rebatch help

[Emilee]

ok, so I need help. sorry, this is a little long winded.

made some lavender soap last night, using Paul's method again, of premixing oils, etc and combining with lye solution at room temp. This time when I mixed the lye solution, I left it for about 8 hours, so I'm guessing it was at room temp when I poured it into the oils. This is the first time I've left it so long. normally I mix the lye with the distilled water, and pour after a few hours. anyway, just before I mixed the lye in, I poured some melted beeswax and cocoa butter into the whipped oils. yesterday when i did the same thing, i mixed it in slowly and it was fine. but this time i just dumped it into the oils, and the beeswax was still warm, and it immediately went solid as it hit the room temp oils. I mixed with the hand whizz anyway thinking it would be fine as all the little bits of wax would melt when I poured the lye in. Well, they didn't, and the whole mix didn't seem to heat up as it usually does when the lye mix is hotter. It still traced and looked like a beautiful mix, just with a few small lumps of beeswax in it. not knowing if I could heat the whole mix and melt the lumps or not, I decided to pour, and will rebatch to get out the beeswax lumps. later on I thought I could have probably poured the mix through a seive, and it would have been fine. don't know. anyway... questions:

why did the whole mix not heat up so much? I thought even though the lye is at room temp, it would heat the oils and melt the little beeswax lumps (bout the size of your pinky nail)?

I decided to put the ess oil in anyway, even though I'm going to rebatch. should I have done this? or waited till rebatch and then added? can I add more at rebatch?

people with experience at rebatch, is it best to grate the soap as small as possible? I've heard also to wait at least 3 weeks to rebatch?

what is the reason for adding more water or milk during a rebatch? is it just so the soap doesn't burn? how much can you add and why doesn't it affect the overall liquid quantities in the initial soap mix? is it because it is a completely separate procedure and nothing to do with the initial mix?

once rebatched, how long do I cure?

I don't have a double boiler. what is best? is a crockpot ok?

any help much appreciated.

 

[MikeInPdx]

Hi emilee...

Since you have so many questions, I'm going to try and answer them one by one. See my responses in italics below:


why did the whole mix not heat up so much? I thought even though the lye is at room temp, it would heat the oils and melt the little beeswax lumps (bout the size of your pinky nail)?

I don't use beeswax so I can't help you with this one....although if I did, I would probably melt it with my oils.

I decided to put the ess oil in anyway, even though I'm going to rebatch. should I have done this? or waited till rebatch and then added? can I add more at rebatch?

The essential oil shouldn't be a big deal....I rebatch scented soaps. You should be able to add some more ess oil to the rebatch....I've done it before and had no problems. Although you really may not need to.

people with experience at rebatch, is it best to grate the soap as small as possible? I've heard also to wait at least 3 weeks to rebatch?

I grate mine on a plain old regular grater. There's no need to wait for 3 weeks either; I have rebatched in the same evening before.

what is the reason for adding more water or milk during a rebatch? is it just so the soap doesn't burn? how much can you add and why doesn't it affect the overall liquid quantities in the initial soap mix? is it because it is a completely separate procedure and nothing to do with the initial mix?

I add it so I can stir it and plop it into molds easier.....I add milk for a creamier texture (trick I learned here)
once rebatched, how long do I cure?

That depends on how much liquid you add....usually about two or three weeks.

I don't have a double boiler. what is best? is a crockpot ok?

A crockpot is fine.....so is a microwave oven on medium power. I like to nuke it. It's much faster.

any help much appreciated.

 

[pepperi27]

I don't make soaps from scratch I only do rebatch. Anyway I do not like the microwave cause the soap looks different from when I use the oven or crockpot. I like those methods better because it thoroughly heats up all of the soap and mine some how becomes so fluid that it pours slightly out of the pyrex. Crockpot is better because it keeps the soap heated so it gives you more time to mix stuff in whereas when you use the micro or oven you have less than five minutes to mix in your ingredients before it starts to harden up. My rebatches get hard in two weeks but like mike said depends on how much liquid you add. I have a rebatch tutorial posted in the photo gallery if you'd like to check it out. Have fun rebatching!

 

[MikeInPdx]

pepperi27....I agree with you on the rebatches looking different out of the microwave and the difference in time. I still prefer it because I'm impatient, and usually so irritated that I flubbed a batch that I just want to get the process over with...I'm usually nuking and muttering choce words all the way.

 

[pepperi27]

I would be too mike if I spent time formulating a recipe, mixing precisely and then it flops! I cannot imagine I would go nuts LOL but thats okay to use microwave I have used it on occassion but it cooked too fast for me LOL