Tallow

Tallow

Tallow is is a whole oil rendered from beef fat and is made up of glycerin and fatty acids. Tallow is solid at room temperature. It saponifies slowly and if the soap is not hot processed should be allowed to cure least 4 weeks. It is used to add hardening and conditioning properties to bar soaps and to add conditioning and thickening properties to liquid soaps. Tallow can be obtained from other than beef fat and will have slightly different properties.

Properties added to soap: Hardening, Conditioning.
Bar (NaOH) SAP:0.1402
Liquid (KOH) SAP:0.1967
Iodine Value:47
INS Value:147
Lauric Acid:0%
Linoleic Acid:2% - 3%
Myristic Acid:3% - 6%
Oleic Acid:37% - 43%
Palmitic Acid:24% - 32%
Ricinoleic Acid:0%
Stearic Acid:20% - 25%
Effects on biodiesel glycerin soaps:
  • Tallow will NOT participate in glycerin negation when used in biodiesel glycerin soaps.
  • Bar Soap - Tallow will add conditioning and hardening properties.
  • Liquid Soap - Biodiesel glycerin liquid soap will benefit from added conditioning and thickening with the use of tallow.
  • Hybrid Soap - Tallow can add creaminess to biodiesel soaps that use both sodium and potassium based glycerin.