Rebatching failed loaf?

[ian80]

Hi guys,

Long time lurker, first time poster.

After a year of soap making, I have my first truly failed batch. It is an essential oil bar made with coffee as substitute for water.

I made the same recipe the week prior with fragrance oil, it turned out perfect. The recipe works. After leaving it insulated overnight, this second batch came out totally separated. There is a good inch of oil floating on top of the solidified soap. Additionally, the soap underneath is *very* soft. I can stick a toothpick through it without effort.

I'm sure my measurements were right. (Also, all of my tools have perfectly hardened soap on them from this batch). Any idea what could have gone wrong? Anything I can do to salvage the batch? Or should I just give up on it.?

Thanks!

 

[cmzaha]

Most likely overheated and seperated. You can pour it all in a crock pot and rebatch. What EO? Some will overheat. I rule is to never never throw away soap when it can usually be saved. I hate with a passion wasting ingredients. If I have a really ugly rebatch, colorwise, I just turn it into scrubby mud and charcoal bars. If you know you measured correctly you will not need to add in any additional liquids or oils

 

[Susie]

Hi, and Welcome!

Well, I must say that if you got through a whole year without a batch messing up on you, then you are doing WAY better than I did.

Don't waste those ingredients! Rebatch! A crockpot is a good friend in times like these.

 

[ian80]

Great news! Thanks, guys!

Have yet to try a crockpot/hp method. I just upgraded my kitchen crockpot, so have an old one that's been waiting to cook some soap.

Will try this evening and report back.

EDIT: Quick question - all the instructions I am reading for rebatching have be grate the soap. Being that I have a gloopy mess on my hands, can I just throw it into the crockpot in chunks?

 

[Susie]

Yes, just dump the mold contents into the crockpot and go from there. Wear gloves as you may have some lye water lurking in there.

 

[ian80]

It worked beautifully! Thanks for saving me from wasting those ingredients.

 

[Susie]

Good rule of thumb: NEVER throw any batch out until you have gotten feedback from here.

You learn so much from those batches that help so much in the future that I can easily say that they are your greatest learning opportunities. They also help every other newbie(and some of us not-so-newbies) learn what to do and what not to do.