Rendering fat for Grease

[Iche Iia]

Being new to this hobby, what I have here may be old hat to most of you but to me it was a fun little project that gets me a little closer to PC.

With that in mind, I took a good look at making my own “Bar Grease”! "Now, not havin’ me no Bar to kilt”, I did the next best thing and went to Food Lion and bought some beef fat trimmings. I went twice, the first time it cost .83 and the second time it was $1.23 (I got a lot more!) So for $2.06 I made all the “grease” I will probably need for the rest of my life.

Rendering the fat:

Step One: trim all the stray beef of the fat. If he’s a good butcher there won’t be much.

Step Two: Cut the fat into small cubes an inch or so long.

Step Three: Put them in a pot with about a cup of water (It will boil off, you just don’t want the mess the stick to the pan at first.) and SLOWLY let it boil. It should take between 2 to 3 hours when you cook it slow. Slow prevents it burning and turning brown……..and REALLY STINKING! In fact, slow or not, you may want to do this outside!

Step Four: Once you have rendered down the fat (the “cracklin’s” start to float) pour it all through a strainer. I lined the strainer with an old T Shirt, it will pour right through an “old” one.

Step Five: Guessing at how much grease you have, add about 10 to 20 percent of bees wax . The grease will stay “wet” for a good while after you take it off the fire so you can use the same burner that you have outside to melt the bees wax. The wax will not stay so you have to put it right in the hot grease and stir it up well.

What the bees wax does it give the grease, which will turn to a Lard, more body and not be so sloppy when it’s in the sun. Too much however, will make it as hard as a bar of soap. So, the amount of wax you add will depend on how solid you want it. Start with a small about, 10%, if that’s not enough, re-melt it and add more. But DO NOT USE PARAFFIN. USE BEES WAX!

I bought a couple of Altoid containers at the drug store, wire brushed off all the paint and put the mints in a container here on my desk. (My friends appreciated that.) Before the grease hardened, I poured the two containers full and put the rest in a plastic container with a lid. I carry a tin container in my shooting bag, keep one for a spare and leave the plastic one on the bench for “Home use”.

Step Six (Optional) save the cracklin’s, add:
1 cup of flour
1 cup of corn meal
1 teaspoon of salt
4 teaspoons of baking powder
(If you like it sweet add 1/4 cup sugar)
2 eggs
1 cup of milk
1/2 cup of cracklin's
1 tablespoon of melted butter.

(Thanks to Lloyd for the “fixin’s) And you get Cracklin Bread! That’s the “green” way, nothing is wasted!

Well, there you have it. A lot of words to simply say, buy some fat, render it down, add some bees wax and let it sit over night. But that is as easy as it is. It’s a fun project, won’t tie up your whole evening and your gun barrel will thank you. (Also makes good grease to water proof your wet weather Moccasins.)

[Cody]

Good recipe Pard .I trap and one of the things I trap is coons and with fur prices down I try to make the most of it so what meat I dint eat I sell and last year started to save the fat I flesh of and render it down for patch lube .Good to make thigs out of what we shoot and catch .I tan the furs I catch rather than sell them on the market and bring them to the Rendevous to sell .
I remember back when I was young my grandmother telling me how when she was young how they used to render coon fat down to cook with like makeing bisquits and such . Got to try some of that cracklin bread sounds good!

[Rod]

I use coons for oil, as well. Bears are a little tough to find here in ND, but I've found that coon grease is indistinguishable from bear grease---both are omnivores, so the fat is the same. I add a little bees wax for my patch grease, but leave plenty of the plain oil for cleaning my guns. I've had all sorts of people tell me that I should be using the latest synthetic wonder lube, etc. Being somewhat of a purist when it comes to muzzleloading, reeacting, and shooting, I figured I'd do things they way they were done, if it hurts the gun, so be it---in other words, to deal with a 19th century problem with a 19th century solution. Well, I pulled the breachplug on my J. Henry rifle last year, after about 15 years of nothing but coon and bear oil lube. I was happy to see a nice, bright, shiny bore--no rust, no pits. Even the breechplug face was bright and clean (and I do not own a breechplug scraper--just scour it well with tow, or an old rag on a worm). So, I'm convinced that there's nothing wrong with cleaning in a period manner, using nothing more than a wiping stick, worm, something to screw on the worm (tow, rag, even buffalo hair!), water, and animal grease.

Rod

[Cody]

Yup Rod I too keep some plain greese in my fridge to oil my shooter .I havent kept any out to see how it keeps ,I patch some balls in my loading block and greese a strip of cloth and hang it from my bag strap for extra shots .How does it keep for you?

[Rod]

I've never refrigerated any of mine, just bottled it up, stoppered the bottle with a cork, and put it on the shelf. It's never gone bad for me.

Rod