Reuse CP soap in a new batch

[Mark]

I've made a couple of CP batches now. One that I made was a coffee soap. It came out look nice and lathers well. However I added to much ground coffee, as an exfoliate, and the soap is just too rough. So here was my idea -

I've read where you can grind up old soap and melt it. So I thought I would make a new batch of the coffee soap with the exact same recipe, but leave out the grounds. Once the new soap has reached trace and is ready to be poured I would add the old melted soap, mix well, and pour. That would effectively cut the number of grounds in half for each bar.

Will this work? Would I need to make any alterations?

 

[kchaystack]

You don't have to melt the old soap. Just grate it up and mix it into the new bars, This is called confetti soap, and several people do it with soap scraps. I think the general ratio is 1 part old soap to 2 parts new soap.

 

[Mark]

I wonder if that will achieve my desired effect of distributing the coffee grounds through the new bars?

Thank you for that idea.

 

[kchaystack]

It should. Use a cheese grater and get the confetti in to pretty fine pieces. Mix them into your batter well with a spatula. You can always use a smaller portion of confetti, like 1:3 or 1:4 if you think you need to dilute it more. 1:2 is just the max amout of old to new you want to use.

 

[dixiedragon]

You could use either method. Confetti soap is easier. I have a salad shooter I use for grating soap. If you are using a cheese grater, you will be handling the soap a lot and it will really dry out your hands, especially if it is new soap. Wear gloves!

 

[Arimara]

You could use either method. Confetti soap is easier. I have a salad shooter I use for grating soap. If you are using a cheese grater, you will be handling the soap a lot and it will really dry out your hands, especially if it is new soap. Wear gloves!

I was going to mention that. I use a cheese grater but it's one designed for parmesan cheese

 

[WanderlustSoaps]

I dont have a salad shooter, and not your regular cheese grater, I have one I "borrowed" from the olive garden, think this will work?

 

[Arimara]

I dont have a salad shooter, and not your regular cheese grater, I have one I "borrowed" from the olive garden, think this will work?

It's much easier than using a standard cheese grater. Mine allowed me to grate way more soap than if I had used a standard grater. Still, the salad shooter is a great idea.

 

[lsg]

I use the grater attachment on my food processor. It goes a lot faster and is not as hard on the hands.

 

[earlene]

I dont have a salad shooter, and not your regular cheese grater, I have one I "borrowed" from the olive garden, think this will work?

I love their cheese graters, but for Cheese, not for soap. It would work, but I think it's too much trouble to cut them up into chunks that will fit inside. I'd save that one for cheese and buy a standard flat-sided cheese grater for soap.

But, if you have a good processor with a grating attachment, that's way better. Trouble is you don't want your food to taste like soap, so you have to decide if you want to use a food processor.

 

[shunt2011]

I too use my food processor grater. I run it through the dishwasher when I'm done and nothing tastes like soap. I use soap to wash dishes.

 

[dixiedragon]

I don't use my food processor mainly b/c a good food processor is expensive and I'm worried about burning out the motor.

BTW, be jealous y'all - I picked up a General Electric food process with ALL Of the trimmings for $5 at an estate sale this weekend, so I will probably start using it for soap stuff!

I like the Salad Shooter b/c you can usually pick them up for less than $5 at thrift stores, etc. The motor isn't the best and will probably burn out, which is why I'm always on the hunt. I have 2 back ups waiting. Not that I use them so much I need 2 backups, but for $3, why not?

 

[DeeAnna]

I suppose if you ran the food processor continuously for hours, it might complain. But most of the soapy things I do with my food processor aren't any harder on it than food prep -- I know grating soap is way easier on it than grating Parmesan cheese!

I use my food processor for soap and for food. I wash the food processor parts well, and there is zero taste and smell of soap in my food. It's not like I'm making soap with the food processor -- meaning mixing the lye and fats in it. Instead I'm just processing finished soap with it -- more or less the same stuff that I would wash up with.

 

[Mark]

I tried the food processor this morning. It shreds soap easy as can be. I wouldn't be worried about burning up the motor. 7 - 1 inch thick bars took about 3 minutes. The only thing to watch out for is filling up the container before you finish. This tended to pack the shreds together.

This soap had cured for almost 8 weeks, I had no concern about it somehow leaving a soap smell or taste after washing it thoroughly.

Thank you all for the comments and suggestions.