Farmfresh
City Biddy
If I am rendering for cooking I just leave it porky and love it. The secret for soap, however, is to really get the animal fats clean.aggieterpkatie said:Do you ever get a porky (or beefy) smell in the bars? I render lard, but then sometimes it still smells pretty porky.Farmfresh said:I personally use lard and tallow.
I can get lard ready to use from my butcher shop cheap and/or get the lard from hogs we buy or hogs friends buy (ground like hamburger for easy processing) free. I can also get suet from the butcher for free and they grind it for me for just a small fee. Then I render my own tallow and lard. Not much cheaper that that.
I know some folks are against animal fats in their soaps, but both produce a nice hard useful bar. My laundry bars are only made from this free fat and work great.
After I render my lard (or tallow) I place it in a big kettle about half full of water (and sometimes a bit of salt) and boil it. Then I chill it remove it from the top of the water and let my nose be the judge. If it still smells - I repeat the procedure. Each change of water removes more impurities and the impurities carry the smell. Usually two times is the most that it needs. A very faint scent will disperse in the chemical reaction when the lye is added.
I make primarily un-scented soaps since most of my family has problems with scents. My soap usually has a nice clean scent about it when it is finished. No bacon soap here.