Recycle bacon grease into soap bars!
The jar pictured here is full of used bacon grease that has been saved from otherwise being poured down the drain. You can recycle bacon grease into soap bars by simply heating and filtering the grease so it can be used effectively as a triglyceride. A triglyceride is one of the three ingredients included to make a soap. A triglyceride can be an oil, fat, butter or wax.
The bacon grease saved is from cooking the bacon. Bacon comes from a pig. The fat from a pig is called lard. When we use bacon grease we are using lard which is another name for pig fat which makes an excellent bar of soap.
This plastic jar you see here has been warped by the hot grease being poured into it time and time again.
Many of us save these jars of bacon grease under the sink for reasons known or unknown. It is commonly known that pouring grease down the drain will cause your pipes to clog up over a period of time. If you do this, eventually you'll have to call a plumber and pay him to fix the problem. Everyone wants to avoid this scenario.
Another reason people save the grease is to cook with it at a later time.
But I'm here to tell you about the best (mostly unknown) reason to save bacon grease is that it makes an excellent bar of soap for the kitchen!
Before using the raw bacon grease, you'll want to process it optimally for the best results in making soap bars.
Processing the bacon grease.
If you have calculated a soap recipe and you want to use bacon grease as your fat, Add one extra ounce of bacon grease to what your recipe is calling for.
When the solid bacon grease is heated and you strain it, you'll lose an ounce of weight in particulates and dregs. The large particulates and dregs are not apparent when the bacon grease is a solid. Only when it's heated and becomes a liquid, then you can strain out the dregs.
Scoop the bacon grease into your eight quart stainless steel pot. This can get messy so have plenty of paper towels handy. Place the eight quart pot on a stove top burner and heat it on low. The bacon grease is generally solid at room temperature. When it's heated, it will become a liquid and we can begin the filtering process.
(If you are new to soap making and want to learn how to make soap click the link here.)
Straining the bacon grease.
Once the bacon grease is completely liquid you'll pour it into a glass container. Use a strainer to filter any visibly large particulates. Set the strainer over the top of the glass jar and pour the warmed bacon grease through it.
By simply pouring the warm grease from one vessel to another and straining it helps to get rid of a large majority of the particulates and dregs.
Here are the dregs left over in the 8 quart pot. It is very easy to separate these dregs as they tend to stay at the bottom of the pot. They are heavier and do not float in the liquid bacon grease. Discard them as we do not want any of the dregs.
Use a coffee filter to remove smaller particulates in the bacon grease.
To further process and recycle bacon grease into soap bars you'll want to pour the warmed bacon grease through a coffee filter. But before pouring the grease through the coffee filter you will want to use a needle to perforate the filter several dozen times to speed up the filtering process.
If you do not perforate the filter with 35 to 40 holes you will be watching for hours as ounces of bacon grease will be filtering through one single drop at a time.
Tape the coffee filter to the sides of the measuring cup and make sure the filter has a low spot in the center where all the perforations are centrally located.
Use a small spoon to gently sweep the bottom of the coffee filter to keep the grease flowing in a steady stream through the perforations.
When you are satisfied with the filtration of your bacon grease it's ready to be used as the oil/fat ingredient in any soap recipe.
When you recycle bacon grease into soap bars what color and scent can be expect?
You will not be able to get rid of the brownish color from the bacon grease. But that's OK. When you recycle bacon grease into soap bars your finished soap will be a light brown, beige or latte color naturally. As you can see here the soaps have a rather fine latte color to them.
If you do not add fragrance to the soaps they will have an earthy scent with a hint of cooked bacon to them.
Finally, if you filtered out the rough particulates you should have a smooth soap bar.