Rebatch help

[stepibarra]

Okay so yesterday I attempted to make a batch... Put into the mold and everything looked great, then this morning went to uncover and I have big globs of FO and solid oils on top.... How do I rebatch? Followed exactly what soapcalc. gave me

My recipe was this:
28oz. CO
28oz. Crisco
8.5oz lye
21.3 water
2oz. honey almond fo

 

[Guest]

I just ran a check and your recipe looks okay. I had the same thing happen to me last week, the FO separated out.

There's three ways to rebatch that I know of:

1.) Crock pot method, difficult if you don't own a crock pot. It's suggested you dedicate a CP to soaping and not try to share with cooking.

2.) Double boiler method, difficult if you don't own a DB. Or you improvise a DB by stacking a smaller pot inside a larger pot after putting some water in larger pot.

3.) Boil in bag method, uses heavy duty 1 gal ziploc freezer bags.

I couldn't get the DB method work for me but I used too much water. The CP method worked for me and I liked it. I haven't tried the boil in bags yet but it looks promising.

Pick yer poison.

 

[stepibarra]

But do I just remelt and pour... Or is there something else I need to do?

 

[Guest]

Just tell me if you have a crock pot you are willing to use for soaping, or let's do the boil in bag method. I haven't tried it. If you want me to help you I'll tell you how I'd do the rebatch. I think you should try the CPHP method if you have an available crock pot, or do the BIB boil in bag method if you don't.

 

[stepibarra]

I think you should try the CPHP method if you have an available crock pot, or do the BIB boil in bag method if you don't.

I do not have a crockpot, so it would probably be the BIB method....
Yes I would really appreciate your help.....

 

[Guest]

Okay Stepi, BiB method it is. I'm not the expert, other posts here describe it. You need to purchase some 1 gal heavy duty ziploc freezer bags. And get a grater if you don't have one.

You may need a greater grater if you have only a minor one. I just got a greater grater myself.

 

[stepibarra]

Got the bags.... soap not quite hard enough to grate yet...What do I do after I grate?

 

[Guest]

I guess after you're great you become grand...

I haven't done it myself. You grate your soap, moisten it, then put it in a heavy duty 1 gallon freezer bag, squeeze out the air and zip tight. Then you put that bag in another bag and do the same thing. Depending on batch size you might want to split your batch into two, three or more bags. You put them in a bath of hot but not boiling water you check them every 15-30 minutes for a couple hours, and mash them up using oven mitts or other means of not burning your hands. When it's ready you unzip and mold it. You might even dump the water, dump the soap into the pan, then put in additives before molding. I don't see any way to mix in the additives evenly without dirtying a pan, so either way (crock pot or BIB) there's one vessel that needs washing.

The benefit with BIB is that it uses simple, easy to get equipment. In my experience the crock pot has given me greater control than I imagine BIB gives, since you have easy access for stirring and adding ingredients in the CP.

 

[stepibarra]

Thanks Greg your the best.... I will do exactly this after getting home from work.....

 

[Guest]

Remember, I haven't tried it. I just described my recollection of how others have done it. It might be good to run it past somebody who has successfully done it, see if I left anything out. I'm particularly happy with my $20 crock pot so I probably won't even try BIB rebatching.

 

[SoapyGal]

I believe Lane does it this way....

And if I remember correctly, I think Soapmaker Man has tried it this way as well...

Maybe do a search on "double bag" method?

I just read the thread the other day, but don't remember its title.

One thing that stuck out in my mind is that Lane cuts the cornerI off the bag when she's ready to get it into the mold, & thereby creates a type of "piper" or "pastry bag" & is able to squeeze the soap through the cut corner into the mold, much like you would pipe frosting onto a cake... seems that it makes it a more controlled method of putting the soap into the mold, rather than scraping it out of the bowl.... I thought that was an ingenious idea

 

[Guest]

One thing that stuck out in my mind is that Lane cuts the cornerI off the bag when she's ready to get it into the mold, & thereby creates a type of "piper" or "pastry bag" & is able to squeeze the soap through the cut corner into the mold, much like you would pipe frosting onto a cake... seems that it makes it a more controlled method of putting the soap into the mold, rather than scraping it out of the bowl.... I thought that was an ingenious idea

!!!!!