How to Make Tallow Wax

Tallow, also known as rendered beef fat, has a long history of usefulness. Clean tallow can be used to make soap and to make candles. Making your own tallow from scratch is a bit challenging, but not as hard as you might think. The actual steps to making tallow are simple; coping with the smell of the boiling animal fat may be the hardest part. Check out these steps below before attempting to make your own tallow.

Difficulty:

Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• --5 lbs of ground animal fat (any kind will do)
• --pot large enough to contain the fat
• --enough water to cover the fat in the pot
• --5 tablespoons of salt
• --colander
• --powerful fan
• --metal bowl
• --plastic wrap

How to Make Tallow Wax

1. Purchase 5 pounds of ground animal fat from a grocery store or local butcher. Tallow was originally made from beef or mutton fat, but pretty much any kind of animal fat will work. By the way, lard is the porcine equivalent to tallow.

2. Place the ground animal fat into a large cooking pot and cover with water. Add salt and turn on the heat. Heat the fat and salted water until the mixture is boiling. Then lower heat to simmer. Turn on the powerful fan to get rid of as much of the smell as possible.

3. Simmer fat for about ten minutes per pound of fat. If you choose to prepare less animal fat at a time, simply adjust the amount of water and salt and cook for less time.

4. Once the mixture has cooked long enough to render all the fat possible, you will find only meat and gristle chunks in the liquid. At this point strain the liquid with the colander so to separate the solids and discard the solids.

5. Pour liquid into a metal bowl and allow it to cool. As the liquid cools, the usable fat will rise to the surface. Once the liquid is at room temperature, cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Speed up the fat-rising process by placing the bowl in the refridgerator.

6. When the fat rises to the top and appears solid, it will be white and it will cover the entire surface of the liquid in the bowl. At this point, carefully release the fat from the liquid beneath it and rinse the fat chunks clean with cool water before storing it in plastic bags. Discard the liquid beneath the fat carefully; do not pour it down the sink as it will clog your drains.

7. Store clean fat chunks in plastic bags in the freezer. For your own knowledge, label the bags with the date you made the tallow and simply remove chunks from the bags as you need them for your soap and candle recipes.

Tips & Warnings

• Make sure your fan is in working order before attempting this process. The smell really does get overwhelming.

• Be careful not to pour the liquid remaining after the fat forms down the sink. The little bits of fat left in the liquid will cling to the sides of your pipes and clog them.