrosted by the time it got to store.
Are you talking chicken pieces, whole chickens, raw, cooked?