Not rendered Frozen Tallow

[SideDoorSoaps]

I didn’t know where to post this question! But I use tallow for lye based soap so here it is.

Not quite two years ago we had a cow butchered and I got the box of tallow to make soap. I ended up putting it in a bag and in the deep freezer it has been. I rarely opens the deep freeze so the tallow has been all cozy in there frozen as a giant lump of fat.

Do you think if I pull it to render, it will still be good to use? I don’t know if it’s freezer burned or if that makes a difference? I’d hate for this tallow to go to waste as I found an 8 lb bucket that I forgot about and it is most definitely sour along with a cool whip tub of lard rancid. Still all white and creamy but smells way off.

 

[Babyshoes]

I'd take it out, sniff it and if it smells ok frozen, let it slowly defrost in the fridge and see how it smells once it's mostly defrosted. If it smells ok, I would try using it. I wouldn't expect freezer burn to significantly affect the end result, though rendering is not something have experience with.

I have eaten things which have been in the freezer for longer and they were just fine, but I've also had fatty items like salami go rancid in the freezer, so just follow your nose on this one.

 

[lsg]

We grind our tallow and then freeze it. I just pop it into a slow cooker straight from the freezer. I would try rendering a small batch to see if it smells old.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

I used very very old tallow from the freezer without issues, and as you're rendering it then I think it would be even better - mine was rendered so I used it as is. Just give it a smell and a good look over for anything untoward

 

[SideDoorSoaps]

We grind our tallow and then freeze it. I just pop it into a slow cooker straight from the freezer. I would try rendering a small batch to see if it smells old.

How do you grind it? in a meat grinder? I wonder if I can grate it.

I'd take it out, sniff it and if it smells ok frozen, let it slowly defrost in the fridge and see how it smells once it's mostly defrosted. If it smells ok, I would try using it. I wouldn't expect freezer burn to significantly affect the end result, though rendering is not something have experience with.

I didn't think to smell it! I'm going to take some out and think about the scent frozen and defrosted. I certainly know what rancid smells like.

I used very very old tallow from the freezer without issues, and as you're rendering it then I think it would be even better - mine was rendered so I used it as is. Just give it a smell and a good look over for anything untoward

I do have some rendered and frozen from a couple years ago as well that i want to use also. This chunk of unrendered is quite a lot - like 30lbs. I'm hoping rendering won't take me all week. I do it in my oven. My slow cooker is so tiny.

 

[ScentimentallyYours]

Thank you for bringing up the tallow question @SideDoorSoaps. I had 5 pounds of suet, nice flaky white fat from the kidneys, that I pulled out of the freezer and threw into my stock pot. Now I’m wondering how other people render their tallow, lard and other animal fats. Never thought to put it in the oven.

 

[SideDoorSoaps]

Glad I was able to give a reminder, @ScentimentallyYours (btw, love your handle).

I set my oven as low it goes, I think 170 F, in a big Dutch oven with water and just let it melt down. It’s so easy. I don’t even chop it up. I do have a giant stock pot I use for canning but it’s way too big for me to lift.

 

[Schatzi1]

I didn’t know where to post this question! But I use tallow for lye based soap so here it is.

Not quite two years ago we had a cow butchered and I got the box of tallow to make soap. I ended up putting it in a bag and in the deep freezer it has been. I rarely opens the deep freeze so the tallow has been all cozy in there frozen as a giant lump of fat.

Do you think if I pull it to render, it will still be good to use? I don’t know if it’s freezer burned or if that makes a difference? I’d hate for this tallow to go to waste as I found an 8 lb bucket that I forgot about and it is most definitely sour along with a cool whip tub of lard rancid. Still all white and creamy but smells way off.

 

[lsg]

How do you grind it? in a meat grinder? I wonder if I can grate it.

We butcher our own meat. We use a commercial grinder. You could grate it. A grating attachment to a food processor should do the job. If you have a large slab, you would need to chop it up before using a grating attachment.

 

[Schatzi1]

I got some beef fat from a friend who butchered a cow and left the fat on the back porch for the entire winter...it froze, thawed and froze again. I had nothing to lose so I rendered it...and it was fine. I cut it into chunks and ground it up in the food processer before rendering it. (for a how-to on rendering, Bumblebee Apothecary has a good tutorial)

 

[kagey]

I freeze my beef fat to make it easier to cube before redering it in a crockpot.
I'm told that the smaller the fat pieces, the easier it renders.

As long as the freezer didn't experience a power outage - I'd imagine that the frozen beef fat or tallow is fine.

 

[AliOop]

I think it will be fine! I had a huge slab of tallow that came from sharing a whole-cow purchase with friends. The butcher didn't even cut it down for me at all - it was about four feet long! So it sat in my freezer for about 18 months till my husband kindly used his chop saw to cut it down for me into manageable pieces. I then defrosted the pieces and chopped them down before rendering, but forgot to run them through the meat grinder first. I'm sure I would have gotten a lot more fat out of it had I done so. Still, the tallow is excellent and no different than any tallow that I've previously rendered from fresh (non-frozen) fat in the past.

 

[SideDoorSoaps]

I'm off to render some today! My husband is at the office for work today so I have free range of the house and whatever smells might emanate from the kitchen. He once told me that I wasn't allowed to rebatch soap in the oven any more. HAHAHHAA

 

[AliOop]

...And this is why I love my electric turkey roaster pan. It's great for rebatching and rendering tallow, AND it can be plugged in outside for my olfactory protection.

 

[SideDoorSoaps]

...And this is why I love my electric turkey roaster pan. It's great for rebatching and rendering tallow, AND it can be plugged in outside for my olfactory protection.

OMGGGG!!! I HAVE A ROASTER PAN!!! I gotta go find it now! Genius, @AliOop!

 

[AliOop]

OMGGGG!!! I HAVE A ROASTER PAN!!! I gotta go find it now! Genius, @AliOop!

Go girl!!

 

[Mary M.]

I render my bf tallow twice, second time with a good amount of salt, it shouldn't smell at all. Does anyone else do this?

 

[ScentimentallyYours]

I render my bf tallow twice, second time with a good amount of salt, it shouldn't smell at all. Does anyone else do this?

Yes, I do! All six of my butterfly soaps, one of which I entered in the butterfly swirl Challenge, were made from tallow that I rendered last month. I had been having issues with my lard tracing too fast. The tallow worked beautifully!

 

[Mary M.]

Cool, I just joined this forum, thx for answering. I love rendering bf tallow! And love talking about it haha!

 

[Spoonie98]

How’d the render go?