Making trout oil

I haven't made fish oil since I was a kid. And back then I just chopped up whatever fish I caught and tossed all species in together. Decided to make some trout oil with some soft, late summer, warm water trout caught last year. I chopped up enough to 2/3 fill two gallon glass jars back in the end of April and set them out in the sun. They have only developed less than 1/4" of very dark oil on top since then. I have read that trout makes a nice light oil, but this stuff is a dark brown and although I haven't opened them up and messed with it, it appears thick. I remember getting a lot more oil than this out of a mixed bag of trout, bullheads, sunfish, etc. when I was a kid. Not sure what I could have done wrong, but this sure isn't what I was expecting.

No help here but I'll be following along. I got 35 gallons of catfish brewing and more coming.

You can get light colored to dark colored oil from trout. Some batches of the first released oil can be very golden in color. Most we make is all dark and very thick.

You wont get a lot of oil from a gal of trout parts or less. We can draw a quart of oil or more from a well worked 5 gal bucket of trout. It does vary, it really depends upon the how well and thorough the parts have broken down.

The amount of overall fat contained in the fish is where the oil is derived. Whole gutted chopped up fish give the most oil. Remnant parts only won't yield as much oil compared to bulk whole fish.

I used whole fish, gutted and chopped into 1-2 inch chunks. I'll go ahead and leave them on through the summer, but yeah this stuff is dark and thick, and there isn't much of it.

flat head catfish and spoonbills both have big gobs of fat in their abdomen. At least some of them do. render oil out of that fat. i have not found anything that comes close to effectiveness

internal fat renders a high percentage

curious if anyone has tried striper fish to render oil. There is a deep red slab of fat that runs along the sides of the fish that is really oily. BTW, if you purchase trout it is more than likely farm raised which has far less fat than wild fish - same for salmon. Their natural diet is what gives them high ft content and farm raised fish are feed fish cakes/pellets.

I have never worked with or rendered stripers. I know there are some lakes in Pa. that have some stocked striper fish. Some I hear get quite big. They however aren't readily available on demand like the Trout. I would get some stripers and see how it works out with your oil development.

I have to disagree with which fish have higher fat content. Wild or Farm raised. The farm raised trout that we get are well fed and produce good oil. The larger fish 5# to 8# have very good fatty bellies These fish are raised in spillways with very little exercise due to limited space.

Most operations the fish are fed with auto feeders and also the fish become conditioned to "on demand feeding" at many hatcheries.

The more you eat and the less you expend in energy produces weight gain both in fat and tissue growth. I see the hatcheries firsthand and what takes place. Some of these fish can grow an inch in 30 days with the right diet.

I believe the diet of salmon and trout that feed on shellfish and mussels, etc., just have a better "more favorable" fat? I know when I used natural fish trimmings in the past, it smell was considerably louder. I have purchased a lot of fish oil lately and have been under impressed with what I received (but that could be a dilution result?). I tried to make some with farm raised trout and it was not like what I did years ago when I had access to lots of natural fish (I had a taxidermy business in MT for many years).

Most of us don't have access to quantities of wild run caught fish unless you are near coastal waters, commercial fished rivers or great lake waters. Most all inland waters are all stocked with hatchery fish. All the fish I have caught and cleaned all smell fishy to me. If we had different diet fish side by side to compare odors that would be interesting to evaluate. I do think that would be a difficult call overall. Speaking of comparing the same specie side by side.

I do know they all smell quite bad when they are rendering down. We get flies in endless numbers that keep coming all summer thru the rendering months. In the end they all smell the same to me.

There is some good sun rendered fish oil out there, but you need to look for it and find what you want. Some may alter the pure oil before retail sale in some manner that affects its original odor.

Good fish oil will stay with you if you get it on you. Good sun rendered fish oil odor is nothing like pressed fish oils. Speaking of the devil, I spent the afternoon bottling some raw oil and I smell quite fishy at the moment.

Is it necessary to add a preservative to home made sun rendered Fish Oil? Purchased fish oil stays fresh for a long time! Maybe it comes with preservative all ready added?

There is no need to add any preservative to good clean sun rendered oil. I am speaking of the oil, not the sludge or juice that forms when the fish renders down.

If the oil is pure and processed properly it will last indefinitely.

Thank You Bob!!!

i have some oil that is 15 years old and works just fine.
It is like whiskey when it is aged