Failed attempt on rebatching soap

[hoegarden]

I have tried to rebatch some soap 2 days ago. Maybe I could have been too ambitious in this attempt.

I tried to add in fresh strawberry and yogurt to melt and heat together with the soap.

The soap is still wobbly after one day. Not setting at all. Anybody can tell me the reason?

 

[Lindy]

It is going to be because of the strawberry & yogurt. When you are rebatching soap you need to keep the added liquid down to just enough to moisten the shredded soap....

 

[hoegarden]

I thought that I could have added abit too much yogurt and strawberry too. Could it be that I did not heat it long enough too?

I put it on stove for maybe around 1 hour.

 

[lizflowers42]

<---guilty of over liquiding rebatch soap! It should be fine in a month or so...thats how mine turned out...

 

[hoegarden]

I see, Liz.. Maybe i will keep track of the soap every few days and see how it tuens out.. do you put the soap in open space to let the water evaporate?

 

[lizflowers42]

Yep, I am treating it like it's newly cold processed. Turn it daily. I should post a picture tonight of my most recent rebatch...again way too much liquid added.

 

[hoegarden]

It has been a week. Though the soap is no longer wobbly, it is still in a paste like form.

I did something last night which I am not sure if it is okay. As I need the loaf mold that the soap is in, I dig out the soap and put it in another loaf mold.

I reckon that it should be alright to do that? Supposedly? roblem:

 

[Kansas Farm Girl]

My first rebatch was like that - I used too much liquid and ended up with pudding. I cooked it for a LONG time. I have a few bars of it left and they are still sticky and soft - over 2 years later. But it is very mild soap and actually lasts longer in the shower than I ever thought it would. Moral of this story - add less liquid for rebatching than you think you should. After that first time I now put in no more than 1 tablespoon if its a large batch and add more by the teaspoon if I need to, less is more.

 

[hoegarden]

I will wait for a few more weeks. If it really harden, anybody dare to try my soap?

 

[lizflowers42]

So my last rebatch was begining to harden...then I decided to tst my soap stamp and it ripped the surface open exposing the pasty inside! So I just crumbled it all up into a new mold. Super sticky mess... guess it needs a few a MONTHS!

 

[hoegarden]

Hi liz, think same problem for me.. the surface harden.. but not the inside..

 

[lizflowers42]

I might mash it out flat as I can and let it dry so I can make laundry soap with it or something... Then I can have a reason to make another batch of CP

 

[sweethavenarts]

I had a rebatch that came out of the mold like playdough. My kids thought it was HILARIOUS. I did manage to smush it into the mold really well. 8-P But now that its been close to 3 weeks, it's almost all solid.
Conversely, I did a coconut milk/carrot soap that was really mushy coming out of the mold. I rebatched it hoping to harden it more and it's STILL really mushy. I've been watching this thread in hopes of finding a 'cure.' Maybe if I made it with mini bars?
And a completely random question, could you rebatch with SALT WATER to harden it?

 

[SpellboundSoaps]

I am not sure how I blundered my last batch of soap. It was the first time soap did not work out for me. I even had seized soap that turned out excellent even if it didn't come out the way I had planned it. My only difference was I was testing a new colorant. What was supposed to be black and green turned out to be PINK! The whole thing is pink and it was pretty soft still with some parts hardened and other parts not so much. So I researched what went wrong (to see if it was still salvageable) and decided to try and rebatch it. I have a mini crock pot so I had to do my rebatch in batches (so confusing).

The first one came out really nice. I added some calendula and am going to use it as samples and give as gifts to family. It looks really nice and the calendula makes it smell really nice since there was no scent originally.

The next batch was waayyyyy too watery like what happened with you guys. The top hardened but the sides and the bottom didn't. So I took it out and set it on it's top to let the sides hardened. That was a few days ago, I'm still hesitant to cut it.

The last of the batches - OH BOY. I don't sleep well and my body apparently thought taking a nap after dinner was a good idea. Once dinner finished cooking I put the shreds in the crock pot, I set the batch to low, added a table spoon of water and put the lid on and expected to check on it an hour later, you know after I finished eating. 4 HOURS AND ONE CAT NAP LATER the whole thing boiled over and made the inside of the crock pot look like a bread bowl from Panera minus the soup. What was left was soap that LITERALLY looked like "The Blob" (same color and everything) running down the sides and caked to the top of the lid of the crock pot. Blob-like soap all over the counter - ICK! I took me a few hours to clean everything up but lesson learned - set a timer. So yeah I do not think rebatching is for me. :roll:

 

[hoegarden]

After 1 whole month of waiting, I finally cut the soap. As mentioned previously, it is rebatch using fresh strawberries and yougurt. I use the korean strawberries which are usually sweeter that the US one (not trying to be offensive, just that here, the US strawberries I bought are sour!) and this could be the reason why the color is so brownish.

It still have the berry smell and I did not seem to see anything rotting (i cannot see it either) so I presume the soaps should be okay for using. LOL.

The middle is still soft. so will be putting them to air for some more time. Anyway... they are ugly.. LOL..

 

[Genny]

Umm..they're interesting looking, hoegarden.

Do you plan on keeping one & setting it aside to see if it goes bad?
Sounds like your US strawberries were picked before they were ripe.

 

[Mommysoaper]

When I rebatch with fresh strawberries I use very little water, maybe add a tablespoon at a time and I don't add the strawberries until the soap is all melted. I only add about 1/4c of pureed berries. Just enough to add a little visual interest and add a bit of color. It took me alot of attempts to get mine the way I like it and I always keep an extra plain bar of soap or two on hand in case the batch is starting to look too watery. I have some soap left over from a batch I made about 7 months ago or so and no signs of mold or rot yet!

 

[hoegarden]

I use my strawberry puree + yougurt to melt the soap. LOL

Good suggest genny. I will keep 1 and see if it rot later. the strawberries are red... i thot unripen strawberries are green?? I think they keep the sweet one in the states and export the sour one out..

Hi mommy, I only rebatching like 200gm of soap and i over use my puree.. LOL. But good lesson learn though. I will try with strawberries again.

 

[melstan775]

Hoegarden yOur soaps are interesting to say the least lol. Let us know how they work out. About the strawberries, we get sour ones here quite often too. They go through stages of colors before they are red, but even first reds can be unripe. Darker reds are better.

 

[lizflowers42]

Strawberries are not in season yet in the states..well at least in the midwest! I can't wait for Michigan strawberries! I just finished my last jar of preserves last week...need to make a bigger batch this summer!