Home-rendered bacon fat for CP soap?

[CarolynD]

I've gathered a little information on this from the forum, but some tips & tricks all in one place would help me out...

I personally go through soap very slowly, so most of my batches are for my husband, who goes through bars very quickly. Through trial & error I've found a good basic recipe that makes a nice hard bar that lasts a bit longer. I think that longer-lasting quality comes from the lard in the recipe. I'm not crazy about the lard smell during melting, but it's relatively cheap & easy to come by, so I've stuck to what works. However....

Every time we cook bacon, we pour the fat into a container to harden and scoop into the trash rather than pouring down the drain. And every time I scoop it out I think what a waste when I know I could make it into soap! So here are a few questions:

1) How do I home-render this bacon fat so it's soap-ready?
2) What is the INS value of bacon fat - is it the same as lard?
3) If I substitute the lard in my current recipe with bacon fat, would you expect the soap will come out more or less the same?
4) The lard in my current recipe stinks during melting, but the resulting bars don't carry the smell - can I expect the same from bacon?

It might not be worth all the trouble of rending this bacon fat, but the crafter in me wants to give it a try anyway. Suggestions & info appreciated. Many thanks!

 

[Dorymae]

This is how I do it. Fill a pot with at least as much water as you have fat, I usually use twice as much the first boil. Add your fat and bring it to a simmer then I stir it take it off the heat and pour it into a container that is small enough that when the fat hardens it will make a good size cake of at least 1" thick.

Let this harden then take the cake and rinse the bottom, dispose of the extra water. Then do the same thing over again at least 2 more times.

Each time the water will stay a little cleaner and the bottom of the cake when you rinse it will be cleaner. If it still looks a bit dirty or you see specs in it then do it again.

The end result will be a nice white clean fat cake. Yes I use the lard SAP, if it is not exact it is close enough.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

Why is the INS important to you?

As for the smell, you could certainly render the fat a few times to help reduce that.

 

[jnl]

dont forget there is more in bacon fat then there is in lard - like nitrites and smoke and flavors. its not "clean" like lard is.

 

[Susie]

People have re-cycled bacon fat into soap for ages and ages. It is one of the ways they made good use of the animal. You will get the same results from rendered bacon fat as lard. Use the same entry on Soapcalc. Once you render it a few times like Dorymae said, you will get good clean lard.

Some people don't believe in using animal fats in soap, while I respect their right to voice their opinions, they may not make the best sources of information on using bacon fat. I have used bacon fat for soap(mixed with regular lard as we rarely eat bacon) with no noticeable change of quality or scent. It seems to be no more prone to rancidity than regular lard.

 

[DeeAnna]

I've rendered fat from a smoked turkey and used it in soap. It wasn't the whole amount of fat -- maybe 20% or so. There was maybe the tiniest hint of a smoky smell, but not at all objectionable.

What I'd do is give it a try with a small batch -- don't go whole hog (pun intended) with a big batch. Render it down like Dorymae suggests. I would reserve one bar or sample bar for long term storage to learn if the soap stays sweet or goes rancid with time.

When you use a fat in soap that's been used for cooking, there is some chance that the high temperatures used for frying may break down the fat and make the soap more likely to oxidize (aka rancidity or DOS, dreaded orange spots).

That said, using the soap reasonably fast will help prevent DOS from showing up -- just turn your hubby loose with those bars!

 

[Susie]

Oh, I forgot to mention that I always bake(roast) the bacon. It just is so much easier and neater! So my bacon does not go above 350F.

 

[DeeAnna]

Isn't it though! I bake my bacon too if I'm cooking for more than the two of us.

 

[Susie]

When I do cook bacon, I usually do the whole package, and just barely undercook it. I then finish cooking what we need right then, and put the rest into the freezer in a Ziploc bag to give us some fast bacon when we need it again. I can pull out one slice or however many we need for a recipe, and pop them into the micro to finish cooking and crisp up.

 

[DeeAnna]

Nice idea, Susie -- thanks for sharing! I'm going to take advantage of your tip, because it sounds like a real time and energy saver.