Rebatching

[DianaMoon]

Thanks again - and I hope that my incessant questions help another total newb.

This forum is truly a wonderful wealth of genuinely reliable info.

I'm just going to leave the rebatched batch, then.

BTW - at least now, I can't really smell the orange flower water.

 

[earlene]

I rebatched soap with too much liquid before, and it takes a long time and becomes terribly miss-shapen, but does eventually harden up. So long as that liquid is just water. If it's glycerin or maple syrup, it will be spongy-ish for a very long time, maybe forever. So as long as it's just water you used, it will eventually harden up. But don't keep it in a window sill, as others have said. Keep it where it will have nice air flow surrounding all sides of the bars, but not in direct sunlight. A dark room is good, but if you don't have one, away from the windows at least.

 

[cmzaha]

I totally agree with IL that rebatching in the oven gives a much better melt down. Also there really is not a mashed potato stage in re-batch it is is usually used as a term in hot process soap which is a new batch of soap. Sadly the fragrance from orange water is not going to stick

 

[Saffron]

I used rose water in HP soap once - added it after the cook. The smell did not survive, but it did add a certain appeal when I told people it was rose water soap.
You can use rose water as a toner on the face. My friend mixes it with glycerin and uses it to soften her hands after washing up or gardening.

 

[DianaMoon]

Neither the rose water nor the orange flower water smell persisted. The soaps are away from the sun, on a desk. At present they have the texture of hardening gummy bears. I have used a small piece to wash up - it's soap, and makes a good lather. It's ugly, and smells like oil, but it's soap.

It is funny how many analogies to food there are in soap making.

BTW, what is rancid soap? You don't eat it, does it matter?

 

[jcandleattic]

BTW, what is rancid soap? You don't eat it, does it matter?

Rancid soap will end up smelling of rancid oil, and could have orange spots or what is called DOS (dreaded orange spots) - nothing is technically wrong with the soap, but if it's rancid, you will know, that smell is HORRID.
It's still soap, so you can use it, but I would advise against giving it to anyone else to use it. I know if I got a DOS ridden or rancid soap from someone I'd never want to use another bar from that person.

 

[earlene]

Neither the rose water nor the orange flower water smell persisted. The soaps are away from the sun, on a desk. At present they have the texture of hardening gummy bears. I have used a small piece to wash up - it's soap, and makes a good lather. It's ugly, and smells like oil, but it's soap.

It is funny how many analogies to food there are in soap making.

BTW, what is rancid soap? You don't eat it, does it matter?

Bathing in rancid soap is like soaking in the tub in rancid oil. The smell may persist on the skin, depending on how bad the rancidity has progressed. I washed my hands with some once to see what happens, and it did persist on my skin. I don't want to smell like rancid oil. So, yes, for me it matters and I would never give it to anyone else, either.

I have had rancid soap that was so bad the odor permeated the entire upstairs and started wafting down the stairs. I had been away on an extended trip and came home to it. The DOS had spread throughout the soap, which was kept in a very hot upstairs room in the height of summer, which can mean pretty high temperatures in my house. Our AC doesn't reach the upstairs very well and therefore, the high humidity and heat most likely contributed to the advancing DOS. But even without the assistance of our weather, I am sure it would have advanced to that point in the winter as well, just maybe it would have taken longer.

 

[dixiedragon]

In my experience, rancid soap is probably fine to use. But it's ugly, it has a tacky/sticky texture, and it smells off/bad. I have so much soap floating around my house that I've started pitching bars at the first spot of rancidity.

 

[Aline]

If the soap is new and still fairly soft/dentable, there's no need to grate it- just chop it into chunks, add water to just dampen it (your blossom waters are fine) and then heat it. If the soap is older and hard, grate it up, dampen it, and let sit overnight before heating.

I don't have a dedicated crockpot, so I heat mine in a stainless (covered) pot in my oven set to 180F. My favorite thing to do is to heat the soap up until just soft/pliable as modeling clay, then I squish up portions of it in my hands to release any air bubbles, and press into decorative MilkyWay brand molds. I then pop the molds into the freezer and unmold the next day or so. This is what they end up looking like:View attachment 29123


IrishLass

Wow, that's good to know that you can put it into molds

 

[RobinRogers]

I should have listened to everyone. I went ahead & rebatched & now have a soft loaf that I think will never harden because I added too much water at mashed potato stage. It would be silly go into every nutty detail. Anyway I'm just going to leave it on the window sill and see if it ever hardens, unless someone here tells me that it won't. Is there such a thing as "re-rebatching" to boil out the excess water?

Except for dealing with lye, this is a lot like cooking & reminds me of my earliest cooking disasters. But I ended up a pretty fair cook.

I only started this because I needed to write something about a soapmaker. I thought that I had to walk a mile in his moccasins before I could write about him, and that was true. I learned a lot. It helped my writing. But my soap is awful.

I have only been soaping since Jan. I’ve gotten pretty good at it but I just made a fatal mistake! I was working with a new recipe but I added 2 essential oils I’d bought off Amazon and didn’t know how they would react in CP. I’d used them each before but never mixed them. (Gardenia and Vanilla). I added oatmeal to the oils and put in at trace. I had added a lot of zinc oxide to the batter to make it very white for coloring. All of these things I did were different so now I’m not sure which thing seized my soap!!! Now I will try to rebatch. This is its 2nd day in the mold because I was so busy yesterday! Whew! Wish me luck!

 

[RobinRogers]

No, you're not being snarky. But here's a lot of information and my main concern was lye safety, for which I got chastised as "paranoid." Well, sorry, I live in a small apartment and one man's paranoia is another man's good sense.

Soap Calc is only as good as the info you punch into it.

For example, I read EVERYWHERE to stick with the defaults in Soap Calc, especially the water percentage. So I did. But that meant that my lye% was quite low. Who knew?

People here really do know their stuff, as opposed to the random cr@p I read on the net. So I then learned that the lye %age that 38% water yielded a too low lye percentage. Oh well. It's just soap!

I learned the hard way about Soapcalc and Lye percentage, too. I’m a newbie. I use 35% and haven’t had a soft soap. I got my only soft bar using them the first time! I didn’t rebatch but used the soft soap in a mosaic. It was the most beautiful soap I’ve made and I was proud of the way it looked in a mosaic. I cut it up in random sized pieces and put in molds. It was blue and green tiger stripe. I then made a white soap heavily scented with the same (Bay Rum) because the scent didn’t stick. I’m currently using a bar in the shower and it is awesome!!! If your bar stays soft, try this.

 

[shunt2011]

I learned the hard way about Soapcalc and Lye percentage, too. I’m a newbie. I use 35% and haven’t had a soft soap. I got my only soft bar using them the first time! I didn’t rebatch but used the soft soap in a mosaic. It was the most beautiful soap I’ve made and I was proud of the way it looked in a mosaic. I cut it up in random sized pieces and put in molds. It was blue and green tiger stripe. I then made a white soap heavily scented with the same (Bay Rum) because the scent didn’t stick. I’m currently using a bar in the shower and it is awesome!!! If your bar stays soft, try this.

This post is over a year old. The OP hasn’t been here in a year. Probably won’t see your response.

 

[Mobjack Bay]

Thanks again - and I hope that my incessant questions help another total newb.

This forum is truly a wonderful wealth of genuinely reliable info.

Can I just pop in quickly to say that this thread has been super helpful?! I have one batch of soap that’s about a week old and it seems a little on the soft side and unlike other batches I made with the same recipe. I may have added More than the usual amounts of oil and glycerin when I added AC and clay. I’ve been wondering if I should just toss it. It seems like maybe I should leave it alone and check back in a few months.

 

[Zany_in_CO]

I’ve been wondering if I should just toss it.

No.

It seems like maybe I should leave it alone and check back in a few months.

Yes.

 

[Mobjack Bay]

No.

Yes.