re: Frozen 2 liter bottles in a crawfish boil

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On the other hand I've seen people pour near boiling liquid into a 6 gallon PET carboy and it deforms like a mofo and there is no telling what type of chemicals are released during that process.

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PET bottles are pretty safe even when exposed to high heat. Not to mention in this scenario you have the cool water inside acting against the boiling water outside. What exactly do you think is leaching out?

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straight up ice here. my water doesnt dilute because i season it correctly

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Hate to tell you, but you are still diluting your water. What you meant to say was that you over season in the beginning so that when you do dilute your water it's where you want it to be..!

Now I would like to hear why you guys add ice/water to your crawfish when done? I've heard two reasons.

1) its stops the cooking process
2) it "shocks" the crawfish to absorb the seasoning

Which one is it?

I use a medium bag of ice. Add a little extra seasoning for the second batch but it doesn't need much. I will typically let the second batch soak longer, too much seasoning and they turn out salty.

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1) its stops the cooking process

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So why note just cut the fire off early instead of having to worry about putting frozen water bottles in the boil?

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So why note just cut the fire off early instead of having to worry about putting frozen water bottles in the boil?

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I like to soak my crawfish 35-45 min after reaching desired cook time/temp. Leaving them in excessively hot water for extended period of time overcooks them.

Ima soaker and not a seasoner in the icechest guy. Ice unnecessarily adds water to my pot and I typically boil 3-4 sacks when we have a boil. Frozen jugs of ice is my solution to ease water level issues w ice, seasoning issues w over watering, & concerns with overcooking.

To each his own tho.

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I really like spraying the side of the pot with a hose as a way to cool without diluting.

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This, and shorten the boil time, extend the soak time........

I boil for fun and use the soak time to consume more alcohol......

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I really like spraying the side of the pot with a hose as a way to cool without diluting

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Yall must have cold faucets.... This doesnt cool much for me.

Your water could be hot(100 degrees) and it will still cool the pot. I would imagine my hose water is around 75 degrees.



I keep seeing people talking about diluting the water. Yes adding water will technically dilute it but I dont see it making much of a difference considering how much water is already in the pot. Depending on the size of the pot, you might have 13 or so gallons of water in the pot with seasoning while the crawfish cook. Adding a gallon or even two is not going to make that much of a difference. Plus if youre using a hose with a spray nozzle, you basically mist it in while someone stirs. This cools more with less water. We usually do a combo of this and just spray the outside of the pot. No problems with dilution. Not really a fan of dumping plastic jugs into boiling water

I mis-spoke/typed....

Didnt mean the temperature of the water coming out of my hose was too warm... I meant, the cooling effect of spraying the pot in terms of internal water temp is minimal.

Spraying down a pot is significantly less effective than cold jugs/ice going into the pot. Ive tested it. Flooded my yard tryin to cool down multiple batches.

But, again, to each his own.