Rendering beef fat

[Starsky]

I'm trimming up a brisket for tomorrows cook I decided to try and render the fat. Seemed easy enough. I looked online and found a way to do it in a crockpot. Chunk it up and cook it on low. Well, I'm 3 hrs, in and I have very little liquid and mostly rubbery chunks of fat. What did I do wrong?

[hoovarmin]

Not enough heat is what I would say. Put it in boiling water until the water evaporates and you are left with the pure rendered fat, then strain it.

[JCBBQ]

Yup. I also grind it first.

[mrteddyprincess]

Just needs more time. Don't be afraid to let it go overnight if you need to. It's not like you can overcook it.

Stove top it takes me about 4 hours, but that's probably more heat than what's produced by a crockpot. I think if you're patient it will render...

Brian

[PGH_RAM]

Two things I learned the first time I rendered beef fat:

1) smaller chunks melt more readily
2) The heat on my stove top needs to be set to "low", which is probably "med low" on other cooktops.

[jtw]

After a coarse cubing, I put it in a dutch oven over low-medium heat and let it go for about an hour with the occasional stir. Strain it off and cool it and voila. I don't bother getting every drop of rendered fat because of diminishing returns, and I have more suet on hand than I can even use.

[N227GB]

It's been a while, but this is what I do. I don't really think it takes a lot of time.

[Jerod Broussard]

Did 3.5 hours last night. Started with plenty water and small cubes for fat pieces that weren't thin enough. Boiled on HIGH for about an hour then LOW the rest of the way. Trim from 2.5 packers made about 2.5 cups.

Start:




Finish line in sight:

[Donw]

Crockpot temperature ranges are much lower than oven or stovetop ranges. To speed it up turn your crockpot to high.

[Starsky]

I still have it going. It's starting to render down more. I'll try raising it to high

[shify]

How big are the pieces? I just did it for the first time a few weeks ago with my brisket trimmings and pretty much cubed everything down to maybe the size of dice. Took around 30 min on low heat in a Dutch oven for the fat to start rendering and ~2 hrs before I had a good bit rendering. Cranked up the heat a little bit to get it going for a while but kept it fairly low most of the time. Probably let it go around 3 hours total.

[Skinsfan1311]

I just cut 'em up in 1-2" chunks, put 'em in a heavy pan, and stick 'em in a 225 oven for 4-5 hours....

[texastweeter]

Kepp at it. I do it the same way. Just takes time

[Starsky]

I eventually got about 1.5 cups. Definitely a learning experience