Bone broth in bulk is a soup with a long simmer and a bigger loss: the bones come out, the water cooks down for a day, and the fat is lifted off, so about 45% of what goes into the kettle comes out as broth. Write the bones and water as percentages, roast the bones in batches, simmer the run in one kettle, and then cool it fast, which at 40 gallons takes planning. Done this way, a broth maker that simmered a 20-pound stockpot makes about 96 jars a run, and the cost of a 24-ounce jar falls from $14.88 to $5.78. Below is the recipe at two sizes, the steps, the yield, what a jar costs at each size, and a free scaling calculator.
The short version
- Write bones, water and vegetables as percentages.
- Roast the bones in batches for color and flavor.
- Simmer the run in one kettle, about 24 hours.
- Cool fast: from 135°F to 70°F within 2 hours, then to 41°F within 4 more.
- About 45% comes out as broth: cost the jar from what comes out.
- Lift the fat once it's cold, then fill and freeze.
- TaroStack keeps the recipe by weight, takes each batch's ingredients off stock and checks its yield. More below.
The recipe, by percentage
North Shore Broth Co., the made-up broth maker in Duluth, Minnesota, I use in these examples, simmered beef broth in a 20-pound stockpot until two co-ops ordered it by the case. The recipe, weighed:
| Ingredient | % of the mix | Kitchen batch, 20 lb | One batch, 320 lb | The run, 320 lb | Cost a lb, bought in bulk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Water | 48% | 9.60 lb | 153.6 lb | 153.6 lb | $0.00 |
| Beef knuckle and marrow bones | 45% | 9.00 lb | 144.0 lb | 144.0 lb | $1.80 |
| Onion, carrot and celery | 5% | 1.00 lb | 16.0 lb | 16.0 lb | $0.55 |
| Apple cider vinegar | 1% | 0.20 lb | 3.20 lb | 3.20 lb | $0.80 |
| Salt | 0.5% | 0.10 lb | 1.60 lb | 1.60 lb | $0.40 |
| Black peppercorns | 0.2% | 0.04 lb | 0.64 lb | 0.64 lb | $6.00 |
| Thyme and parsley | 0.2% | 0.04 lb | 0.64 lb | 0.64 lb | $12.00 |
| Bay leaves | 0.1% | 0.02 lb | 0.32 lb | 0.32 lb | $20.00 |
| The whole mix | 100% | 20 lb | 320 lb | 320 lb |
The 320 pounds cost $289.12 in ingredients, nearly all of it bones; the water is free and almost half the weight. Bones from a butcher by the case cost less than half what the grocery store charges. Pricing and the year are in bone broth business plan.
The steps, at 320 pounds
- Roast the bones. In hotel pans, in loads, until browned; the fond scraped into the kettle.
- Fill the kettle by weight. Bones, cold water, vinegar and vegetables at their percentages.
- Simmer about 24 hours. Skimmed in the first hours, never boiled hard, topped up only if the recipe says so.
- Strain and start cooling at once. Bones out, broth strained, ice wands in, then shallow pans no more than 2 inches deep into the blast chiller.
- Log the cooling. 70°F or below at 2 hours, 41°F or below at 6; the log is in cooling log template.
- Lift the fat and fill. The fat cap lifted off cold, the broth filled into jars with headspace for freezing.
- Freeze and label. Every jar carries the run's lot, the date and "Keep frozen".
The run takes about 8 hours of hands-on work spread over two days.
What a jar costs at each size
| Per jar | Kitchen batch, 20 lb | Bulk run, 320 lb |
|---|---|---|
| Ingredients | $6.71 (grocery prices) | $3.01 (bought in bulk) |
| Packaging | $1.50 | $1.10 |
| Labor at $20 an hour | $6.67 (20 min a jar) | $1.67 (5 min a jar) |
| Cost of a jar | $14.88 | $5.78 |
Bones by the case from a butcher halve the ingredients, and the labor falls from 20 minutes a jar to about 5. The kitchen-batch jar costs more than the $14 it sells for; the bulk run is what makes the price work. The jars are freezer-safe glass, with room left at the top.
Why the cooling decides it
A kettle of broth is dense and holds heat for hours, and broth is exactly the kind of food the FDA Food Code's cooling rule is written for: 135°F to 70°F within 2 hours, and to 41°F within 6 in all. Ice wands and shallow pans are how a bulk kitchen meets it, and the log is the proof. Selling broth to co-ops brings a state license, in wholesale food license.
Get the calculator
Download the bone broth scaling calculator. Two sheets: scale the recipe, where you type each ingredient's percentage and cost a pound and the raw mix you want, and each ingredient's weight for the run fills in, with the kettle simmers, what comes out after the yield loss, the jars it fills and the cost of each jar; and weigh the loss, where what went in and came out over a few batches gives your average yield loss. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.
Where this stops working
Beef and chicken broth, runs every week, bones from two butchers, and a freezer full of jars from different runs. A sheet can say how many bones a run needs, but not which butcher's bones went into which jar, whether each run cooled in time, or which jars are oldest.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack keeps the recipe by weight, takes each batch's ingredients off stock and checks its yield.
The recipe in the units you use. A recipe holds each ingredient by weight, with bones bought by the 40-pound case and used by the pound, and the cost of every jar comes from what you paid. "What could I make right now" says how many runs the bones and vegetables on the shelf allow.
Each run a batch. A run takes its ingredients off stock, records the lots of bones it used, and gets a lot of its own for the jars, with how much came out good, how much was rejected and the labor minutes.
Yield checked from history. From your own batch history, TaroStack says whether a recipe yields what it claims and which ingredient's quantity is off, so a yield loss that creeps up shows in the numbers. A case of bones that came in warm is an adjustment with its reason, spoiled, and shows in the waste report.
| The job | Spreadsheet | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| Ingredients for Monday's run | Multiply, then check the shelf | What could I make right now |
| Which bones went into a run | Not written down | Lots recorded on the batch |
| The real yield loss | Weighed now and then | Good and rejected on every batch |
| Bones rejected at receiving | Thrown out, forgotten | Adjustment with a reason |
Recipes, batches, lots and yield are on every plan, from $49 a month. The first 30 days are free, with no credit card. If you'd like a hand setting up, ask, and we'll do it with you.