Brambleberry rebatch question.

[jenneelk]

I've been trying to use up a bunch of random scents and miscellaneous soap stuff.. Part of it was some old rebatch I bought from Brambleberry a long while back.
They say to use a oven bag and put it in boiling water.. But mine keep floating?? Tried calling them but no answer and no return call.
Anyone know if it's supposed to be submerged or just sit on top of the water?
Seems like it should submerge but maybe the steam is supposed to do the melting?
I wouldn't bother with it if it wasn't 3 sets of rebatch I had and hate to waste good soap.

 

[Susie]

Get all the air out of the bag that you can, then just let it float. It will melt.

 

[Rowan]

I tried to rebatch using an oven bag and my soap mostly floated too. The whole thing was disastrous for me, as the oven bags split 3 times, letting in water each time! At the time I was trying to fix only my second batch of soap ever. I had used a fragrance oil bought off the internet which not only seized but there was no fragrance either! I even tried 2 bags together and they split too. Talk about panic. However the soap did melt. I glooped it into a mold and believe me it was gloop. It did take a long time to harden and shrank.....ahem....quite a bit, but the soap was great in the end! Hopefully your oven bags are stronger than mine.

I tried the crockpot after that and it did work much better, but have since read Kathy Miller's website about rebatching. Quite a few people wrote comments about different techniques they used, which look promising. Good luck with yours.

 

[btz]

Hot air expands, so make sure you let out the air once in a while if you saw your bag is getting too 'full'. I think that's why your bag splits Rowan.

 

[Susie]

I would never choose the bag method to rebatch, I would throw mine into the crock pot and rebatch on low. But, I am a seriously type A personality with control issues, so I need to be able to fiddle with stuff often. So, to each his/her own.

 

[pamielynn]

Crockpot is much easier and less messy, IMO

 

[Rowan]

Hot air expands, so make sure you let out the air once in a while if you saw your bag is getting too 'full'. I think that's why your bag splits Rowan.

Thanks, this definitely happened the first time. After that I think it was weak bags, as it happened even when I let the air out. The technique didn't work well for me. I would definitely agree with everyone else's comments and use a crock pot next time!

 

[btz]

I use makeshift double boiler with oven safe glass bowl inside a bigger pot, propped so that the water didn't touch the bowl and then cover the pot and bowl with dish towel. This also works well.