Tallow

[MaryMargaret]

Hey y’all! First post yay!
I’ve been rendered my own tallow from Galloway cattle we raise on pastures and when I’ve rendered that it comes out white and smells like sugar cookies. I recently got 30+ lbs of tallow from a great friend at a butcher shop that smelled different and as it warmed up in my house started to “sweat” if you will. Now the smell I can get over but this “sweating” thing bothers me. Mainly I’m afraid it will show up in the final product. I asked him if he rendered it in a fry to see if there was a rogue oil but he said it’s just juices/gelatin. Now is this there because he didn’t rendere it long enough maybe or at a high enough temperature? I have to reheat it before use anyways because he didn’t use a cheese cloth when straining it.

Thanks
Mary

 

[SaltedFig]

Not meaning to sound rude, but did you friend render it, or is it leaf fat?

The reason I ask this is that your question suggests you are seeing clean, white fat, but his answer suggests that the fat is not rendered (the gelatin and juices would have come out of it on the first render).

PS. Saw that this is your first post, so hi! (funny picture )

Hey y’all! First post yay!
I’ve been rendered my own tallow from Galloway cattle we raise on pastures and when I’ve rendered that it comes out white and smells like sugar cookies. I recently got 30+ lbs of tallow from a great friend at a butcher shop that smelled different and as it warmed up in my house started to “sweat” if you will. Now the smell I can get over but this “sweating” thing bothers me. Mainly I’m afraid it will show up in the final product. I asked him if he rendered it in a fry to see if there was a rogue oil but he said it’s just juices/gelatin. Now is this there because he didn’t rendere it long enough maybe or at a high enough temperature? I have to reheat it before use anyways because he didn’t use a cheese cloth when straining it.

Thanks
Mary

 

[Serene]

What SaltedFig said. Any gelatin/issues with bits and pieces should have been taken care of. As a rule of thumb, if I dont render my own, I put it through a round of cleaning to get it ready for soaping. There is one vendor where I can just get it and not have to do anything to it. Anything else gets cleaned. It is the only way for me to be sure no bits and pieces are in it. Some people just put it through a strainer, which lets a lot of stuff through.

 

[lsg]

I have rendered my own tallow in a Crockpot. The gelatinous junk is usually on the bottom of the crock once the tallow has cooled. I lift out the solid tallow layer and scrap off any gelatinous stuff. I only smell an odor if I overheat the tallow while melting. As far as I know, even leaf fat needs to be rendered.

 

[SaltedFig]

As far as I know, even leaf fat needs to be rendered.

Absolutely!

It's used as it is in puddings (without rendering), but for soap it needs rendering.

 

[In My Soap Pot]

Definitely needs to be re-rendered again, like the others said. And don’t worry about the smell. I used very piggy smelling pork lard, and no trace of that stinky smell was left in the soap!

 

[MaryMargaret]

Not meaning to sound rude, but did you friend render it, or is it leaf fat?

The reason I ask this is that your question suggests you are seeing clean, white fat, but his answer suggests that the fat is not rendered (the gelatin and juices would have come out of it on the first render).

PS. Saw that this is your first post, so hi! (funny picture )

Hey! He rendered it. Def leaf lard, grass fed cattle etc. but I just don’t think he did it long enough I ran an experiment and turned up the heat pretty high thought I burnt it but it actually came out super white and clean! I think a good rule of thumb is just gonna be if I don’t render it or another soaper doesn’t then till just take the time to do. I just don’t think he realized how clean it should be for soaping. Buuut he did take a lot of grunt work from me!

I have rendered my own tallow in a Crockpot. The gelatinous junk is usually on the bottom of the crock once the tallow has cooled. I lift out the solid tallow layer and scrap off any gelatinous stuff. I only smell an odor if I overheat the tallow while melting. As far as I know, even leaf fat needs to be rendered.

I def like the crock pot method for tallow, lard I need to figure out the best method. I think my crock gets to hot for lard and it got a little dark last time. But when I do tallow in my crock it comes out smelling like sugar cookies and is super hard and white. Which is great cause I make body care products too so not having a strong smell for that is important

What SaltedFig said. Any gelatin/issues with bits and pieces should have been taken care of. As a rule of thumb, if I dont render my own, I put it through a round of cleaning to get it ready for soaping. There is one vendor where I can just get it and not have to do anything to it. Anything else gets cleaned. It is the only way for me to be sure no bits and pieces are in it. Some people just put it through a strainer, which lets a lot of stuff through.

When you say a round of cleaning do you mean just re heating or are you doing the water baking soda salt etc etc game? I tried that once and it was just annoying. But it seems like just re heating to a high temp really helped! I post pictures when I get home it’s kinda nutty!