Small Scale Wet Rendering Process

Basics

• This page aims to outline a process for Rendering of Animal Product Residuals at a Small Scale (Homestead/Prosumer-Small Community Farm etc)
• Main residuals would be Bones/Cartilege/“Gristle” etc
• While obviously not as great in terms of Hierarchy of Controls substitution (ie Veganism etc), to an extent it could aid in Waste Reduction / Waste Cleanliness
  • ie not having rotting stuff in your MSW
• Unlike a giant Rendering Plant etc too, the ESG aspects would be better in terms of not having someone run the ‘’’bone grinding machine’’’ or someone cleaning out the nasty oil tanks etc
  • RE: User: Eric ‘s experiences at LES etc
  • Granted if using State of the Art Odor Emissions Control practices+equipment, and high quality equipment with well paid, well trained, well treated staff etc (and of course Temple Grandin or better Animal Welfare + Some magically low carbon permaculture intensive grazing unicorn type crap it could POTENTIALLY be done fine at scale

Equipment

• Pressure Cooker
• Some means of Oil-Water Separation, in the cooking sphere a “Gravy Fat Separator” may suffice
• Means of straining out residual debris such as Bones/Bone Mean
  • Sieves, Cheesecloth, etc
• If intended for non-immediate Consumption, some means of packaging such as Canning gear
• Potentially blending/size reduction equipment if so desired
• Potable Water + Wastewater treatment
• POTENTIALLY a solid waste stream such as Compost
• Acetic Acid (ie Vinegar , although cheap food grade White Vinegar would probably suffice)
  • This would be for Acid Catalyzed Hydrolysis yielding Hydrolyzed Collagen / Gelatin etc
  • Do need to be sure cookwear is compatible etc
• For containing any resulting mess from the Pressure Release Valve, cooking outdoors using either a LPG or Biogas Burner, or a Portable Electric/Induction Cooktop may be advisable

Trials by User: Eric

4/29/26

• I try and avoid meat, especially bone-in (i call it half butchered lol) stuff, but i got a pressure cooker recently, and family got Publix Fried Chicken, so eh EXPERIMENTATION TIME
• Anywho:
  • TLDR: 2/10 would not recommend lol 💀
  • Ungodly concoctions beyond comprehension
  • Can it be done well/in an appitizing manner? Maybe. Is that what i created?!? N o p e.
    • GRANTED i haven’t tasted it yet, just cooked, decanted into clean jars and put those in the fridge
      • Granted not proper canning procedure either so despite refrigeration etc probably not even rated for human, and probably not non human animal either lol
        • GRANTED little cat was intrigued, and cat food can smell masty to us, yet be like junk food levels of fun for them, so potential foodborne illness aside MAYBE fit for them?
  • I did a 45 minute run, became paranoid about water levels, let it cool for 15 then drained+refilled liquid and re-ran process
    • GRANTED i did slightly clean off the pressure cooker during this intermission of sorts, but not completely and we’ll get to that later
  • Then ran it for another 45 minutes + the cooldown
    • Decanted that more clear looking liquid into a second jar
      • With both going through a clean gravy separator to catch chunks first (did not use the separatory funnel function of this kitchen gadget due to trying to reduce type exposed to air
        • Although as per the whole “open and close a sterile agar filled Petri Dish , given this is borderline Lysomy Broth , and this was in a domestic kitchen, NOT a Pharmaceutical Cleanroom etc…probably a bit futile
  • GRANTED mostly “cleaned” small chicken bones from Breaded Deep Fried (and maybe even sat under a heat lamp for who knows how long, rip) Chicken Wings/Breasts so not exactly “premium” cuts lol
    • ALSO no spices/carrots+onions+celery etc were added which might be part of the problem as well
    • Also might be the inverse “shopping while hungry” effect going on + i’m still coming off whatever sickness i got some not in ultra-foodie mode
  • The bones WERE so crumbly they sort of turned into nasty mush when you tried to pick them up though
    • SO I mushed it with a TON of soap (to prevent any potential residual FOG Clogs etc), then fed that into an In-Sink Kitchen Waste Grinder
  • Then began the massive cleanup process 😮‍💨
    • So either due to Overfilling, Frothiness, or the nasty concept of Steam Distilled Grease etc that steam release valve launched some grease-water residue out the top and into the nooks of the lid etc
    • In hindsight, a Pipe Cleaner and/or Toothpick+Paper Towel and/or Cooking in Soap Water etc all worked quite well
      • Still not a GREAT “design for cleaning” design with this in mind
        • Although again probably operator error; smaller batches may not have done this
      • Using the Ultrasonic Cleaner may also work well too
• Might see if anything of interest is usable tomorrow, but most likely this was a mostly regrettable process with the only POTENTIAL benefit being no bone waste
  • How to solve the issue of liquid waste short of MAYBE dilute+dispose+flush water down that drain for a good while and say a prayer to a deity of your choosing etc is an unfortunate side effect
    • The Drought Driven Burn Ban isn’t helping either, although it’s for a good reason
    • Ideally if you had one of those small freeze driers that would probably make quick work of it and best case scenario some non-human animal would LOVE the final product, or in leu of that it should be easily blended with RDF and Burned or be MOSTLY inert in MOSTLY dry MSW
      • Granted that’s also a whole lot of gear and embodied energy for a food option you don’t HAVE to pick
        • Granted price and food scarcity/some people get intense about it, BUT “chicken fingers” pr the more mystery meat-ey “boneless wings” / chicken nuggets etc don’t have this waste stream issue at the consumer end
          • Although of course this just means most is pushed to the slaughterhouse/meat lacking plant end which isn’t GREAT from an ESG perspective despite being “out of sight out of mind” etc
        • Vegan alternatives, despite not being 100% there yet have neither of these issues short of MAYBE some nasty LES style PPO tanks to clean etc
• All in all neat experiment, but DAMN this is probably why this ain’t routine outside of food scarcity “gotta extract every usable calorie from the one thing we have” type cooking (which is good to know if/when that ever happens…but otherwise we can be a little more wasteful lol)
  • and yeah Animal Agriculture ain’t just supportive of the cruel/bad for climate aspects…short of if you only buy primo stuff that magically spawns in at the local grocery store etc…also pretty damn nasty byproducts too sheeeesh
  • Am at least comfortable with that pressure cooker now too, need to make a PROPER stew/curry in it next lol

Internal Links

• Schmaltz
  • Yiddish term for Rendered Chicken/Other Bird Fat
  • Granted rendering isn’t TOO unique of a process, but due to historical factors + doctrine on what is/isn’t kosher etc, it became a part of Traditional Jewish Food hence is well documented+used in recipes there etc
  • Probably not the HEALTHIEST stuff either, but worth noting!
• Broth / Stock
  • Bone Broth would be more apt, unless using more desirable meat parts as well as simple residue etc
    • Granted this has a whole marketing / Fad Diet type stuff related to it as well (which will be addressed in the Talk section of this page as well; TLDR: Recipes are probably great, occasional consumption is probably fine, but also don’t expect it to be some magical cure all/elixir of youth (at least if you have an already sufficient diet; orange juice could be an elixir of life for someone with scurvy etc!))