Rendering Suet to Tallow

I had some free beef suet and so decided to render into tallow to make soap. It took me 2 days to do it because I had the heat too low. I did 3 big chunks of been suet, I didn't weight it ahead of time. I used a stick blender toward the end to help break up bits. I should have cut pieces up as fine as possible to speed things up too. Also, use a candy thermometer if you are worried about temp. I did a second rendering to make sure the water was out and I followed the therm directions on this link, removing it from low heat (2-3 on my burner) when it was around 230F.

http://paleofood.com/recipes/fats-suetstepbystep.htm

I tried it in the crockpot on low (my instant pot) but it did not work. It spent 9 hours in the pot and barely melted at all. I needed to use higher heat, so I transferred to a stainless steel pot on the stove and added 1/4 c water. The suet I used was pretty clean to begin with.

There are tutorials out there for using lots of water to get fat out of meaty fat chunks, then you let it sit in the fridge overnight and lift the fat off the top. I think whatever method you use, doing a 2nd rendering is useful to try and get out the last of the water so it is pure fat. From what I've read, it will have a longer shelf life that way. I think this is especially important if you plan to cook with it and store at room temperature. For soapmaking, I am not sure how essential the 2nd rendering is.

For my first rendering, I used a cheesecloth to strain. I wasn't sure how to clean it, so I tried boiling the cloth and then dumping the hot water out onto the grass. Worked fine and saved my washing machine from greasy buildup.