Before we get started, I want to set the record straight…
These candles don’t have to be *just* for emergencies. They could also be:
“I-want-to-try-my-hand-at-making-candles” candles.
Or…
“I’m totally curious about tallow” candles.
Or…
“I-can’t-resist-anything-that-comes-in-a-mason-jar” candles.
But they make especially nice emergency or survival candles since they are fairly inexpensive and you can make a bunch at once.
You can make candles out of many different materials, but I especially like using tallow since it allows me to put ALL of our home-raised beef to good use and it’s super-frugal. People have been burning candles made from animal fat for thousands of years, and it’s fun to follow in their footsteps.
Here’s my detailed tutorial that’ll show you how to render beef tallow yourself. But if you don’t want to use tallow to make candles, you can also follow this same tutorial and use soy wax instead.
How to Make Tallow Candles
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You will need:
- Canning jars (My wicks were rather short, so these pint-sized jars were perfect)
- Tallow OR lard OR soy wax (how to render your own tallow)
- Wicks (one per jar) (These are the wicks I bought)
I didn’t include exact measurements for anything because this recipe is super-duper flexible. I like using pint-sized mason jars, but you can really use any size. The amount of tallow you need will depend on how many candles you want to make and what size your containers are.
First off, melt your tallow or wax in a double-boiler. I don’t have a double boiler, so I rigged up a DIY double-boiler instead.
I placed the tallow chunks inside a #10 can, and placed the can inside a stock pot filled half-full with water.
Using a can is especially handy since you don’t have to clean it out afterwards. (Washing off tallow or wax generally isn’t easy…)
Once the tallow has melted completely, remove it from the heat and allow it to cool for a bit.
While the tallow is cooling off, you can prepare your jars.
Place one wick in each jar. Now–this is the hardest part–you want the wicks to stay in the middle of the jar once you pour the tallow in. To accomplish this, you have several options:
- You can use a hot glue gun to glue the wick to the bottom of each jar.
- You can use a Sticky Dot or some other type of glue.
- You can prop the wick in place with a couple of pencils.
- You can place strips of tape over the mouth of the jar to hold the wick in place.
It doesn’t matter how you get it done, just figure out a way to convince Mr. Wick that he should stay in the middle of the jar.
Once the melted tallow has cooled off a bit (not hardened–just cooled), you can pour it into the jars.
Allow the tallow to harden completely, then trim the wick (if needed).
Candle Notes:
- *UPDATE* I’ve been storing my homemade tallow candles for over a year now, and they haven’t turned rancid or icky at all.
- Although beef tallow can be pretty stinky when you are rendering it, thankfully, I haven’t noticed any smell when I burn my tallow candles.
- If you don’t butcher your own beef, check with your local butcher about buying beef fat so you can render your own tallow.
- You can use other glass jars, but be extra-cautious, as sometimes they can shatter due to heat. To avoid this, heat them up (in the oven or with a hair dryer) before you pour the melted tallow inside. Canning jars are made to withstand high temps, which is why I prefer to use them for this.
Tuck your tallow candles away for next time there is a power outage, or burn them right away and enjoy the satisfaction of your very own homemade, toxin-free candles. 🙂
Does this work with lard too? We raise pigs and I have alot of leftover lard.
Yep! You can use lard too.
Hello jill,we love bacon in our home,and candles,I am curious to know how do you get the lard to get more solid? follow the same process as the beef tallow?would the home just smell like bacon all the time?and would the candles not turn rancid if not kept in a fringe? could you recommend a good book on the subject one with lots of good pictures in it would helpful.
Thank you and take care ,
Bill
You can use bacon butter to make your candles as well. They will not set up as solid as the beef tallow candles will, but you’re using a jar so it doesn’t really matter.
It’s important to note that either candle will spoil and attract critters, so keep them refrigerated.
You can mix salt in – kosher or regular but not iodized- and that will make fats more solid. Mix cold or hot. Do NOT use iodized salt as it may accidentally get microwaved to recycled it and that will make radioactive iodine, a carcinogen.
So, then, if made from Lard, we could use the candles for Emergency FOOD if necessary?
Hmmm… I suppose you could–you would just need to be sure that the wick you are using doesn’t have lead or other nasty stuff in it.
I render bear fat, which is actually healthier than lard, but they say (haven’t tried it yet) it makes for the best pastries, so I’d say go for it. Especially the bacon fat. I have a recipe for a bourbon bacon pie crust.
I’ve heard bear fat makes AMAZING pie crust!
Yes, you can use tallow candles as food.
In Victorian Britain mine owners would make company owned candles green by coloring them with arsenic, this prevented both theft for use at home (as only the company owned candles were green!) and theft prevented people eating them.
Hey, I tried making some candles very similar to these but I added bees wax to harden up my tallow because it was quite soft at room temperature. I can’t seem to get the flame very big though. Is there a trick to this or am I using the wrong wick?
Louis and Clark ate their candles while crossing the Rockies, after eating the last of their pack animals.
Wicks come in different sizes dependent upon the diameter of the jar. I am a wee bit lazy so I use Chanukah or utility candles as the wicks.
Be sure that your wick is 1/8-1/4 inch long. that will effect the flame as well.
We use 1 oz beeswax to 2 cups of lard for our candles.
Do u add essential oils to your candles?
Oh, Jill, now I wish I would have had the foresight to ask the butcher to save me the tallow from our last quarter beef that we bought! We don’t raise our own beef, but maybe the butcher would sell me some tallow. I’d love to do this! We never have enough candles when we have a power outage, and I know that my little man, 7yo Malachi, would love helping me make these! You come up with the BEST posts!
Amy, we don’t raise our own beef either so I understand what you’re saying.
The first time I made tallow we bought a chunk of beef fat from our local butcher. The second time my husband came home with a bag of ground beef fat. Both cooked down to a lovely tallow.
The “chunk” was cheaper than the ground up fat. I don’t know if it makes any difference but I live in Canada
Venison tallow is wonderful!!! If you have hunters, save all you can, esp. from the ribs…. it burns brightly, slowly, and without any smell! When we were homeschooling, we made some dipped candles that way… lovely!
Thank you for the idea of using venison tallow!
Oooh–good idea! I’m definitely gonna try that next time we get a deer.
I like your site and blog. Thanks.
Yes. Tallow has been used for millennia.
FYI pencils don’t actually have lead in them.
Anthony
My butcher sells suet, apparently it’s a thing for bird feed. It’s even been run through the meat grinder, so all i’ve got to do is dump it in the pan, and melt it.
Do you put essential oils in the wax to have a different scent? I want to try doing venison tallow candles this year from my husband’s harvest but would like a scent with the candle.
Stopping in quickly to say..thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I am so excited to try this when I get a moment! Have to say I love the food can idea.. I save bits of wax from old candles and have been looking for a specific pot that I could use for melting them down. Never once thought of a can! Thanks so much for this!!
Do have to use jars?? Or can I use tins?
You can use any jars or tins that are fire-proof and heat resistant.
Jill, thank you for this! I was always under the impression that tallow stunk when it burned and was sooty. I am happy to learn they do not stink! Are they sooty or smoky? It’s also a good idea to use the jars because they keep it all inside and you don’t have to worry about drips. Also in high summer heat areas, the tallow might get pretty soft, or at least I know lard would, so the jars also keeps the candle burning, maybe like oil?
So far, so soot or smoke!
So I want the OPPOSITE! I WANT some tallow candles to burn in a new Fireplace to leave a spot stain so it looks like an old Fireplace!!! Where can I buy tallow candles in large jars for that?
Can Scented Oils be added to the Tallow for either Candle or Soaps? Thanks so much..I’m a “Newbie” and love your posts..
Yes, you can add scented oils for sure
Yes! You can definitely add essential oils to lard candles and soap. I have done both, mostly lavender cuz it’s my favorite but it smells beautiful I even tint mine with a little color now and then just for fun.
Great tutorial! I’m such a recycler, I save all of the old jars that my candles once burned out of, clean them out, and put them in the basement. I’ve used them for various things, but I think I might make them into new candles!
Micheline
How long can you store these? Wondering if after time the tallow will develop an off smell?
Tallow is a main ingredient in the making of pemmican, a shelf stable food. Recently, a stache of pemmican was discovered in an archeological dig in Spokane, WA that was over 100 years old…and still nutritionally viable!! ?
Could we do this with beeswax as well? And like Donna, I’m wondering how long candles made from animal fats will keep.
Great project and the best, lasting advice from it is to use a can to melt the wax. I learned the hard way not to melt beeswax in a regular sauce pan.
Yes… me too. Ugh.
when i tell my kids not to do something, i ask them “now how do I know this”? course after a while they learned mom makes mistakes, but we learn from them no big deal!!!! I think they appreciated that mom wasn’t perfect, and they aren’t either, but that is how we learn. Love your blog, your real!
We have lard from our pigs, does it need to be rendered before making candles? Great idea for using the lard!
Yes, render your pig fat. The best fat on a pit to use for soap, candles and for pies is called leaf lard. I save all my leaf lard to make tortillas and pies but the main thing you are looking for is the hard, dry fat. Leaf lard is the fat along the backbone. The are you cut the pork chops from. Leaf lard will pull away nicely from the back. I let ours cool pulled away and hanging over night and then I render it putting it in small empties cottage cheese containers in the freezer for later use. Skip the greasy fat. It is not good for soap, candles, or cooking. Adding a little bees wax to your candle will make it burn cleaner.
Yes– you will need to render it first.
I love having another use for lard. I do have some concerns. I am curious how long before the fat goes rancid without something stabilize it? I also would use caution leaving these out in non emergency because my cats and dogs would be all over it.
I also wanted to say that maybe go ahead and use the EO in the emergency candles. Isn’t that when you need the calming effect the most?? Ha. Thanks so much for this post. #1 best idea so far this year.
I though EOs weren’t supposed to be heated. Is it really ok to use them in a candle?
They will lose their medicinal benefits once heated, but if you are just after the smell, it’s ok. 🙂
Hello all,
I make candles also and found that you really wouldn’t anything that smells, it may bring people you don’t want around. I also put a pack of matches in the top and some foil to make a reflector to make it brighter. That way you will always have something to light it with.
My son got to selling these to his friends and others and can’t believe how long they last and what a great gift to get some others to start prepping.
How long are the candles good for — do they go rancid at any point? I made some beef Pho stock this weekend and have plenty of tallow to making other things.
These are so much prettier (and probably much nicer to smell) than the hamburger grease emergency candles I made a while back, lol!! Very cool 🙂
LOL! Sometimes you just gotta use what you have!
Thanks for posting.
I am interested in making candles but most recipes called for ingredients I did not have. I will only need to buy the wicks using your idea.
After reading some of the other comments; I suppose any fat would work, right? I am definitely going to experiment. 🙂
I’ve got about 16lbs of beef suet that has been in my deep freezer for several years. This will be a perfect use for it! It was from the butcher where we ordered our first grassed beef side, but the suet didn’t come from my specific steer, so I’ve been hesitant to use it for eating or soap, since it was most likely from a feedlot raised animal, with God knows what as a diet. However, for candles, who gives a rip what the animal ate, lol! I did some research regarding the question of rancidity that keeps coming up in the comments, and it sounds like what causes tallow to go rancid is not doing a good job straining out the impurities and bits. If your fat is pure and kept in a cool, dry place, it should last a very long time. Probably a basement or bottom cupboard on the ground floor of your house would work fine, although a fridge would keep it even longer. Boy, there are sure a lot of great uses for tallow besides candles, like water proofing leather! I think I am going to make most of mine into candles, but save one jar for waterproofing boots and tack as well.
You bet! The sky’s the limit!
you can tell if they are grass fed or not once rendered. If they are grass the color will have a slight yellow color, if grain fed clear.
I never saw an answer as to whether or not these would go rancid very quickly. To make them as emergency candles could mean them being stored for quite awhile. Anyone want to respond to ow long they will store? I have access to lots of lard and tallow. Would love to add candles to the way I use it.
So my fiance and I are getting married in August. The most important element to our day is that it has to be 100% us. We’re doing a small ceremony, 30 people, our family is 5 of them plus officiant & photographer, on a Sunday afternoon at a Mountain State Park. Our’ reception’ will be a picnic with all homemade foods, that includes sauces of any sort. I’m even making the cake. Our ‘favors’ will be these candles and the scents will be of our favorite things, like Hazelnut coffee and my fiancees homemade rosemary & tea tree shave balm. 🙂
Love it! And congrats!
I heard rendering your own tallow stinks really bad. Is that true?
It’s not the best smell, but I just open the windows. 🙂
I rendered mine in my carport outside using a propane gas burner. So no smell indoors.
I rendered tallow in my crockpot last night, and it hardly smelled at all. What smell thete was smelled like beef cooking. If you have fresh fat from fresh beef, it smells less than a frying hamburger. Maybe if you’ve had it for a while, the beef particles in the fat can start to rot and be stinky.
How long do they burn?
Have you had any problems with rancid tallow or lard?
It’s important to burn the candle one hour for each inch in diameter for even burning and to keep the wick at no more than 1/4 inch long. My mason jar candles burn around 100 hours.
Just made my first batch of tallow candles today!!!! I made the wick stay centered by punching a hole with an ice pick in the middle of canning jar lids, then feeding the wick through to stick up through the top. I figured I’ll just keep them with my candle stuff and use them each time I make a batch. Next I want to make taper candles….but I think I’ll need a mold for those, not having the time or patience for hand dipped. Thanks for the tutorial!!!!
I made my first batch of tallow candles a couple of weeks ago. Living in NM, it took much longer than 5-6 hours to render in my crock pot…t was more like 36. Additionally, the hot summer temperatures made the setting up process take forever. I finally stuck them in the out door fridge after sitting a week on my counter only produced a half solid candle. I’ve yet to take them out to see if they stay solid but since my fridge is empty right now, it’s not a problem. My wonderful husband discovered that using a clothes pin to hold the wick upright while the candle solidifies is a much more effective method than the pencils I was using. They might not work laid across a wide-mouth jar, but were perfect for the regular ones. Plus, using the clothes pins protected our new school pencils. 🙂
Super smart idea about the clothes pins– I’m gonna try that!
How do you make the tallow candles hard? Mine stayed soft. Are there other ways to have wicks? Do they have to be store bought?
Mine has always been very hard– it might have to do with the fat you’re rendering.
I added a little beeswax or paraffin wax to the tallow to help it harden. My tallow stayed fairly soft too, but I think it is because I didn’t use leaf lard; I used suet for my first batch of tallow. I added scent to mine.
Can you color tallow with wax crayons & add scented oils ?
Worth a try!
Did you try this? Please e-mail me if it worked. I’m trying to look up how to colour and scent tallow candles and can’t seem to find out.
Good day, can you tell me if you did add scent and if so what type and how much ppo? With EO’s so expensive I don’t want to over scent, yet want it strong enough to be pleasant. Thank You for any info you can share. Have a Blessed Day
I have used scented crayons to color and scent the candles. I just melt one down and add it to the fat.
If I am still working on getting beef or venison tallow but don’t have any yet, can I use vegetable lard? Thanks!
Do you mean Crisco? Yes, you can make candles of Crisco, I believe.
You can make candles with butter. I am cautious about that, I Love Butter! The aroma would drive me nuts! Jake
Can you add anything “natural” to make them smell nice?
You can add essential oils, although it takes quite a bit to be able to smell them in the finished candle.
Is it possible to over cook the tallow? It took forever (36 hours) for me to render out the tallow to look like the pictures I had seen as I mentioned previously. Then, the candles wouldn’t set up properly until I set them in my extra fridge. I have since turned that appliance off and my candles went right back to their half solid state, plus, they smell like grease. What do you think?
Hmmm… I’ve never had that happen. What type of fat did you start with?
Perhaps you used suet? As she said backbone fat is best. And from your own beef that you mixed the organic feed they ate. I prefer to use a combo of left over candle stubs, beeswax & paraffin melted in a big tin can, with the wicks tied to a stick to dip in it. You can do 2 at a time on each stick if you are careful. You need to make a rack for them to dry on between dips. I mostly live in bear country, so tallow or scents don’t work for me. And now I live in NM. Good luck.
hi, didn’t get any answer to my last inquiry so I’ll try again, because I really want these to work ! Mine stay rather soft, like the consistency of crisco or lard. What did I miss ? And thinking about it, isn’t all we are doing is making a lard type product by rendering it down anyway ? So with that product we never expect it to get hard, so why should these candles? Right ? Thanks
Now I know what to do with my 40-plus lbs of Tallow I bought for soap making. LOL I will use some for making soap, too.
Question though, can you add Essential oils to the tallow or lard?
40 lbs– awesome! You can add EOs to the candles, but the scent won’t be super strong.
Have you mixed beeswax with the lard to make candles? If so, did it blend/burn well?
Thank you!
I haven’t tried mixing them– I bet it would work just fine, tho!
I make a lot of bone broth and end up with lots of tallow, but I’m not sure if it is ready for candle or soap making. Should I render it further once I’ve chilled the broth and removed the tallow?
Fat that’s been skimmed off souls or broth doesn’t work well for further use. There’s too much moisture and meatiness, which causes it to spoil pretty quickly. You might be able to process it further, but frankly I wouldn’t bother.
If you can, itd be best to start removing the fat before making your broth, so that you can actually use it.
I discovered the wax of gifted old candles similar to lard, soap and a rich hand cream combination so this made me think that candles could be made using lard, but getting it hard without leaf lard might be achieved with the addition of ivory soap and as suggested here with paraffin wax but I am wondering about the hand cream sort of feel. I mean finding the longer burning soy oil could probably be found in a drug store.
I saw your recipe for the pumpkin tallow soap… Could you use the same recipe to make the tallow candles?
Hi, I’ve been using lard as tallow for a while now, since I don’t have easy access to beef fat. Unfortunately it remains very soft to the touch (though this might actually be an advantage for liquid-fueled enclosed lanterns) due to the hot sub-tropical temperatures of south east Queensland. Is there any way to harden tallow so that it acts more like room temperature petroleum jelly? I don’t fancy camping only to find that my tallow candles had melted and ruined the rest of my campsite equipment.
Thank you for your blogs we have beef making suet candles for many years if you run the melted oil through cheese cloth you will reduce the impurities and avoid rancid smells. Our biggest problem was finding the right size wick bigger would melt the whole top in a jar while smaller ones would just burn a hole in the center, we like bigger. For gifts we will add a crayola for color food color also works, I haven’t thought of eating it yet I hope we store enough food basics for that. My wife and I are both in our upper 60’s It is still fun to use basics. Thank you again for your blogs
Great tips Kelly– thanks for sharing!
Using crayons & food dyes can clog your wicks and keep them from burning
I love having the optipn to use up any tallow that goes rancid for candles!! Essential oils should cover any smell Thanks jill!
Please if anyone decides to make Candles please check with a reputable candle supply. Not just any wick will do. They are many different wicks on the market. Wicks burn differently that’s others, some hotter/some cooler. Need to find a wick that fits your jar size (diameter) and not just any jar will do. If you do t get the correct wick you can cause your container to burst and cause a fire. Many important things to consider making Candles. I’ve been doing it for 10 years, I’m no professional and we always learn new things. So please do research and check out candle Suppliy stores. Be safe & have lots of fun and don’t forget testing your candles are very important
What size and brand wick do you use for a pint size mason jar (with tallow)?
Thank you!!
You make it look very easy.. 🙂
I just rendered 25# of leaf fat from our steer. The butcher did grind it for me and I claimed 22# of beautiful tallow. I’ve been busy making HP soaps with it, I made lotion bars, and now I am ready to make candles. I did not have a smelly event during the rendering and am grateful for that. I do want to add color and scent. I’m thinking a FO will be more economical with the candles. I can add old candle pieces for color I suppose. I’ll upload pictures when I make the candles next week. I’ll reserch how to make wicks. I enjoy your blogs so much. Thank You Jill.
Do the candles need to time to “age” to make the beefy smell go away, or can you use them right away?
Can raccoon fat be used for candles
You had me going referring to Tallow candles. I’ve never heard of it being like lard but rather was thinking you were talking about the tree, esp with it’s heavenly scent.
How soft does a beef tallow candle get? I wondered if it would be possible to make these in a candle mold, rather than a jar. Does the wax drip a lot? Would it hold its shape okay? I love the idea of doing this, because between all our butter and pig lard, I don’t have a use for tallow currently and hate throwing it away, but haven’t been able to justify keeping it the last few years. I’m hoping this is the remedy! 🙂 (Lamb fat renders VERY hard, so I might have to use some of that for jarless candles, but my supply is limited, as we are no longer raising lambs.)
From what I have read, tallow candles are pretty soft and it is recommended to use a mason jar.
Is it possible to make these in various candle molds? I want to make candles, soap and shampoo bars, body butter, and lip balms out of animal fats with various scents to use personally and to sell in a small business that I’m trying to set up. It’s nearing the holidays and I’d like to use this or something similar in different molds to sell. It’s not only for holidays, but to reach a wider audience year round. I’d be able to grow my business with variety. Thanks.
Also, any tips on how to make scents stronger and candles of different sizes made with fat to last longer?
If you want to use a candle mold, you might want to search online for some candle mold tutorials, and perhaps there is a way to do that with tallow. Jill has not use a candle mold before so she does not have any advice for you on this. If you want to make the scents stronger, add more drops of essential oil. Enjoy your candle making!