Deer Tallow Soap

[Zany_in_CO]

I received a bar of deer tallow soap in a swap once. I thought it smelled awful. Ugh. Now I'm wondering if the soaper didn't render the fat correctly or clean enough? or maybe left too much unsapped fats? Hmmm.

 

[CTAnton]

Zany I use 75% deer tallow in some soaps...never had a smell..I think you're right...the problem probably lies in the rendering....

 

[Obsidian]

Animal fat can also smell if it get heated too much, either during rendering or during melting. The first few times I used lard I heated it way too much and it stunk, never did go away. Now I just get it warm enough to be fully melted, no smell.

 

[Zany_in_CO]

I still can't figure out how to multi-quote a message

In addition to Fig's post showing how to do it, you can also edit each quote to show only the phrase you want to respond to.

 

[mommycarlson]

Thank you Zany, very helpful, now that I've done the multi-quote the true test will be if I can remember how to do it next time

I have cut the next two deer tallow soaps. The one on the left is 30% DT, 30% lard, 25% OO pomace, 10% CO, 5% Castor
I did a little gold mica swirl in there, which you can't really see right now, it got really thick on me (just the batter that I added the mica to) so I ended up globbing that gold part in and then attempting a spoon swirl. This FO looks like it's going to discolor so maybe the gold will show up.

The one on the right is 40% OO, 30% DT, 30% CO. If I had to pick a favorite of the 4 at this point it would be this one, the texture is really nice, was very creamy going into the mold and is such a pretty color. Time will tell, they are all hanging out together on the curing shelf.

 

[SherylG]

Thank you for the info and pics re deer soap! I have wondered how soap would turn out from rendered wild game fat. I could possibly have access to moose and bear fat to render for soap. I have rendered my own tallow many times from beef trimmings with great success. All the fat from the ungulates (deer, sheep, moose, elk, etc) will probably be as hard as beef (also in ungulate family) but I have noticed that lard is quite a bit softer, although it still makes a hard soap. No idea how hard the bear fat will be. I have occasional access to chicken fat too, which is also harder than lard, but it's usually flavored with garlic so I cook with it instead. It's great for frying Something you could do with deer fat, as well. Lots of omega 3's in animal fats, especially wild ones who eat a lot of what they should be eating - grass and greens...not high sugar corn and grains.

I have never noticed a smell from the beef fat. I think if rendered clean there shouldn't be any smell left. I boil 2-3 times and use salt to make a cleaner render.

 

[mommycarlson]

Thank you for the info and pics re deer soap

You're welcome!

 

[Susan Parlee]

I have just finished rendering my first batch of deer tallow. Turned out nice and white after three clarifying batches however still has the deer smell. I have another bag of fat to render and was thinking about adding some essential oil to the water on the last clarifying batch to see if it would eliminate some of the smell. The tallow will only be used in soap. Has anyone ever tried this?

 

[Zany_in_CO]

I have just finished rendering my first batch of deer tallow. Turned out nice and white after three clarifying batches however still has the deer smell.

I received a bar of deer tallow soap in a swap once. I found the odor to be quite strong. Oakmoss neutralizes the odor of tallow and lard. Add it to the warmed oils before adding the lye solution. I buy the Oakmoss Absolute and dilute it (10%) in jojoba to make it easy to work with and long lasting. Use Rate: 0.7%; 1/4-1/2 tsp PPO.

Some suppliers sell the 10% dilution which is far less expensive.

HTH

 

[Susan Parlee]

Just found a supplier for oakmoss absolute. Will give it a try - thank you! Have you ever used oak moss in a raw form in your soap?
I did try two small batches putting eo in the water in one and fo in the other. You can smell the scent however the deer smell is still there. Will the deer smell dissipate when missed with the lye solution?

 

[Zany_in_CO]

I've never soaped deer tallow, so I can't really say.

With beef tallow and lard it made a difference. No odor at all. When I first made animal fat soap without the oakmoss, I had a friend who said she really liked it, but when she showered, the smell made her hungry for a hamburger!

Yes, I've used it in "raw form" when I first started soaping in 2004. In those days the recommendation was to pull some out of the bottle with a toothpick and add it to the fats. That worked well. We'd tell each others things like "I used 2 toothpicks worth in this batch."

 

[KJ Goodman]

We just finished rendering our deer tallow from hunting season. I had 5 gallons of tallow before we rendered. I have been reading all your posts .. I usually use lard we render in my soaps. it never occurred to me to mix lard and tallow.... i find that interesting. I read mixed reviews of 100% lard or 100% tallow bars. people seem to use that for laundry soap? so that makes me worry about skin? any thoughts?
Anyway I am super excited to make deer tallow soap. We have a large family that participates in our "wisconsin deer camp" so I think I will do a "deer camp" batch with pine infused OO and Leinies.
If anyone has some thoughts on the "feel" sudsi-ness that has more experience with tallow. I would really appreciate it.