Mostly tallow soap

[Ugeauxgirl]

I stopped by a farm store for some fresh beef, and while I was there I asked about some beef fat for making tallow. He told me all he had was top quality Wagu beef fat and it was $2 a pound. I told him I didn't care about quality all that much as I wasn't going to eat it. He stared at me a moment and asked what I was going to do with it. I explained that I wanted it for soap. He said he'd give me the fat if I'd bring him some soap. He said he didn't care if it was pure tallow. I have several bars made with 30% or so that are amazing bars. Anybody got a recipe that's mostly tallow? I was thinking 80% tallow, 15% coconut and 5% castor? Any suggestions or improvements? What is a pure tallow bar like?

 

[Carly B]

I usually add some lard to my tallow bars. Hubby's favorite.

 

[ResolvableOwl]

A few % of castor and coconut are good to convince the tallow soap to lather up quickly. Tallow is very low in polyunsaturates; that grants to you quite a bit of headroom for 10–20% of exotic oils like hemp or pumpkin seed – or less exotic (but by no way less nurturing) things like sunflower, soybean or cottonseed oil. I personally would add some (not without DOS precautions like ROE and chelators).

But it's up to you to decide if you want to emphasise or distract from the main player, tallow. This is doubly important for colour and scent. I love the distinctive, flowery scent that tallow imparts soap – at least the tallow I purchased. YMMV. Consider making a small test batch, before you decide for a final recipe. 100% tallow CPOP is worth a try. And at the same time this answers your good question what a pure tallow bar is like (minus long-term behaviour).

 

[AliOop]

Anybody got a recipe that's mostly tallow? I was thinking 80% tallow, 15% coconut and 5% castor? Any suggestions or improvements? What is a pure tallow bar like?

Your proposed recipe will make a nice bar, but might take a while to cure. If you have it available, I would reduce the tallow and add 20% lard, and 10% of a liquid oil. My choice would be rice bran, but olive or avocado would be nice, too.

 

[Ugeauxgirl]

Your proposed recipe will make a nice bar, but might take a while to cure. If you have it available, I would reduce the tallow and add 20% lard, and 10% of a liquid oil. My choice would be rice bran, but olive or avocado would be nice, too.

I like that suggestion. I'll make a pound batch of each. How long should I cure the 80% lard bars. 12 weeks?

 

[AliOop]

At least 8 weeks. 10-12 would be nice if you have that much time and patience.

 

[Quanta]

Just tonight I made a few pure tallow test bars. The only thing I added was ROE and EDTA for DOS prevention. I want to know what a pure tallow bar is like. A few weeks ago I also made a few pure lard bars along with some that are 50% lard, 25% olive oil, 20% coconut, and 5% castor. I plan on making the same combo with tallow instead of lard.

 

[Ugeauxgirl]

Just tonight I made a few pure tallow test bars. The only thing I added was ROE and EDTA for DOS prevention. I want to know what a pure tallow bar is like. A few weeks ago I also made a few pure lard bars along with some that are 50% lard, 25% olive oil, 20% coconut, and 5% castor. I plan on making the same combo with tallow instead of lard.

I really love the lard bars I make with 75% lard, 20% coconut and 5% castor.

 

[AliOop]

I really love the lard bars I make with 75% lard, 20% coconut and 5% castor.

That’s one of my favorite recipes, too!

 

[Quanta]

I really love the lard bars I make with 75% lard, 20% coconut and 5% castor.

I'm going to have to try that. I'll need to get more lard first. I'm going to try a different brand this time, the one I bought has a bit of a smell to it. Not like it's rancid or anything, more like it could have been processed a little further to get the piggy smell out. I rendered my tallow myself though so if it smells, it's my own fault, lol.

 

[MarinaB]

I buy like 50 lbs of beef fat for 5$ from an Amish farm.
Love tallow a lot. I add it to almost all my bars. But a small amount.

 

[MarinaB]

Your proposed recipe will make a nice bar, but might take a while to cure. If you have it available, I would reduce the tallow and add 20% lard, and 10% of a liquid oil. My choice would be rice bran, but olive or avocado would be nice, too.

I do not have lard. Can I substitute it with coconut oil? Thank you!

 

[AliOop]

I do not have lard. Can I substitute it with coconut oil? Thank you!

You can, but it won't produce the same results. And since the original recipe listed above already has 15% CO, it might be rather drying if you add much more.

If you are ok with using palm, that would be the closest substitute for lard. Otherwise, I'd use rice bran oil or HO safflower/sunflower oil to make a nice lather with the tallow, CO, and castor.

 

[RDak]

I stopped by a farm store for some fresh beef, and while I was there I asked about some beef fat for making tallow. He told me all he had was top quality Wagu beef fat and it was $2 a pound. I told him I didn't care about quality all that much as I wasn't going to eat it. He stared at me a moment and asked what I was going to do with it. I explained that I wanted it for soap. He said he'd give me the fat if I'd bring him some soap. He said he didn't care if it was pure tallow. I have several bars made with 30% or so that are amazing bars. Anybody got a recipe that's mostly tallow? I was thinking 80% tallow, 15% coconut and 5% castor? Any suggestions or improvements? What is a pure tallow bar like?

I would reduce the tallow to 70 percent and add a liquid oil at 10 percent to replace it. All coconut and tallow can be a bit drying for some people.

I always add about 5 percent shea butter to whatever I make........maybe a few percentage points of that also. (Example for your recipe it would be 70 percent tallow, 15 percent coconut, 5 percent each of castor, shea butter and liquid oil.)

 

[Kcryss]

My favorite bar is 30% lard, 30% tallow, 16% coconut and the rest rbo and castor.

 

[violets2217]

The other day I got 5 pounds of beef fat from a local meat market. I wanted to see how hard it was to render. I put it in the freezer, because I was scared! Lol!

 

[Kcryss]

The other day I got 5 pounds of beef fat from a local meat market. I wanted to see how hard it was to render. I put it in the freezer, because I was scared! Lol!

Don't worry. It isn't hard to do, just time consuming and messy!

 

[Tara_H]

The other day I got 5 pounds of beef fat from a local meat market. I wanted to see how hard it was to render. I put it in the freezer, because I was scared! Lol!

Go for it, it's not as bad as it sounds! Just be careful at the stage where you (might) SB it, at least the fat I get has some gristly bits in it, and it killed my first SB and tried to wrap itself around the blade of the replacement one...

 

[Mary M.]

The other day I got 5 pounds of beef fat from a local meat market. I wanted to see how hard it was to render. I put it in the freezer, because I was scared! Lol!

So funny

 

[Mobjack Bay]

@Ugeauxgirl Did you make the high tallow soap? If so, how did it turn out?

For anyone who reads this: How does high tallow batter behave?