rebatch madness

Tonight I attempted my second rebatch. (Sorry if this is long and boring. I try to include as many details as I think might be relevant.) The first, which was several months ago, went fine; the bars are ugly, but good soap. Both rebatches were made with scraps/shavings from previous batches that were ordinary -- that is, no issues with the originals.

This is the technique I used: "Take a pound of shredded rebatch soap, put in an oven safe bowl, non aluminum, pour a cup of liquid over it, stir it up good and let stand covered over night.

Next day stir again, cover with foil and put in oven at 200 degrees for about 90 minutes, it will be nicely liquid."

(Source: http://www.brambleberry.com/Rebatching-Techniques-W25.aspx)

I wasn't sure if they really meant 8 ounces of liquid when they said "a cup." 8 ounces of liquid added to 16 ounces of shredded soap is a LOT of fluid. I don't think I've ever used anything close to that ratio. But I figured "hey, it's just scraps, let's see what happens!"

The scraps were too fluffy to fit in one pot, so I split them into two pots: blue-ish scraps in this one, pink-ish scraps in that one. But I didn't divide the water in exact proportions by weight; I just eyeballed it. I noticed one pot contained a little bit more water than the other, but I didn't care since I knew it would all be mixed together eventually.

The directions weren't kidding; it was pretty fluid at the end. I was able to swirl the batter from the two pots together and pour -- and I mean REALLY pour! -- into the mold. Not sure that's a good thing, though. It will be interesting to see how long it takes to get really hard, and how much shrinking/warping I'll see along the way. Will update, with pictures!

And now, finally, I come to my real point. At the very end of the cook, right before swirling the soap from the two pots together, I noticed that the soap in the pot that had received a smaller portion of the water was WAY more fluid than the pot that had a little extra water. It wasn't like this until the very end. I stirred them 2-3 times during the cook, and those times, the soap with the extra water was more fluid. But at the end it was reversed.

Theories, anyone? I'm very interested. If this is more than a fluke, if there's really something to it, it could have enormous benefits for the way I do HP.

I really have no theories, hope this method works well for you. I rebatch using a small Crockpot. I have noticed that the more liquid I add, the more shrinking and warping I get.

I don't know if the different batches of soap were also from different recipes. If so, that might explain the differences you saw. Some types of soaps (stearic and palmitic soaps are examples) will stay as thick gel as more and more water is added while other types of soaps will thin out fairly quickly (lauric soaps for instance).

That makes sense, DeeAnna. The recipes had slight variations, but were still pretty similar. Maybe 5% difference? Next I'll have to split scraps from the same batch and add more water to one.

I unmolded it this morning, it's crazy soft. Like softer than 12-hour CP. One of the corners stayed behind in the silicone mold liner. Pictures to come, I promise!

I made rebatch once with enough water that I was able to pour it into a mold. The resulting bars shrank and warped something terrible. I still generally use more water then many other people but not enough for pourable batter, maybe 1/2 cup per pound of scraps.

lsg said:

I really have no theories, hope this method works well for you. I rebatch using a small Crockpot. I have noticed that the more liquid I add, the more shrinking and warping I get.

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I find this to be true too.

I use a cup of liquid to 2 lbs.

I use the oven method.

lillybella said:

I find this to be true too.

I use a cup of liquid to 2 lbs.

I use the oven method.

Click to expand...

And do you get much shrinking/warping when you do it this way?

No not a lot but if I add a cup to a lb then I do get a lot of shrinkage.

After leaving it in the unheated oven overnight the liquid is absorbed.

Oh! I forgot! I also whip it with a mixture to become light & fluffy & it floats too!

Pictures, as promised! It's quite pretty, especially for rebatch, but holy cow is it SOFT! Like cutting through pudding. I expect it to shrink and warp a LOT, and I doubt it will be so pretty in the end.

The cuts are smoother than I usually get, which makes me think I should be cutting my regular HP batches sooner, when they're softer. Not sure if I can pull that off, though. My only uninterrupted time is in the evenings when my kidlet is sleeping, so naturally that's when I do my soaping. Which means I'd need to set my alarm for 5:00 AM to get up and cut the soap. Yeah. . .not happening!

Huh, if that's the result of "too much water," I'm going to have to try it. My rebatches generally have surfaces resembling Mars. And since rebatches are always home use only, I don't care if it warps.

MorpheusPA said:

Huh, if that's the result of "too much water," I'm going to have to try it. My rebatches generally have surfaces resembling Mars. And since rebatches are always home use only, I don't care if it warps.

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But if you don't care if it warps, why do you care if the surface looks like Mars?

It was easy, I added 1 cup (8 ounces) of water for every 16 ounces of soap scraps. Stir, then let it sit for 12-24 hours, stirring occasionally. It was getting gooey and smooth even before I baked it.

I put it in the oven at 210F for 90 minutes. Took it out to stir a few times at random intervals. Pour (actually pour!) into the mold. I let it sit for about 12 hours before taking it out of the mold. It was super soft, I should have left it longer. Then I let the log sit and dry for another 12 hours before cutting it. But I could have, and probably should have, let it sit for like 2 days. I had some excess that I put in these little silicone heart molds, and I still can't get them out without destroying them. They're going to have to wait a while!