Now I'm sure that most of you after having read the subject heading were like: "What the -?" However it isn't quite what you're thinking.
Clarified butter is the oil in butter which is removed through a 'clarification' process of heating. If you think about it, it's somewhat similar to lard/tallow rendering.
Now you could either buy some of this stuff or you can make it. I somewhat doubt the purity of it if it is bought, so I will explain how to make it. It's very easy and not too expensive.
First you find yourself a nice, unsalted block of butter amde out of nothing but cream. Different qualities of butter will have differing results of course, depending on what the cow was eating and its general lifestyle etc. Generally grass fed animals have a higher saturated fat content, which in turn gives a fat its consistency. It seems the higher the saturated fat content, the higher the melting point. So tallow, being quite high in saturated fat, is solid at room temperature. :yakyak:
Anyway once you got your butter, put it in a pot and melt it. Once it is melted, keep the pot heated at a moderate temperature. The butter will start to boil and make funny popping sounds as the moisture in the butter is released. After about 30 min, time depends really on how much butter you use, the molten 'butter' will stop steaming and will stop producing a foam on top. The liquid will also look a golden brown/yellow colour and the sides and base of the pot will be covered in burnt milk solids/caramelised lactose.
The butter is now clarified and will need to be poured out of the pot and strained.
I first made some of this clarified butter when I wanted to do some indian cooking. They call it ghee. Anyway, as for using this as lube, I spose I'm just curious to see how it would work as a pposed to all of the other oils people have mentioned... olive/peanut/lard etc.
So... once the oil has been strained and put into a jar it can be put in the cupboard. Yes, the best place to keep it is in the cupboard and not the fridge. Once left for a while, the oil turns into a sort of grainy paste. This is fine for cooking, but isn't really nice for anything else. So thing to do I found is to pour the clarified butter when it is liquid and warm, into a paper coffee filter. What comes out is a very pure oil, although it takes some time to filter through.
I then pour the filtered liquid, which stays liquid for a surprisingly long time, into a jar and and put it in the fridge. After say, 20 minutes, it becomes quite thick, at which point it can be taken out. The reason for doing this is that once you take it out, it seems to stay a solid even once it has warmed up, like room temperature butter, rather than turn into a mushy paste.
Like This:
Now I havn't had a chance to try it in my rifle yet and won;t be able to for a few weeks, but It was very easy to put it onto some pathes as it has a very nice buttery consistency.
No worries of it going rancid. They say it has a shelf life of 30+ years as long as it doesnt go in the fridge and stays at room temp.
As for cold whether use, I'm not really sure. It does seem to get quite hard in the freezer, doesnt mean to say it wont work. The temperature lows in winter are only like 45F so I can't really test it properly. I'll leave that kind of testing for anyone who decides to make any of this stuff. :grin:
Anyway hope I havn't bored everyone with my longwinded speech. I hope someone
Merry Christmas to you all.
:v Aran
Clarified butter is the oil in butter which is removed through a 'clarification' process of heating. If you think about it, it's somewhat similar to lard/tallow rendering.
Now you could either buy some of this stuff or you can make it. I somewhat doubt the purity of it if it is bought, so I will explain how to make it. It's very easy and not too expensive.
First you find yourself a nice, unsalted block of butter amde out of nothing but cream. Different qualities of butter will have differing results of course, depending on what the cow was eating and its general lifestyle etc. Generally grass fed animals have a higher saturated fat content, which in turn gives a fat its consistency. It seems the higher the saturated fat content, the higher the melting point. So tallow, being quite high in saturated fat, is solid at room temperature. :yakyak:
Anyway once you got your butter, put it in a pot and melt it. Once it is melted, keep the pot heated at a moderate temperature. The butter will start to boil and make funny popping sounds as the moisture in the butter is released. After about 30 min, time depends really on how much butter you use, the molten 'butter' will stop steaming and will stop producing a foam on top. The liquid will also look a golden brown/yellow colour and the sides and base of the pot will be covered in burnt milk solids/caramelised lactose.
The butter is now clarified and will need to be poured out of the pot and strained.
I first made some of this clarified butter when I wanted to do some indian cooking. They call it ghee. Anyway, as for using this as lube, I spose I'm just curious to see how it would work as a pposed to all of the other oils people have mentioned... olive/peanut/lard etc.
So... once the oil has been strained and put into a jar it can be put in the cupboard. Yes, the best place to keep it is in the cupboard and not the fridge. Once left for a while, the oil turns into a sort of grainy paste. This is fine for cooking, but isn't really nice for anything else. So thing to do I found is to pour the clarified butter when it is liquid and warm, into a paper coffee filter. What comes out is a very pure oil, although it takes some time to filter through.
I then pour the filtered liquid, which stays liquid for a surprisingly long time, into a jar and and put it in the fridge. After say, 20 minutes, it becomes quite thick, at which point it can be taken out. The reason for doing this is that once you take it out, it seems to stay a solid even once it has warmed up, like room temperature butter, rather than turn into a mushy paste.
Like This:
Now I havn't had a chance to try it in my rifle yet and won;t be able to for a few weeks, but It was very easy to put it onto some pathes as it has a very nice buttery consistency.
No worries of it going rancid. They say it has a shelf life of 30+ years as long as it doesnt go in the fridge and stays at room temp.
As for cold whether use, I'm not really sure. It does seem to get quite hard in the freezer, doesnt mean to say it wont work. The temperature lows in winter are only like 45F so I can't really test it properly. I'll leave that kind of testing for anyone who decides to make any of this stuff. :grin:
Anyway hope I havn't bored everyone with my longwinded speech. I hope someone
Merry Christmas to you all.
:v Aran
