Boiling meat fat (pork or beef) will degrade the beneficial oleic acids. You want to keep the temperature under 180°F until the fat is completely softened. Ideally, render these fats dry on a stovetop on a very low flame, turn It regularly in the first hour and turn up the heat gradually after the fat turns yellowish brown to get the crispers. Don't stop rendering until you get crispers. Smaller fat pieces render more quickly but leave less edible crispers. I cut my fat pieces to less than 2" cubes. The slower the rendering the better the result. I never liked using water, my results have always been better with dry rendering. Dry rendering has always made longer shelf life product for me.
Nicely done! That tallow looks clean enough to eat! We have been making soap for 19 years, and we think tallow based soap is far superior to all vegetable soaps. We always grind the fat and suet before rendering -- breaking up the membrane makes the fat melt faster and easier to separate from the meat and gristle. We do not use the water bath method for rendering. After grinding, we melt it over gentle direct heat until everything is melted and the waste (gristle, meat, etc.) is starting to get crispy. We strain and filter through progressively finer sieves. We then add a bit of coconut oil for better lather, and measure it out in single batch amounts and freeze it. We do get a tiny amount of sediment once it is solidified, but not enough to affect the finished soap. The advantage of not using water is that you can use it to make soap right away.
buttonvalley After melting it down in a crockpot (i make soap) I put the bits in a cast iron and they popped like popcorn, it was crazy. I got extra tallow out but I didn't know if it was usable after it smoked a little.
Often wondered how to do this I want to make candles too. wow you did a good job. Free thats not a bad deal. looks really clean. can wait to see your videos about candle making. I guess you can make bio diesel too.
I have a process that takes this one step farther. It's a long process but gives a 100% yield. Cut the fat to approximately 1 inch cubes, bring to a boil in a small amount of water. Cool for a while until OK to handle, then put it into your blender. hit "puree" and grind it into a mush. Then boil THAT for 10 minutes or so, kill the heat and don't touch it. The puree will stratify into three layers--pure clear fat on top, strange gelatin of protein, collagen and fiber in the middle, and water on the bottom. The next morning, put it in the refrigerator to chill. The next evening it will be nice and hard. Cut out some pie-shaped pieces and scrape the layer of junk off and you have pure, clean tallow, 100% yield.
If you do make candles from fat, the fat has to specifically be from the suet of the animal. The fat surrounding the kidneys. It's much harder than muscle fat and it had a higher melting point.
if you don't want to use the tallow immediately and want to save it, what is the best way to store the tallow and how long could it be stored for until it goes bad?
It depends on how you render it, see my prior post. I've had water rendered tallow go rancid within a year and dry rendered from the same fat keep well until it was used up (~5 years). Just keep it in the dark and in a solid state.
Boiling meat fat (pork or beef) will degrade the beneficial oleic acids. You want to keep the temperature under 180°F until the fat is completely softened. Ideally, render these fats dry on a stovetop on a very low flame, turn It regularly in the first hour and turn up the heat gradually after the fat turns yellowish brown to get the crispers. Don't stop rendering until you get crispers. Smaller fat pieces render more quickly but leave less edible crispers. I cut my fat pieces to less than 2" cubes. The slower the rendering the better the result. I never liked using water, my results have always been better with dry rendering. Dry rendering has always made longer shelf life product for me.
Nicely done! That tallow looks clean enough to eat! We have been making soap for 19 years, and we think tallow based soap is far superior to all vegetable soaps. We always grind the fat and suet before rendering -- breaking up the membrane makes the fat melt faster and easier to separate from the meat and gristle.
We do not use the water bath method for rendering. After grinding, we melt it over gentle direct heat until everything is melted and the waste (gristle, meat, etc.) is starting to get crispy. We strain and filter through progressively finer sieves. We then add a bit of coconut oil for better lather, and measure it out in single batch amounts and freeze it. We do get a tiny amount of sediment once it is solidified, but not enough to affect the finished soap. The advantage of not using water is that you can use it to make soap right away.
buttonvalley does it not burn?
No, once it melts it basically deep-fries the bits of meat and gristle. Tallow is a high-heat fat -- it is used for deep-frying sometimes.
buttonvalley After melting it down in a crockpot (i make soap) I put the bits in a cast iron and they popped like popcorn, it was crazy. I got extra tallow out but I didn't know if it was usable after it smoked a little.
Often wondered how to do this I want to make candles too. wow you did a good job. Free thats not a bad deal. looks really clean. can wait to see your videos about candle making. I guess you can make bio diesel too.
I have a process that takes this one step farther. It's a long process but gives a 100% yield. Cut the fat to approximately 1 inch cubes, bring to a boil in a small amount of water. Cool for a while until OK to handle, then put it into your blender. hit "puree" and grind it into a mush. Then boil THAT for 10 minutes or so, kill the heat and don't touch it. The puree will stratify into three layers--pure clear fat on top, strange gelatin of protein, collagen and fiber in the middle, and water on the bottom. The next morning, put it in the refrigerator to chill. The next evening it will be nice and hard. Cut out some pie-shaped pieces and scrape the layer of junk off and you have pure, clean tallow, 100% yield.
Thank you for the reply. I have access to all the beef fat I want. Never knew what to do with it until your video! Bless you.
I just tried the same thing with the coffee filter yesterday and found the sieve worked much better. I wish I would have watched your video first. :)
@shartne Thanks! I have not make candles yet...going to do some soap so I hope it turns out! Free is good! Enjoy!
Yes. You can do a water bath or just leave it on the shelf...depending on your climate. Thanks!
I love your old style grinder especially the starts on it and it's in great condition. It's so pretty.
If you do make candles from fat, the fat has to specifically be from the suet of the animal. The fat surrounding the kidneys. It's much harder than muscle fat and it had a higher melting point.
Love getting anything for free..also you can hang a lg piece of fat with a coat hangar in winter for the birds and they love it better than seeds.
really like the video. I was wondering how much fat did you start with and how much tallow did you end up with?
Hi, Nice video,you can separate the tallow from the water just by put it in the freezer for some time
maybe I missed this, I heard you say you ended up with 1.5 lbs of tallow but how much did you start with? thanks Mjar
@kokonutbaby1 That is interesting! I would never have thought the birds would like that! I will try that! Thanks!
can u use this as a moisturizer on your skin/ face ?
Yes you can. You can actually mix it with a bit of olive or almond oil and blend for very nice body, face and hair butter. Pure unadulterated!
what is the difference between mutton and suet? are all fat in the cow the same?
Suet is the hard fat that is found around the loins and kidneys. I used whatever fat I could find. Great question!
free is my favorite price... :-) very nice... thanks for showing this!
How would I know if I burned the fat in the end?
If I was to can this, how long of a shelf life does it have?
for use in food, I heard the fat around the kidney is best.
if you don't want to use the tallow immediately and want to save it, what is the best way to store the tallow and how long could it be stored for until it goes bad?
It depends on how you render it, see my prior post. I've had water rendered tallow go rancid within a year and dry rendered from the same fat keep well until it was used up (~5 years). Just keep it in the dark and in a solid state.
Love a woman and respect a woman who can cook.
can tallow be canned?
Good tip! Thanks you :)
Thats nice but to bad thier wasnt just beef bacon you could buy too.
@skybirdbird MINE TOO!!!
cheese cloth
Hey thanks for sharing this!
FAIL
Cheese cloth
That would have been good to use! Thanks!