# My 1st Crock Pot Rebatch with pictures..



## Jerry S (Nov 21, 2010)

*I’ve always made rebatched soap using the oven method but decided to go with a crock pot I bought for doing HP…*






*This first shot is of approx. 4 lbs of shreds and shavings including a botched batch of soap I shredded with a kitchen grater. (You can calculate how many bars of soap this will make by dividing that by the weight of the bars you normally make) eg. 5 oz. bars of soap will make 12 to 13 bars..or a little more because of the water you will add to the shreds. **I mixed in enough water (rainwater) just to moisten the shreds, as you would put Italian dressing on a salad, about 1-1/4 cup of water for this batch. Then, I let it set overnight with the top on (about 12 hours) as it absorbed the water. (No Heat).*





*Next morning, I mixed it up gently and turned the crock-pot on “LOW” setting. My high and medium setting would be to hot.  *




*After about an hour on low I gave it a mix, especially from the bottom where the warmer soap has started to gel more than the top. The shreds looked a little dry so I added a half cup of milk and mixed it up then put the top back on, leaving the crock-pot on low, being patient… the stuff looked a little like Potatoes Au Gratin, made me hungry  *





*I use a log or loaf mold for all my rebatched soaps so I can cut the bars at the thickness I like. My loaf mold is 3.5” x 2.25” x 19.75” = 173 cu. inches and holds approx. 7 pounds of soap. I’ve made a baffle for this mold so I can use it for any amount up to 7 lbs., sliding it forward as required.*





*After another hour I mixed the soap again making sure that it has completely “gelled” and there are no lumps or chips in the smooth creamy mix. I left the pot on low for a bit longer then added my FO and  mixing it well. *





*Moving quickly, I “poured” the batch in the mold, moving my baffle to except the amount of soap I made. *








*I used the old saran wrap trick someone taught me on this forum to smooth the top out…works great….”Thanks Forum members for this helpful hint”.. :wink: *





*The next day….I remove the side of my mold held with screws with a small portable drill.*





*I’ve removed the soap from the mold then` peeled back the Mylar liner and after the soap dries a little more I’ll use my clunky …   loaf slicer to cut the bars*





*Maybe this was a lot of fiddling around to make a few bars of soap from scraps but it makes great hand soap and after putting in some nice FO it took on a little character. The ingredients of these bars runs the full range of oils and even lard since the shavings are from probably 6 to 8 different soaps. I wonder if I could have added some color to make it look prettier???…  ...and I hope the bars don't shrink to much..

Jerry*


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## pgnlady (Nov 21, 2010)

Awesome!!  I use my oven, but think I'll try the crockpot next time.  Those turned out great.


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## IrishLass (Nov 21, 2010)

Wow! Very nice!  

IrishLass


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## Soaplady22 (Nov 21, 2010)

Pretty soap and great photos!!! 
What a nice tutorial!!


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## Hazel (Nov 21, 2010)

Your soap looks great! I'm impressed by the pics showing your steps. I'm especially impressed since I still can't find the charger for my camera.  :cry:


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## cwarren (Nov 21, 2010)

Very Nice how you did it in detail .. Thank You


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## loveit_latherit (Nov 21, 2010)

Jerry - MAGNIFICENT! I love the photos and comments and what a beautiful job! I have not rebatched yet - but you have inspired me! I made 'Breakfast at Tiffanys' and think Im going to try a rebatch with some other FO becasue I really cannot stand the FO. Thank you for the inspiration!


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## Jerry S (Nov 21, 2010)

*Crock pot rebatch....*

Rebatching seems like a lot of messing around to a lot of people and I know that the pro soapers on this forum that have businesses don’t really have the time to fool with rebatching. Some people just hate doing it and I can understand that. It does take some time and effort and is hardly worth it if one doesn’t have enough product to work with to make at least 15 or 20 bars.  Thanks for the kudos..
Jerry


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## ministeph (Nov 21, 2010)

Thank you for the fully illustrated tutorial! I feel informed enough to try this myself sometime


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## Jerry S (Jan 3, 2011)

*Rebatching in a crock pot*

I know re batching can be a headache but I thought I'd run this little tutorial for TerminalCityGirl who just did a rebatch and may like to look at this thread...if she ever thinks about doing another...''
Jerry S


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## SummerlandSoaps (Jan 4, 2011)

Awesome post! I love rebatching! I just save all my scraps and when I have enough I make "home soap", soap just used here around the house! In the summer when I'm in the garden a lot I add cornmeal to my "home soap" for a nice scrub bar. It cleans the dirt from the garden right off!

BTW, What FO did you use? Oh and yours looks way better than mine! Mine usually ends up a brown color, my scraps are usually all different colors!


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## jarvan (Jan 4, 2011)

I would love to love rebatching. I am an impatient sort and have had no success in doing this because I think I try to "melt" the shreds too quickly. I also find a challenge in getting the right amount of liquid into the soap. I know that fresh shavings might be a bit easier to work with, but I only have old fugly soap to work with and get afraid that I'll end up with bars half their original size after all the shrinking. 

I have some nasty Dragon's Blood soap to tone down. Yuk.


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## Guest (Jan 4, 2011)

You are the best Jerry! Thank you for this!!! I may just try rebatching again after your awesome tutorial... I really appreciate the pics and details. Clearly a crockpot (+ patience) is the way to go. I'll have to pop by the thrift store to see if I can pick one up cheap. 

And your rebatch looks great!


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## Bubbles Galore (Jan 4, 2011)

Very nice Jerry.  :wink:


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## soapbuddy (Jan 4, 2011)

Thank you for the tut! My rebatches always looked aesthetically challenged, but yours looks pretty smooth.


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## SummerlandSoaps (Jan 4, 2011)

soapbuddy said:
			
		

> Thank you for the tut! My rebatches always looked aesthetically challenged, but yours looks pretty smooth.



I find that the milk makes them more smooth, do you use milk when you rebatch.


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## soapbuddy (Jan 4, 2011)

SummerlandSoaps said:
			
		

> soapbuddy said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I tried with milk, without milk, with a little extra oil or butter; none of mine ever came out like this. If I used too much liquid, they ended up with the shrunken head syndrome.


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## c.a.p. (Jan 4, 2011)

Jerry:  Thank you so much for posting your pics and step-by-step directions.  I wished I found this thread sooner!  I did my first rebatch last week, in a crockpot, and it was just as ugly as the original.  My bay eo seized the soap.  I was very impatient and I don't think I added enough milk.  Again, thanks.  I'm sure I'll do better next time.


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## ewenique (Jan 4, 2011)

Excellent tutorial with photos, Jerry.  Thanks for sharing!


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## honor435 (Jan 4, 2011)

very nice! So... did you use all your different smelling soap scraps? I have a lot of those, but wonder if that would smell horrible, or if I add another fo, not much into rebatching, but yours looks so good.


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## dubnica (Jan 4, 2011)

Great job Jerry!  Your soap looks really good.  
Last time I rebatched mabe 7-8 soaps, added vanilla Fo and the soap turned ugly brown afer a few days, so I ended up tossing it.  I did nto want to rebatch it again and add some color....too much work.


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## Jerry S (Jan 4, 2011)

*Rebatching in a crock pot*

That’s what I originally used my rebatch soaps for SummerlandSoaps...working around this small ranch gets me into all kinds of dirty stuff…'' and my rebatch bars are the best…lov’m. I used to throw some ground up oatmeal in it as well.

Terminalcitygirl…you hit it right on the head when you said, “Clearly a crockpot (+ patience) is the way to go.” ..emphasis on* PATIENCE*…''Glad u liked the tut. It does take a few times to get the hang of re batching through...

Honor..I throw everything but the kitchen sink into my rebatch pot. I think that cooking in the crock pot takes a lot of the original scents in the soaps away, but then I never use very much FO’s in my soap. Only about ½ what is suggested. In that rebatch with the pics I put a little pear fragrance in, not much, maybe less than an ounce for the whole 4 pounds of soap....that's just my preference though. I don't like perfumy soaps..''....just a guy thing..

Jerry S


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## ToniD (Jan 4, 2011)

Looks great!    I don't know if I don't have the patience required, or what, but my rebatches never look that good.

Would you care to share how you put the baffle in your mold?


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## Jerry S (Jan 4, 2011)

*Rebatching in a crock pot*

That’s what I originally used my rebatch soaps for SummerlandSoaps...working around this small ranch gets me into all kinds of dirty stuff…'' and my rebatch bars are the best…lov’m. I used to throw some ground up oatmeal in it as well.

Terminalcitygirl…you hit it right on the head when you said, “Clearly a crockpot (+ patience) is the way to go.” ..emphasis on* PATIENCE*…''Glad u liked the tut. It does take a few times to get the hang of re batching through...

Honor..I throw everything but the kitchen sink into my rebatch pot. I think that cooking in the crock pot takes a lot of the original scents in the soaps away, but then I never use very much FO’s in my soap. Only about ½ what is suggested. In that rebatch with the pics I put a little pear fragrance in, not much, maybe less than an ounce for the whole 4 pounds of soap....that's just my preference though. I don't like perfumy soaps..''....just a guy thing..

Jerry S


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## Jerry S (Jan 4, 2011)

*Rebatching in a crock pot*

Opps…don’t know how this got in here twice…sorry for that ….
yeah ToneD…the baffle is just a piece of wood cut just to fit the inside of the mold. I wrap it with freezer paper or mylar using magic tape, but just enough so that it fits tightly and I can slide it back and forth. Usually my rebatch is pretty stiff by the time I get it all in the mold. so it doesn't have to be to tight. I have to smooth it with a trowel on top as shown. I made that wooden mold just a certain size cuz I’m fussy about the size I want my bars… ''
Jerry S


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## ToniD (Jan 4, 2011)

Thanks Jerry,


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## Dragonkaz (Jan 5, 2011)

Thanks for including so much detail with your photos Jerry ... that's really great.


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## paillo (Jan 5, 2011)

awesome, jerry!

admins, i propose that this be put in the tutorial section, with jerry's permission, of course.

thank you jerry! i've been doing small rebatches in an oven bag, but just tonight was staring at a batch of activated charcoal / tea tree i'd made for halloween, and it looks halloween. i need to rebatch and describe it differently, and you've inspired me to try the crockpot method again...

your smooth tops look great!!!


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## Jerry S (Jan 5, 2011)

*Rebatching in a crock pot*

Thanks for the kudos’ Paillo. I hope that it will be a help to anyone trying to rebatch. I worked pretty well for me but one has to be patient with letting moisture be absorbed by the shredded rebatched soap, and there is some guess work to adding just enough but not to much liquid so that after un-molding the bars don’t shrink. I re-re-re-batched'' a few batches of soap before I got what I was looking for, mostly cuz I was to cheap to throw all the old soap trimmings and  trailings away.
Jerry S


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## tespring (Jan 5, 2011)

Great Job Jerry!  It came out perfect!  It took me a few tries also to do the rebatch and get it to how I wanted it but yours looks as smooth as mine does and you are right, it does look super creamy.  I love rebatch because it is so mild and it seems if you do it a few times to the same batch, it is super mild.


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## Microdot (Jan 6, 2011)

I'm still a novice and have yet to do a rebatch, but those bars turned out REALLY nice and smooth! Thanks for the tutorial, I'm saving it so I can follow your method when my time comes. Thanks!

Dotty


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## Jerry S (Jan 6, 2011)

*Do a rebatch in Crock Pot*

You bet Dotty, I'm not that far away from being a beginner myself.  I've been making soap a long time but not until recently have I gotten imaginative with my soap making and started coloring, adding FO's doing rebatches etc....    I don't sell my soap but I sure have fun making it and giving it to friends and family. They really like it.
Jerry S


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## stoney_60 (Mar 18, 2020)

Great tutorial. I tried to rebatch yesterday and it never got creamy just very thick and dry. Too much cooking or too high on heat? Thankyou


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## runnerchicki (Mar 19, 2020)

Great tutorial.  I rebatched some soap last year and the bars did shrink A LOT due to the amount of water I used to help smooth them out. But it saved the soap so I didn't care too much.


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## Arabella (Mar 23, 2020)

This was a joy to read. Thank you for sharing. Those bars looks nice.


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