Tallow

[joshferguson]

So I have recently decided that I am going to render beef tallow to use for soap and candle making. I rendered the fat in a crock pot on low and cut up the fat with a knife and the last time I used a meat grinder. After cooking the fat until the crackling floated and then settled again I strained the solids off with a mesh strainer. After the mesh strainer I strained all the oil through three layers of coffee filters. I put it in the fridge and it solidified but then after I took it out and let it sit at room temperature it was runny again. At this point I did some more research and found this site, bumblebeeapothecary.com/how-to-render-and-purify-tallow-so-that-it-is-odorless-and-white/ where it talked about refining it with water and salt. So I did these instructions twice then a did a third time of just putting the tallow with no water added in a roaster and brought the tallow to 212 degrees. I cooked it at 212 degrees for approximately an hour until it stopped "popping and cracking" when stirred. From another place I researched if oil is cooked above 212 until it no longer "pops and cracks" all the water has been cooked out of the oil. I then put it into half gallon Mason jars with lids where they sealed and placed the three full ones in the fridge and the only half full one I left on the counter. The three full jars hardened in the fridge when I then took them out and let them sit at room temperature they have started to soften again and are kind of runny. The half full jar I left on the counter at room temperature turned opaque but never hardened. I'm just not sure what I am doing wrong I'm sure I can make soap out of runnt tallow still but candles I can't make with runny tallow. Looking for any suggestions at all here. The beef I do not know if it was a grass or grain fed. All the fat from the beef though was very hard white fat there was not any soft/jelly fat that I used. I got the beef fat from an Amish butcher near me.

[Kelsey]

How strange.
I don't think rendering technique will make a difference - it all comes down to the triglyceride makeup in that particular animal.
Summer slaughtered beefers will have less firm fat, as will cattle fed a lot of grain, particularly soy and corn. But it still shouldn't be liquid at room temp, unless your kitchen is abnormally warm right now.
Is it possible it was a mix of suet and lard?

[joshferguson]

Are you asking if I had a mix of beef and hog fat? Sorry still learning the terminology. Also it's not abnormally warm in my kitchen right now definitely not above 70 I'm in Indiana and it just got cold again yesterday so I had to turn the heat on but not that high lol.

[Kelsey]

Yes, wondering if it was a mix of different types of fat vs all beef fat. Just throwing out some possibilities.

[joshferguson]

I don't believe it would be as they called me to pick up the fat right after they finished butchering their cattle for that week. Also the Amish I bought it from use the hog fat to make lard to use and sell but they don't use any of their beef fat so I wouldn't think they put any hog fat in the bag but I guess it could be possibility. From what I've read tallow should be like a candle wax substance at room temperature. Is that correct or will it not be as hard? Not sure if I need to try to mix in some bees wax to make candles or something to see if I can keep it harder at room temp or if I should just buy more suet and try again.

[Kelsey]

It will be solid at room temp but not necessarily hard. I think adding beeswax sounds like a great idea.

[throwback]

Tallow or lard don't really get runny even at room temperature, maybe lard will be soft but never runny. I render mine in a roasting pan in the oven set to low temperature, maybe 200 and strain into jars for storage. If it's clean you don't need the water. Or if there are meat bits you could render and let solidify, scrape off any jelly or meat bits and re-render again for super clean tallow. A lot of those method/recipes just repeat instructions for rendering waste fats, bacon grease, cooking grease etc, so those do need water, but fat trimmings from the butcher should not need the water treatment.

[joshferguson]

Could I possibly have over purified it? I mean I ran it through three layers of coffee filters twice, mixed with salt and water and let it separate and then removed the dark on the bottom twice. I just wonder if I potentially filtered out the fats that make it solid at room temperature. Is less more when it comes to straining/filtering the rendered tallow?

[daisyhill]

I don't think so--I mean, I don't think you could over purify. I've rendered quite a bit of lard, but only did tallow once. It did come out hard and white, so I guess I'm no help!

[sdmilkmaid]

Back fat/body trim is softer than kidney fat...
Rachel

[mommasquilts]

My butcher grinds any and all extra fat from my butcher steers. He grinds the leaf fat separately from the rest. Other than the leaf fat being whiter and harder, they both solidify well and are solid at room temperature. I render mine in a very large cast iron roasting pan. I have also rendered pig fat which is usually solid but soft at room temperature. I have no idea what went wrong for you. In the future, you might ask them specifically for the large hunks of fat from the body cavity (leaf fat) as it is about as pure as it gets and renders out beautifully

[rosalind]

Mar 16, 2021 10:23:36 GMT -5 joshferguson said:

Could I possibly have over purified it? I mean I ran it through three layers of coffee filters twice, mixed with salt and water and let it separate and then removed the dark on the bottom twice. I just wonder if I potentially filtered out the fats that make it solid at room temperature. Is less more when it comes to straining/filtering the rendered tallow?

Tallow I would consider harder than lard but softer than coconut oil. Nowhere near as firm as beeswax.

Sometimes less IS more, though I agree with the others you may be dealing with poor quality fat. Or, all the overcooking may have "denatured" it.

When I do lard or tallow, I grind the fat like hamburger. Then place in a pan with a bit of water. Heat just until melted. I pour off the fat and leave the cracklings in the bottom to give to the dog or chickens.

If you pour into a tapered bowl, I like that best. Cool the fat til firm, in fridge if necessary. I heat the sides under warm water just til they pop out. Flip upside down onto wax paper or a clean countertop. Any water or impurities will be settled on the bottom, separated out of the fat. I scrape that all off and package the fat to freeze or can. If I see impurities in the fat, I'll render gently one more time and repeat the flip and scrape process.