How do y’all wash your sacks of crawfish?

If you have so many dead ones that it takes you that long to pull them out, you need to buy your lives somewhere else.

Salt. Just kidding.

I have a “fish basket” that I got from Academy and a big plastic was bucket with those rope handles. Poor the crawfish in the basket, put the basket in the bucket and then act like I’m washing and pull up a down. Poor the water out and do it again if they are really dirty then I’ll do them a third time.

If you’ve spent money on a pot, burner, propane, crawfish and all the fixings, seasonings, beer, etc., there is no reason to not own the Cowboy Crawfish Washer.

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Cowboy Crawfish Washer

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Looks cool. I just don’t boil often enough I guess. I use a 100 quart Igloo. Fits 60 lbs. add water. Stir gently. Drain. Repeat until the water looks like a swimming pool.

People that “wash” crawfish still in the sack aren’t doing anything but serving gritty dirty crawfish.

IMO washing is the most important step of the process. No matter what your uncle’s magic recipe and method, dirty crawfish cannot be saved.

An OP, you need a better dealer or you need to take better care of them once you have them. I culled 6 dead ones from 60 lbs my last boil.

I have a couple large plastic tubs w/rope handles, easily hold 1 sack. Dump crawfish in, add clean water, stir w/paddle, dump water, rinse, repeat’til satisfied that they are clean. Easy peasy…

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We purchase from a wholesaler, and we need to pick them up at 6am. We don’t cook until 3-4pm.

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It’s not even hitting 80 in BR today. If you want some security but the sacks in the shade on concrete or a pallet if you have one. Throw a sack of ice on top of the pile and part a tarp over them. Add ice as necessary. They should be fine in the shade regardless but that might give you some peace of mind.

Take Irregardless’ advice. I’ve kept crawfish alive for 2 full days with just keeping ice on them and not letting water pool up. Less than a day should be easy.

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dump them in an ice chest and pour water over them until the water is clear, but then I get obsessed with picking out any dead ones, which takes an eternity.

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You’re doing it right. Just keep at it.

I have heard that you want to keep them in the sack for as long as you can and don’t just let them free for too long as the will begin ti kill each other. Idk if this is true but since then I don’t start cleaning them until I have the pot and burner started.

I've got a large oval metal washtub that can easily hold two 40 lb. sacks. I just run my hose enough to cover the crawfish and then turn it down a bit so the water cascades over the rim and I'll just use my hands to give them a good mixing and pick out the dead ones. I'll let the water run in the tub while I'm getting my boil water seasoned and up to temperature.

When ready to boil I just use my hands to scoop out the crawfish into an ice chest with the drain hole open so the water can run out. Once filled, I dump them into the pot to boil.