^^^
I meant 2 hours on the stovetop. In a crockpot (which I don't usually do, so I'm not the expert), I'd think at least 3 hours on high, or 6 hours on low.

You can freeze the bones for as long as you like. (And by that I mean a month or two, not years--though I've never tried years; maybe it would work.) They'll work just fine. No need to thaw; just throw them in the pot and they'll thaw anyway in the process.

You want to start with enough cold water to cover the solids (carcass plus vegetables), plus maybe an inch. Add a tablespoon or two of vinegar to that. Any vinegar will work (well, maybe not balsamic--too sweet), but as a PP pointed out apple cider vinegar is nice if you've got it.

When you're bringing the stock up to a simmer, you want to do it very slowly with low heat. That slowness, plus the vinegar, helps extract the collagens and the proteins from the bones. I don't exactly understand the science here but Alton Brown did a thing explaining it that you can probably search up on Youtube. I do it in a stockpot on the electric stovetop at a heat setting of about 2, and it takes more than an hour to get up to temperature. Those using the crockpot method are probably naturally covered already on the low and slow thing.

How long to simmer is a matter of debate and personal preference. Some think "as long as possible" improves it; some think anything over an hour or two is wasted time. I'm in the "long as possible" camp; I try to give it all day or, if I start late in the day, overnight. But if you don't have that kind of time I'd give it at least two hours.

OP here - we have just finished dinner and it was delicious! Thank you all! First I simmered the chicken bones, fatty bits and other good parts with onion, carrots, parsnips, celery, peppercorns for 6-7 hours in the crockpot. Then strained it all, cooked she egg noodles and softened some carrots, parsnips and onions in another pot. Then threw noodles, veggies and leftover cut up chicken meat (not the stuff I used to cook the stock) into the broth, seasoned and simmered it for a little while and voila - awesome and healthy dinner. Adults and kids alike licked the bowls clean

Outstanding! Glad it came out well. Now you're set for winter days, cold and flu season, and every other time when homemade chicken soup is what's called for.

Anonymous wrote:I always take my leftover giant rotisserie chicken, after it has been picked clean and throw it in the crock pot overnight covered with water and add onion,carrot, celery and some peppercorns. Next day, I take a whole uncooked chicken, chop it into 8 parts and stick it in with the stock I made the night before (strained) and cook that with some extra water and a tablespoon of Better than bullion base. Cook it for 20 mins, add carrot, celery and onion. Cook for 15 mins more. Take out chicken parts and strip of meat. Put noodles into soup and cool until done. Add back in chicken meat and volia!

So how many hours is the chicken in the crock pot? How much water do you put in?

not OP, but how long can I keep the bones? I usually roast a chicken on Sunday, but don't have time for soup until the following weekend, so can I freeze the bones, extra meat etc and make the stock/soup the following weekend?