I put the grease into hot water because it clarifies it for me. Most of the particulate is gone from the fat.
I kinda learned the trick when I cooked a pulled pork, and then put the juices into a container, then into the fridge. There was plenty of wonderfully flavored pork stock, with lots of little meat particles floating around. The particles settled in the liquid, leaving the fat that floated on top of the water clean and ready to be used for other things. I removed the hardened, chilled fat and remelted it so that I could put it into a lidded jar, and into the fridge.
For bacon fat, I usually just pour it into a heat-proof container and use it as is.
I guess that for me, there are different grades of rendered fat, with different purposes, i.e. full flavored with bits, strained through a paper towel, and clarified for when I want an almost flavorless fat, like lard.
I can't imagine using straight up bacon fat in my apple pie, or to make a delicate roux. I will use it in my baked beans, or to fry an egg in, or even like butter (lower cholesterol than butter) on my pancakes. Hence the reason why I have different flavor levels of fat. And yeh, I know, I'm crazy.
Seeeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North