I'm rendering down some right now and realized I don't know what layer is the oil. I've never had any so I don't know what it looks like. Also, how is it stored?

It's the dark layer on top (borrowed picture from one of mttrapperguy's posts).

Uh oh. I don't have that layer yet.

Put it in a jar in the spring in direct sunlight. By fall you should have something. It’s a lot hotter down here.

Im playing with BTO this year also, I used a gravey baster to suck the redishblack oil off the top, I put it into 4oz glass bottles, it gets hard in the fridge...

So I made an attempt at bto this year. Although I did manage to come up with some nice dark oil on the top, much like the picture. I can see a few maggots in the oil. There is only a few and no more have developed. I am a little apprehensive about trying to use this oil. Any thoughts?

The reddish black stuff isn't ready yet. You want a liquid that's thick and black. I've yet to see a maggot survive in bto! I use jars with 1/4" holes in the lids and have never got a maggot! Although I do keep a piece of duct tape over the hole until it starts producing oil then it comes off. If the oil with the maggots don't have a sewer smell id say its fine.

I checked mine yesterday and quite a few maggots developed. Thought the lid was tight enough but obviously not. I stuck it in a pot of water and heated it until the maggots stopped moving. This morning I checked it and I see some black fluid developing.

So two questions. like mattie I would like to know if the maggots will affect the oil and does heating the jar speed up the oil rendering?

Cant say on the heating process never tried it. Once a layer of black oil is present I've never encountered a maggot problem. I will say from observation flys show considerable more interest when it has a red layer in the container. The heating process might be worth a try. I do know the hotter it is outside the faster it produces oil

i usually let mine sit in buckets with a vented lid for about 2 years in my shop. it gets heat but no sunlight. i am not a bait or lure maker but i fill like the sun breaks it down quicker and the end product does not have that sweeter smell to it. but i will say once you pull the oil off the top run the rest through a strainer and separate the liquids and solids. i use both for bait. the liquid goes in a squirt bottle and used down the hole. the solid i grind up and put it down a hole to. i get more digging response from the liquid

I use sheetrock pails, and put a new paint rag on top, stretched over it just before you snap the lid on. No need to worry about venting then. Maybe wouldn't have to anyhow. It is not a fast moving , gas producing rot, near as I can figure.

Thanks for all the info guys. Think I'm going to try some more heat, see if I can speed it up a bit.

I've been reading about BTO and got a bottle of it. My problem is how do you use it? By itself? With bait and lure? Dirt hole or flat set?

Brad

I don't make it, but I give tails to a fella on here, and he gives me some when he has a batch ready. I've used it a couple of ways. I make a mouse size dirt hole about 6" deep and squeeze about 4 drops out in it. That's it. I use this as one of my sets where I have two or more sets. Not every time, but I use it pretty regularly. The other way is I drive a T-bone (cow vertebrae) into the ground until just the "t" part is sticking up. Then I dribble a few drops on it. I like tall grass edges for this set. I tuck the T-bone about 6-8" back from the edge, put the trap about a foot away, directly in front of it. I don't know how yotes actually react to the set. Never filmed it. It seems to make dogs curious and they want to lick it. It catches yotes though. Not a magic lure, but a good change-up.

my go to set with bto is a double mouse hole flat set. I feel predators can smell it from a good distance. And I agree with les on the slow gassing I believe all fatty items produce very little gas compared to strait red meat. Beaver tail chunks shrink with time red meat chunks swell. I fill my gallon glass jars full to the top. In a weeks time there will be a good inch of head space by a 2 months 4-5 inchs

here it is poured off a 5 gal bucket, ready to re-bottle

that looks good john solid black top to bottom thats 100% unadulterated bto their!

Well...John has 1/4" of mother in the very bottom, lol. That's what I'd call it if it was home brew.

The smell and maggots where getting to me so one day when I was home I simmered it in a pot of water. Real low, just a little steam, for a couple of hours. The next day I had a thin covering of oil. Sat it out in the sun all week (been real hot and sunny) and now I've got this.

How do you know when it's done producing? I've noticed that layer of red fluid is disappearing.