• This community needs YOUR help today. We rely 100% on Supporting Memberships to fund our efforts. With the ever increasing fees of everything, we need help. We need more Supporting Members, today. Please invest back into this community. I will ship a few decals too in addition to all the account perks you get.



    Sign up here: https://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/account/upgrades

Making Bear Grease

Muzzleloading Forum

Help Support Muzzleloading Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

megasupermagnum

45 Cal.
Joined
Aug 13, 2020
Messages
546
Reaction score
453
Location
Aberdeen, South Dakota
This year I shot my first ever black bear. I was sure to save all of the fat I could, and the bulk of it was from the back, and rear legs. I rendered it the same way I have done deer and pork in the past. I used clean fat, no meat or other junk on it, and cut it into small cubes. I then left it on low in the crock pot. It took longer than normal to melt, but otherwise came out good. The liquid was an amber color, similar to beer, and looked just like deer and pork does. The problem is that it doesn't seem to be as solid as I had hoped. It solidified overnight at room temperature in small jars, and is now a perfectly bright white color like lard. Unfortunately the stuff can barely be called a grease. It is more like a molasses consistency. I put one in the fridge, and at that 35 degrees, it is right about how I like it, similar to the Mink oil I have been using. My question is, is this normal for bear grease to be this fluid? I've heard that over time an oil will separate from the grease. Will this thicken it, if I pour the oil out? If nothing else, I think this stuff should be fine patch lube, even as liquid as it is.
 
Posting just to follow this thread. I've been wanting to try rendering some bear fat. I see several normally when archery elk hunting, and will be bringing an unmentionable (it is open for "any weapon" during my archery elk season) in the hopes of reaching out a bit further to take one.

It is my understanding that a liquid oil will separate from it, like you mentioned. I don't know how long it takes for this to happen.
You can always use a double broiler to add some bees wax to get it where you want consistency wise.
 
At room temp it will be like a very soft paste. Works great as a patch lube. Just dip a finger in it and rub onto the patch.
Bear oil comes from other fats within the bear, and remains as an oil at room temp. Others will have to provide more info specific to that as I’ve no experience.
Walk
 
I have shot bear in the berries, and it tasted sweet. I have had bear that was feeding on beechnuts, and it was good, but different. My old camp cook used to tell us to cook the bear with what it was feeding on. So I have added apples and blueberries when roasting bear meat.

Bear oil will be beer colored and stay a clear golden amber if left in a jar at room temp. It is fantastic on leather (my boots never leak). It is also the basis of my patch lube. By itself, it won't freeze for winter hunting. If mixed with some beeswax, it will take on the constancy of shoe polish; not creamy, but waxy. It won't melt in the summer. Experiment with it. It is great stuff.

In Alaska, an old sourdough's recipes for blueberry pie begins with, "first, shoot a fat bear." Pie crust made with bear oil will be the best pie you ever ate.

ADK Bigfoot
 
It must be bear week lol. I'm trying to get my first bear this year and want to use the fat.

Op did you eat any meat yet, I've never had any. I hope I like it.

The meat is very good. I was a bit surprised though just how similar it is to beef. The consistency and taste are so similar, I doubt you could tell the difference in a blind test. I ended up making a number of roasts, backstrap chops, tenderloin, heart, and the rest I ground up. With the grind I did 20 pounds into brats, 5 pounds into jerky, and the rest left plain.

So far I've had tenderloin, the heart, hamburger used for spaghetti, brats, and jerky. It is all good.

As for the bear grease, it warmed up a few degrees, and room temperature is at about 70 now. It seems that is right on the edge of melting, as the jars have just barely started to melt. It almost looks like it has a white waxier stuff at the bottom that settles out. If I shake them, they mix up all white, into a consistency similar to pancake syrup. I'm not a big fan of beeswax for winter lube. It has such an unstable quality that while soft in summer, is rock hard in winter. I need something more stabile than that. Maybe this bear grease/oil will work just fine. I've also been reading of adding deer tallow to thicken it slightly. I do not have any tallow at the moment, but all it takes is a roadkill to get more.

While the bulk of the fat I used was from the back, I used fat from the entire bear, all mixed together. I didn't realize some made oil, and some made grease. Looking back, I did notice the stuff from the back seemed to be more waxy, while the lower stuff seemed like jello.
 
This year I shot my first ever black bear. I was sure to save all of the fat I could, and the bulk of it was from the back, and rear legs. I rendered it the same way I have done deer and pork in the past. I used clean fat, no meat or other junk on it, and cut it into small cubes. I then left it on low in the crock pot. It took longer than normal to melt, but otherwise came out good. The liquid was an amber color, similar to beer, and looked just like deer and pork does. The problem is that it doesn't seem to be as solid as I had hoped. It solidified overnight at room temperature in small jars, and is now a perfectly bright white color like lard. Unfortunately the stuff can barely be called a grease. It is more like a molasses consistency. I put one in the fridge, and at that 35 degrees, it is right about how I like it, similar to the Mink oil I have been using. My question is, is this normal for bear grease to be this fluid? I've heard that over time an oil will separate from the grease. Will this thicken it, if I pour the oil out? If nothing else, I think this stuff should be fine patch lube, even as liquid as it is.
The bear that zI rendered out, the bear fat(grease) came out like crico. It was or still is a creamy white color. Got three 3# coffee cans full and only one had a little free oil after about 3 years. And I do think that that is enough to last me for as long as I can still hunt.
 
Step 1: Catch Bear:
78D17FE3-5C47-409B-A07C-EB27EE0A797A.jpeg

Step 2: Fry Him:
C7B6907C-8187-4C72-AD9E-C842C19D97AA.jpeg

Step 3: славный медведь! Glorious bear produce!!
B8F496CB-1A59-4BD4-8913-B7A035784626.jpeg
 
I have made exactly one production run of bear fat by myself and helped with another single batch some years ago. The older attempt gave a brown, foul smelling mix of grease and oil. We hurried the first attempt. It was not well trimmed and rendered in an open cast iron skillet at way too hot a temperature.

Last year my neighbor casually mentioned the bear club had got one up the mountain from my place the night before. This is where I am going to retire, so I only get limited time there. While talking I found out they just toss the fat from each bear they git. So he got me 3-4 gallons of fat and I rendered several batches over the next week. It came out perfect. Looks like Crisco, snow white in color and has absolutely no odor. There are no doubt some short cuts can be taken, but I did not know where to cut corners and where not to, so stayed conservative in the processing. I would much rather make a high quality product than save a bit of time and have to settle for something less. The fact a friend and I had screwed the pooch on the first try made me more conservative.

Very carefully trim all skin, hair, meat, etc away from the fat. I was very careful to eliminate possible contamination.

Cut the fat into 1 inch chunks max. Even smaller is better. It cuts easier cold, even partially frozen. Rinse the fat with water to get any stray hairs and flesh washed off. Put it into a crock pot that has a LOW setting. Fill full, then add a cup or a bit more of clean water. The water is to keep the bottom of the pot wet until there is some liquid built up so the fat won't scorch and turn the grease brown. If you are married, and want to stay that way, put it on your porch or in your garage to keep the greasy odor out of the house. Set it on LOW and go to bed. It will be slowly boiling the next morning and all the water will have evaporated. I found 10-12 hours in my crock pot rendered the majority of the fat.

I set up an aluminum colander lined with coarse cheesecloth set above a 2-3 quart wire canning strainer lined with an old tee shirt. I put mine up in pint Mason jars with canning lids. I ran the jars through the dishwasher with a heated dry cycle to sanitize like I do when bottling home brew, and took them hot from the dishwasher. Put one under the strainer, set the colander on the strainer, and begin dipping out the melted oil. Leave a bit of headspace in the jar. Rinse and repeat. If you have help, have someone change the jar then apply the sanitized lid and ring immediately. I took the filled jars inside and heated them in the microwave until around 200 F and then canned them.

When the crock pot is about empty, gather the cheesecloth and wring it into the colander, then wring the tee shirt into a jar. Any extra liquid , including what fell in the drip pan, goes back in the crock pot. Cull any solids that are discolored (missed hair and meat mostly) and put all the semi-solid fat from the colander back in the crock pot. Work it over with a potato masher until it is like porridge , add more fat chunks and start tomorrows run heating. I originally tossed the unrendered fat away after one night in the crock pot. I realized there was still a lot of good stuff in there and now recycle it back in the pot to render some more the second day as needed. Less to recycle if you cut it in smaller pieces t start with.

Each jar I made sealed just like I was canning beans from the garden. I refrigerated it after opening. I am sure there are other ways to do this or variations that are easier and quicker. Still, this is not labor intensive and was highly successful, so I doubt I will change a thing this fall. First batch, first day, and just got into the canning jars.
1599962587547.jpeg
 
The bear that zI rendered out, the bear fat(grease) came out like crico. It was or still is a creamy white color. Got three 3# coffee cans full and only one had a little free oil after about 3 years. And I do think that that is enough to last me for as long as I can still hunt.
After you render it down pore the bear grease into a pan of water bring to a rolling boil for thirty minutes or so. Put into the freezer and when the grease cake is solid .Take it out of pan rinse out pan and put in fresh water and boil again.Do this three times cooling in the freezer each time.What you are doing is removing the natural salts which will rust a barrel over time. Properly desalted it makes an excellent patch lube as well as a great preservative for your barrel or any metal.
 
If them dang Romans hadn't killed all the bears here, we'd be able to do all this fancy bear cook-up stuff, too. Bloody furriners, come over here unasked, killing all the bears and building toads and stuff like that, then they bugger off back where they came from and leave the place to the wolves from the East, oh, and North, too.
 
@rp77469 , that is pretty close to how I did it. The only difference was that I did not add water to begin with. I had the crock pot on low the entire time, and had it out in the garage. A few times a day I would stir it. I think I had it out there for two days before I was satisfied it was mostly melted. I strained it real good, multiple times into a cheese cloth. Finally I poured into jars, with no further consideration.

As an update, the state of the bear grease is unchanged. It is still white, it is still quite liquid, and it still smells the same (which is not bad, a very weak smell). It does separate somewhat, but at room temp it is liquid enough I simply shake it up to mix. I'll be giving it the first test in a muzzleloader this week in anticipation for our early antlerless deer season in 2 weeks.
 
Back when Moby Dick was a minnow and I was a young tad, someone gave my grandmother a bunch of bear meat. It was tasty, but tough. She wound up slicing it, pounding the slices with a tenderizing mallet, breading them and deep frying them, and they were wonderful. She wrapped and stacked a ton of them in the freezer, with waxed paper between the slices. We'd pull out a frozen slice, slap it between bread with lettuce, tomato, onion and mayo, and throw it in a lunch pail. By the time lunch rolled around, the meat would've thawed.

Those sandwiches are one of my fonder childhood memories... and we also had the slices for breakfast with gravy, eggs and hash browns, like chicken fried steak. She had so much meat and it lasted so long, I'm surprised it didn't get freezer burned.
 
Back
Top