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.
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.