Uses for left over fat from butcher trimmings

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posted 14 years ago

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Suggestions? I will have fat from beef, sheep, goats, pork.... too much to feed to the dogs without risking pancreatitis. Is not human grade (which means it may have hit the floor once or twice).

I'm starting a list of things to try:

Render Tallow to be used for:
candles
laundry soap
hand soap
fire starters

Anyone with recipes or suggestions for any of these (esp. things you've tried that have worked!) I'd love some.

I'm especially interested in firestarters right now as I'm in the "gearing up for winter" stage.

Thanks

Joel Hollingsworth

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Location: Oakland, CA

posted 14 years ago

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Rendering tallow is simple, based on my experience. It might get more complicated/dangerous for a very large batch.

The fat might not be hard enough for candles, depending on how the animals were fed.

I've read that biodiesel is about as easy to make as soap, give or take. Except that not all soap recipes call for rendered fat: some take whole scraps.

You might try storing any meat that remains after rendering as animal-grade confit. Paul was going to experiment with this, I haven't heard how that went.

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posted 14 years ago

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Hadn't even given biodiesal a thought! My civilized brain associates biodiesal with McDonalds and french fries. That's a great idea.

Would love to hear from Paul on the confit......

Hopefully I will be able to get scraps on a pretty regular basis through the fall and butchering time.
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Brice Moss

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Location: rainier OR

posted 14 years ago

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be warned that biodiesel made from animal fats gels at higher temps than that made from veggie oils and that it is touch to process, but for summertime use it should be fine

Joel Hollingsworth

pollinator

Posts: 2103

Location: Oakland, CA

posted 14 years ago

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brice Moss wrote:
be warned that biodiesel made from animal fats gels at higher temps than that made from veggie oils and that it is touch to process, but for summertime use it should be fine

Good point! This has to do with the hardness of fat, i.e. the level of saturated vs. unsaturated fat.

If it's too runny to use for a candle, it will make biodiesel with a lower gel point than you would see from hard corn-fed fat. Probably still higher than most vegetable fats, but some hard vegetable fats like palm oil find their way into biodiesel, too.

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