Rebatching advice sought!

[Aline]

I have some pretty hard soap I want to rebatch and I'm seeing wildly different recommendations about how much liquid to add. A couple of articles suggest 9 oz water per lb of soap and I realize the amount will depend on how hard the soap is but this sounds like an awful lot. Also, a lot of people suggest adding milk but I wonder about mold developing? Either way, it sounds like a good idea to soak the soap prior to heating.

I also see people using a stick blender or an electric whisk to make the mixture smooth but I'm guessing a whisk would add bubbles..

Then I'm seeing people add sugar to help it dissolve (1 tsp simple syrup to 1 lb is an amount I've seen) plus a little glycerin or sodium lactate.

I stayed up late last night trying to make sense of all this info and now my head is spinning so I would really appreciate hearing your experiences about any of these options

Thanks!

 

[amd]

I have had the best results rebatching when I don't add any water at the start, just let the soap shreds melt down and then I add distilled water 1 TBSP at a time, until it stirs smoothly (or as smoothly as rebatch is want to go). This is how I do it, but I don't think there's a wrong way unless you add a ton of liquid.

 

[Aline]

Thanks amd! That is interesting to know.

 

[cmzaha]

With old dry shreds I like to add enough liquid to coat the shreds let them sit overnight and use the oven to melt them down. I usually set the oven at 180º -200ºF and find I get a much better melt down.

 

[Aline]

Soaking overnight makes sense to me. I don't have an oven so I guess I will try the double boiler method.

With old dry shreds I like to add enough liquid to coat the shreds let them sit overnight and use the oven to melt them down. I usually set the oven at 180º -200ºF and find I get a much better melt down.

 

[penelopejane]

Instead of rebatching you can shred your soap (grate it up) and add it to a new batch of soap.
1 part confetti to 1 part new batter. So 200g confetti to 200g of new batter.
It can look great.
Just scent the new batter with whatever FO you want. The new scent generally covers the old but if your old soap is heavily fragranced it might be an idea to use a complimentary scent.

 

[Aline]

Yes, I've seen people do confetti soap - that can look neat.

 

[bumbleklutz]

Instead of rebatching you can shred your soap (grate it up) and add it to a new batch of soap.
1 part confetti to 1 part new batter. So 200g confetti to 200g of new batter.
It can look great.
Just scent the new batter with whatever FO you want. The new scent generally covers the old but if your old soap is heavily fragranced it might be an idea to use a complimentary scent.

View attachment 29280

I second the idea of confetti soap. I absolutely hate to rebatch. It seems like no matter what method I use to rebatch, it never comes out how I like it. On the other hand, confetti soap just works.

 

[Saffron]

Here's a recent thread on rebatching that you might find useful: https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/rebatching.69347/

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

I think that the reason why you want to rebatch is important in deciding whether to confetti or full rebatch. I agree, confetti is slightly easier (have to grate the soap anyway, but you can then just add it to new batches as and when) and is more likely to provide a better result

 

[Aline]

Here's a recent thread on rebatching that you might find useful: https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/rebatching.69347/

Thanks, will check that out..

 

[cmzaha]

Soaking overnight makes sense to me. I don't have an oven so I guess I will try the double boiler method.

I would go the confetti method then. Double boilers are a pain with re-batch