could someone explain rebatching to me...in idiot terms!!!

[awi]

I have a bunch of soap that i have made that didn't turn out of the molds very pretty was wanting to try and rebatch it. How do I do this? Is is basically just grating the soap and adding water and cooking on the stove until it is like pudding and repouring it into the molds? If I am right, how do you know how much water to add? THese bars were goats milk, so do I use water of goats milk? And finally, are there any benefits to rebatching? Does it make the soap milder or anything like that?

Thank you for any help you can provide.

 

[krissy]

Http://www.SMFtutorials.com/how-to-make ... orial.html

try reading this.

 

[evergreen]

In simple terms, rebatching is similar to a Melt and Pour technique but you've made the soap base---you melt down your soap on low heat and add extra fluid (water, milk, herbal tea, etc.) to reconstitute it into a semi-gel form. You don't want it too soupy or it won't set.

Rebatching is the closest thing that the home soap maker can do to emulate milled soap. The result is a finer texture soap the second time around (that's one of the goals). Rebatching is also used to correct mistakes, aesthetics, enhance with extra special oils (super-fatting), herbs, colorants, or simply to add delicate essential oils that might flash off or taint due to heat or ph from the saponification process (hot or cold process). Some people prefer to use rebatching as a creative tool while others prefer it as a last resort before throwing the soap away. Norma Coney's book, The Complete Soapmaker, uses rebatching as a matter of course by suggesting plain soap bases that can be melted down and enhanced with a multitude of possible additives. Rebatching also allows the soapmaker to use fancy molds that might not be used otherwise because of the saponification process.

The tutorial linked to above offers you a possible method of rebatching, but milk is not the only possible hydration fluid for the soap.

All soap that is to be rebatched must be grated. A Salad Shooter is the recommended tool. I have one and it works great as long as the soap is not too soft.

Another tip would be to add the least amount of water necessary and let the soap sit in the crock and water overnight. Use the lowest heat setting, like warm, on your crock pot. Don't stir too much. If you do, you'll make a whipped soap--it might not be what you want. There's a recipe for that in Coney book...it's a soap that floats!

I prefer a large crock pot bowl because of the volume required for the grated soap.

I hope that helps!

 

[awi]

Thank you evergreen, that helps a lot. I do have another concern. If you use milk to reconstitute the soap, does it go bad or make the soap smell bad? The soap I am wanting to rebatch is goats milk soap and it can tend to smell a little anyway?

 

[evergreen]

I have not used milk to rebatch soap yet. I will be making a CP yogurt soap this week from the "Milk Soapmaking" book by Anne L. Watson. In her book, she notes that milk soap can have a slightly funky smell that goes away after it's cured...but we're talking about a CP soap from the start, not a rebatched soap. It might be easier to start with powdered milk. It may be less likely to react with any essential oils you'd like to ad. What about adding honey? I have read comments by other people that their milk soaps eventually lose the unpleasant smell.

My thoughts are that you should scald any milk for a rebatch and then let it cool to a proper temperature. The reason for the scald would be to kill any bacteria that might cause issues since it's a rebatch at a low temp. I've done plenty of rebatches but have yet to use milk--sorry, I can't answer your question definitively.

 

[Hazel]

awi -

You could use aloe juice as your liquid instead of milk or water. I like using aloe juice for my soaps. I buy it at Walmart's and it's not too expensive. I bought a gallon for $8.

If you sell soap, it might look good on the label - "goat milk with aloe" :wink:

 

[awi]

Thanks Hazel for the suggestion of aloe juice. I have some that I didn't know what to do with and yes, it would look nice on the label....now how do you list ingredients in rebatched soap??? Is is just like the original soap you are grating down along with any additional additives??? Any reference to rebatched??? Do you have to mention this?

 

[Hazel]

I don't sell soap so I'm not up on labeling. Hopefully someone who does sell will answer this soon.

I think the ingredients would be the same and then you'd add in the additives according to weight. I know with rebatching (cuz I've had to do it :wink: ) you use as little liquid as you can so the soap doesn't get too wet. So, I think the additional liquid would be at the end of the ingredients list. Does this make sense?

I know some people rebatch so that additives don't go through the saponification process which could destroy some herbs or special additives that can't take a high temp. I think the only reason you'd want to mention it was rebatched would be if you wanted customers to know this was done to protect the additives.

 

[Sonam]

I like using rebatching as a creative tool. And the soap comes out milder after I noticed. Then you can control what you add. If it's fresh soap I add 1 Tbs or 2 per pound of water or oil to the grated soap. I think working with a double boiler situation works best (I put a glass bowl onto a pot with boiling water in it). I also like to do this so I don't have to soap so often to cut down on lye fume exposure.

 

[carebear]

The result is a finer texture soap the second time around (that's one of the goals).

I'v gotta challenge this. You won't get a finer texture in rebatched soap than you will in CP. In fact, you are most likely to find quite the opposite.

Genuinely milled soap is denser and smoother but the soap is finely ground and dried, then mixed with various things and then pressed under tremendous pressure - but rebatching doesn't do this.

Rebatching is not like MP soap. With Melt & Pour soap you have those two steps - you melt it to a liquid and then pour it into a mold. Rebatching requires a long, slow heating to achieve a kinda "slop" - far from a liquid. If you add enough milk or water (I use milk, and don't scald) to make it a liquid like MP it probably won't harden up, and if it does it'll shrink into a rather odd shape.

Milk seems to result in a smoother rebatch for some reason, and I've never found it to create an off odor.

 

[soapsmurf]

Norma Coney's book, The Complete Soapmaker, uses rebatching as a matter of course by suggesting plain soap bases that can be melted down and enhanced with a multitude of possible additives. Rebatching also allows the soapmaker to use fancy molds that might not be used otherwise because of the saponification process.

The tutorial linked to above offers you a possible method of rebatching, but milk is not the only possible hydration fluid for the soap.

All soap that is to be rebatched must be grated. A Salad Shooter is the recommended tool. I have one and it works great as long as the soap is not too soft.

Another tip would be to add the least amount of water necessary and let the soap sit in the crock and water overnight. Use the lowest heat setting, like warm, on your crock pot. Don't stir too much. If you do, you'll make a whipped soap--it might not be what you want. There's a recipe for that in Coney book...it's a soap that floats!

I prefer a large crock pot bowl because of the volume required for the grated soap.

I hope that helps!

I'm with carebear. I don't agree with most of what your post says about rebatching. For instance, "extra fluid" isn't always added when rebatching. Whether any fluid is added at all is dependent on the soap being rebatched, its age, etc. With respect to molds, I think most will see the opposite is the case: no fancy molds for rebatching. The texture of the soap whose consistency will be vaseline-like does not lend as easily to molding- especially molds with delicate detail.

I've got to tell you that if you're using Coney's book... it may be wise to invest in another reference manual...

 

[honor435]

I dont like rebatching, I avoid it! I certainly wouldnt do if if I didnt have to, only to correct a mistake. I dont think it looks as nice.
IF I do it, i dont grate it, takes too long, i just chunk up soap, throw in the crock til gel looking, add some liquid, not much though.

 

[evergreen]

The result is a finer texture soap the second time around (that's one of the goals).

>I've gotta challenge this. You won't get a finer texture in rebatched soap than you will in CP. In fact, you are most likely to find quite the opposite.

The statement is not that you'd get the finest possible texture but that it would be finer than the soap was previously. Fine can also refer to more homogenized since the soap has been grated and remelted together. Coney states that "Hand-milled soaps have a more pleasing texture than soaps which haven't been milled. They last longer, too--an especially important factor when you consider that handmade basic soaps are considerably softer than the soaps you purchase at stores." So, finer, is my interpretation.

>Genuinely milled soap is denser and smoother but the soap is finely ground and dried, then mixed with various things and then pressed under tremendous pressure - but rebatching doesn't do this.

My rebatched soap has been denser and smoother than the original. It also dries harder.

I know what milled soap is. Coney's book uses the hand milled term to apply to rebatching--so I used it as well. I also stated that it was the closest that a home soapmaker could come to emulating milled soap. Home soapers don't have access to factory equipment.

>Rebatching is not like MP soap. With Melt & Pour soap you have those two steps - you melt it to a liquid and then pour it into a mold.

I didn't say that it was the same as...it was a metaphor to help explain it--it was a similar method in the sense that you take an already made soap base and melt it down before pouring the new batter into molds. You're reading too much into what I tried to say.