ANST - Tallow Questions

[Crescentia _]

I had my first tallow-making experience this weekend, and was curious if 
anyone who's a little more versed in the process could give me some 
advice. I rendered the fat (from a single source) in three pots; then 
(after removing the cracklings, skimming, etc) I put them into two bowls 
to refrigerate and separate. One bowl came out absolutely perfect-- a 
hard, 3-inch thick tallow cake (about 2 lbs), lots of gelatin on the 
bottom, no water at all. The other bowl came out hideously-- a 
half-pound's worth of thin, watery tallow; with a white slime on its 
reverse side; no gelatin; and most of the yellow water left over in the 
bottom. The really strange part is that I started off with @9.5 lbs.' 
raw fat. What went into the bad batch represented more than half of 
that, and yet I got four times as much tallow from the lesser quantity. 

Also, I'm thinking of using a bit of lye as a stiffening agent for my 
future candles. I don't want to mix paraffin or beeswax with my tallow, 
but if anyone has any advice (as in proportions, or "Noooo! Don't do it! 
Use this instead!") I'd appreciate that too.

Thanks!
-Crescentia
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