Okay first of all I wasn't going around at midnight to steal oil. Rather I was going to look at it first before approaching the restaurant owner. Well, must say out of the three places I checked (all Asian food) none had decent oil. The first one I went to (I still have the rancid chicken fat smell in my nose) looked decent till I stirred the barrel and noticed it had creamy wisps and got a whiff of the rancid chicken smell. The second one smelled just as rancid and the third one had some sort of foam on top that looked like sewage foam on top of treatment plants or California beaches after a good rain inland.

I’m not despairing here I do already have a good source that gives me 10 gallons a week but I was looking for an intermediate source to use while I was waiting for my reserve to build up at home.

I was just surprised that 3 out of 4 restaurants I have looked at so far have had rancid oil. What the deal?

Underneath the thick white stuff may be some really good looking oil. What was the temperature at the time? If it is as cold there as it is here the good stuff underneath won't be liquid either.