Yes! I started using clean white ground grass fed fat. It rendered in 30-45 mins! Little smell. Then I tried rendering large chunks and it smelt awful and took forever! I will never do that again!
Has anyone ever burnt their fat? The other night I put some thawed out fat in a large stock pot and turned my electric stove on low/2. I then went to put my son to bed and it took longer than I expected (I'll never do that again) I forgot how fast it would melt! So I started to smell this awful smell and ran down stairs and took the pot outside. It was so gross. I let it cool a bit, as it had been boiling, and then strained it with cheesecloth and let it all cool. I had to scrape out the meat bits that were stuck to the pan. Now that the tallow is rendered, it smells stronger than it normally does. It smells a bit like the burnt meat bits. Should I worry? Still use it in soap? Or try the wet rendering method to "clean" it?