Newbie going all in

[CraftyMrsRogers]

Hello all!

I'm spending my morning rendering beef suet to tallow. My butcher must have thought he was doing me a favor by giving me a TON of meat with my fat, but after 2.5 hours of trimming last night I think I'll have to explain it better next time. Does anyone else render their own tallow? My butcher won't do it for me, i already asked.

I'm hoping to make my first ever batch of lye soap this week!

Any advice on home rendering? I'll let you know if my first go is successful!

 

[dixiedragon]

Google lionprincess tallow rendering. Her instructions were very helpful. Next time ask your butcher to grind it fine

 

[DeeAnna]

I second the idea of asking your butcher to grind the fat. I can grind my own if I have to, but it's a tedious, slow, messy chore. Far better to let the butcher do it and pay a bit more for the service.

 

[Susie]

Hey, and welcome to the forum!

I rendered tallow once. I did not have ground suet. It would have made all the difference. Do follow lionprincess' method, it makes it easier

 

[CTAnton]

I've been rendering deer tallow for the last few weeks. I follow the lionpricess' method. After the first rendering I do hit the pot with a stick blender to break up whatever is semi solid at that point.I don't trouble myself with trimming away every last shred of meat. After the stick blending and the following cooling there's a lot of shredded meat at the bottom of the pot in the water as well as on the underside of the cake of tallow...when in doubt, scrape it off and dispose. The processing was the most tedious...just think what's commercially produced is surely not gone over with a fine tooth comb to get every last shred of meat..

 

[lsg]

My hubby grinds the hog fat or beef tallow for me when he butchers. It makes rendering much easier. I render my tallow and lard in an old Crockpot on low temp.

 

[cmzaha]

Lionprincess' method works well. I rendered some once but I am lazy so I buy 50 blocks of tallow shortening from a restaurant supply store for under $40. So much easier and it works out exactly the same. I did test batches using 100% tallow shortening and 100% fresh rendered tallow. They both lathered the same and never got sick with DOS, and it is so much easier

 

[CraftyMrsRogers]

Yield?

Thank you all for the replies!

I just weighed my tallow and I only had about 36% yield. For what my butcher charged me for the suet, it works to about $4.39/#.

So I've learned what to ask more specifically from the butcher as far as the bag of suet goes and I will definitely ask if he will grind it up for me.

I used dry rendering, but I'll look at lionprincess's method. Any other pointers?

Thanks again for helping me out!

 

[DeeAnna]

I get a little over 70% yield for pig fat and a bit higher yet for beef suet. I think a yield in that ballpark is a pretty reasonable expectation to have. Grinding the fat -- either you or the butcher -- is the key thing to raising your efficiency. You have to break up the fat pieces sufficiently.