JD - for future batches, I would recommend washing your cappings in cold water first to separate the honey from the wax. You end up with a thin slightly sweet liquid that can either be turned into mead or added to the
compost depending.
Rendering in a pot is pretty much guaranteed to burn the wax slightly. When rendering you are looking for the lowest possible temperature to liquify it. Take a loot at some of the
solar melters, they are very very good at cleaning wax and I wouldn't recommend any other method for cosmetics really.