HELP! Buying 1/2 a cow and may get tallow!

[asheebeans]

I know rendering is an icky, smelly process but I may be able to get any tallow from this cow that is being butchered. Would I be able to freeze that tallow and then render it later? (when I can open my windows to relieve the smell) I hate the thought of throwing the tallow away when I could make perfectly good soap with it. Throwing it out is wasteful! Also, any tips/thoughts on rendering would be appreciated, as I have never done it before! Thanks in advance!

Edited February 11, 2011 by asheebeans

[MaggieMay]

Hi I found some information on rendering tallow for you.

here is what I found out for you

basically take 2.5lbs of fat per crockpot, added water (just enough so it won't burn) a little salt... and cooked it down. Then you let it harden, so the Tallow settles on the top. You'll have goop under the hard stuff so you take the Tallow out of the bowl and throw the other goop out. You've just made tallow

If you're interested here is a picture tutorial on how the tallow was rendered it: http://www.rambivilous.com/rendering-tallow-first-try

HTH's

Hugs Maggie

[LovelyLathers]

I render my own tallow all the time. Yes you can freeze it before you render and after also. It is not that smelly really. I turn on the stove fan but really it does not smell that bad. You can open a window if you want but I don't find it necessary at all in the winter. I do both Beef and Deer fat. The best fat is around the organs. It is the cleanest and whitest tallow. Here is the best way I found to do it. I hate doing it in the crock pot! If you need any help let me know. Make sure you grind it up for the easiest way but you can chop it up very fine if you want. I freeze it for an hour or so before I grind it as it it is less of a mess and easier to grind. Here is the best way I found to do it. You do not need a ton of water, easier to clean up afterward. I use coffee filters to strain and I find the large empty margarine containers are great for storing it in when finished. This tutorial is very good.

http://candleandsoap.about.com/od/soapmakingoils/ss/rendertallow.htm

[lsg]

We render tallow in the crockpot. We do not add water, but render it on low. This has worked well for us.

[IwantItgreen]

I do it the way lovely lathers posted.

Works good. I always re-render it the second time to get it extra clean.

[asheebeans]

Thanks!!! I got two bags of beef fat waiting to be rendered! To anyone that has ground up the fat, do you think a salad shooter would work? I had my mom pick one up for me at a thrift store after seeing a demo of how to chop of cocoa butter with it--yet I still haven't used it! Hopefully I can make quick work of this tallow and get soapin'! It's been months since I've done CP and do I ever miss it!

[LovelyLathers]

Not sure about the salad shooter never tried it. I use my food processor. Make sure it is good and cold almost frozen before you do it or you will have a greasy mess.. I don't know how much muscle (grizzle) you have that can clog up the works. You can try it. You will be soaping in no time!

[Stella1952]

salad shooter never tried it. I use my food processor

Guess the juicer would be toooo overboard...

Although maybe if the beef fat was WARM it might work... EEEEYOOUUUU!!!

Mom's old mixmaster had an attachment that one could use to grind meat into sausage, hamburger and stuff... I'm thinking flea market & garage sales

I know!! How 'bout this: an old garbage disposal rigged to run and dump the contents into a pot... Beats using the ol' chipper/shredder...

Then again maybe I've been watching too many horror movies involving kitchen appliances... :tiptoe:

I'll hush now. :lipsrseal

Edited February 21, 2011 by Stella1952

[TallTayl]

I do pretty much what Lovelylathers does (right down to the cow&deer ). Freeze, grind, simmer. I use salt to help remove and cow smell. I let it cool and pull the white disc of tallow off the top, then feed the remains to the chickens. ITA that the organ suet is the BEST. I generally get 25% tallow from a lb of unrendered fat.

I usually repeat the simmer with salt step at least once to make sure it's all clean and odor free.

Actually, if you have some piggy smelling lard this process helps clean that smell away too.

[Karebear]

We got half a cow last weekend! The guy cuts and we wrap. That way we can specify how much we want to go for hamburger etc. Anyway, they guy was more than happy to run the fat through the hamburger grinder for me once he was done with the hamburger. I just put it in a big pot and let it melt down, then added some water. It smells like you're cooking a roast, not nearly as grotty as rendering lard. Anyway, once the fat cools you can scrape the residue off the bottom of the fat disc, and boil it with water again. I think the last time I "washed" it 3 or 4 times, one of the times I added baking soda to the water, it turned out great, the tallow smelled a little like butter.