Melting Soap

[kdm]

I have no desire to make meltable soap, but I've just read:

https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/how-do-i-rebatch-african-black-soap-recipes-please.25547/
Questions, questions!!

Does this mean our hard bard soap simply "melts"? I thought it might burn?

I have some which I added far to much lye to. can I melt it up again and add a commensurate amount of oil?

Thanks!!

 

[maryloucb]

You have to shred it and add water, and it does not melt very well. In fact, I think it's a pain, but many people do it. You can rebatch a lye heavy soap if you know exactly how much oil you need to add in order to make it not lye heavy.

 

[Carly B]

I "graduated" to rebatch after doing M&P for a long time, before I started making cold process. I used to buy soap shreds so I could customize my soaps. I seem to be one of the few people on this forum that likes rebatching once in a while. It allows me to take a soap and add some skin loving oils that would be lost during saponification, as well as using a liquid like homemade oat milk or aloe.

The amount of liquid or other stuff you add depends on whether the shreds from fresh soap or cured soap. I usually make rebatch a couple bars at a time, so I add usually no more than an ounce or two of whatever liquid I'm using and just a spoonful or two of oil. I shred the soap, add the liquid and oils, and either heat it up in a crock pot or in my microwave at about 40% to 50% power, stirring frequently.

It won't be smooth--it's like oatmeal in various stages depending upon how much liquid, but you can plop it into molds, and if the shreds are cured, you can use it as soon as it hardens.

 

[kdm]

You can rebatch a lye heavy soap if you know exactly how much oil you need to add in order to make it not lye heavy.

Oh, I know exactly how much hydroxide is in there. I can balance it. That's this weekend's experiment. Either that, or I fix the gutters...

I "graduated" to rebatch after doing M&P for a long time, before I started making cold process.

Imagine I posted in a beginners forum and hadn't learned the acronyms yet.

The amount of liquid or other stuff you add depends on whether the shreds from fresh soap or cured soap. I usually make rebatch a couple bars at a time, so I add usually no more than an ounce or two of whatever liquid I'm using and just a spoonful or two of oil. I shred the soap, add the liquid and oils, and either heat it up in a crock pot or in my microwave at about 40% to 50% power, stirring frequently.

It does sound like the moisture level is a bit of an art. I was going to heat over gas, but I'm wondering now if that's too harsh.

It won't be smooth--it's like oatmeal in various stages depending upon how much liquid, but you can plop it into molds, and if the shreds are cured, you can use it as soon as it hardens.

Slight aside to my rebatch problem, but I AM I'm intrigued by the possibility of putting some "not quite meted" shavings of a into a fresh batch of a different colour just to se the flecks of colour in the sectioned soap...

 

[ResolvableOwl]

Imagine I posted in a beginners forum and hadn't learned the acronyms yet.

https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/the-acronym-and-abbreviation-definition-thread.32055/

Does this mean our hard bard soap simply "melts"? I thought it might burn?

Hard bar soap indeed won't “melt” to give any sightly result. Young, soft bar soap kind of does, and you're right that you have to perfect the art of of moisture levels beforehand. And yes, burning is a serious problem, especially if you want to end up with a soap that will harden up within less than years – forget about crock pots and stuff, Oven Rebatch (CP) to a rescue!

but I AM I'm intrigued by the possibility of putting some "not quite meted" shavings of a into a fresh batch of a different colour just to se the flecks of colour in the sectioned soap...

Welded confetti soap? Intriguing! It's absolutely possible and might have some effects previously unseen up its sleeve. My gut feel, however, tells me that this is an advanced technique (beginner's forum maybe not the best place to hide it from the eyes of the old hands), and less reliable in its outcomes than regular CP confetti soap.

 

[kdm]

Welded confetti soap? Intriguing! It's absolutely possible and might have some effects previously unseen up its sleeve. My gut feel, however, tells me that this is an advanced technique (beginner's forum maybe not the best place to hide it from the eyes of the old hands), and less reliable in its outcomes than regular CP confetti soap.

OKay, you've given me soaparific expressions to search for! Yes, I also make lathe-turned pens. Sometimes, if I decide to do a plastic pen, when I make the blanks, I make one lump of polyester, then smash it up with a hammer, then embed the smashed pieces in a pot of polyester of a different colour. Well, check me out! I'm thinking matching pen and soap bars...

 

[earlene]

I AM I'm intrigued by the possibility of putting some "not quite meted" shavings of a into a fresh batch of a different colour just to se the flecks of colour in the sectioned soap...

As a new soapmaker, I did a lot of what I called "Old & New Soap" which is really a form of rebatch or confetti soap, depending on if the old soap was shredded only or shredded and 're-melted'. Of course it never really re-melts, rather it can be re-liquified, so I suppose that really is melting, but not in the sense of how MP soap melts.

Anyway.... Regarding mixing the dry soap shreds (salad shooter or food processor using a cheese grater attachment works well to grate soap with no finger scraping injuries to avoid) into the new soap (confetti soap), I would caution you do moisten the shreds prior to mixing into the new soap batter. When I did not pre-moisten the shreds, I got so many air bubbles around the shreds, it looked like swiss cheese with colored worms. (Well, sort of.)

The worst offender when I made confetti soap without pre-moistening was this little brainstorm I had where I filled TP rolls (set into the loaf mold, then later removed) with dry confetti, then poured the fluid new soap on top, thinking the wet soap would seep down & cling to all the shreds and create a smooth filling between the shreads all the way to the bottom. I also tried the same method creating a landscape soap with the shreds being the wildflowers. In both cases, there were loads and loads of air bubbles around the too-dry shreds. The soap was fine, but the holes in the finished soap was not planned.

 

[kdm]

I've just rebatched a load of shavings. Do we expect it to "melt" (as in completely liquid) or just to "soften" (such that they shavings clump together again)?
I put it on really gentle heat, but stopped when it smelled like it was burning (on reflection, I don't think it was actually burning).
It was nice and soft, so I lumped it into a mould. It was sort of jelly-like and I don't think there's much air bubbles in.
That was about a week ago. It's still in the mould in my airing cupboard, and it's still very soft.

 

[ResolvableOwl]

My melted soap usually has the viscosity of opaque creamy-liquid honey (just not as terribly sticky). It is normal that it doesn't harden up when locked up in a mould (all the saponification had happened long ago). If possible, unmould it, and cut it in pieces. Only when it gets a chance to lose the extra water, it becomes harder (if not quite as hard as the original CP soap).
And: pics!!!

 

[earlene]

I've just rebatched a load of shavings. Do we expect it to "melt" (as in completely liquid)

No. (I thought that was clear in previous answers, but perhaps not.)

or just to "soften"

That depends. How dry were the shavings? Were they 10 years old and rock hard, or were they less than a week old, stored in an air-tight container and still somewhat moist?
Did you added a liquid, and how much?

In addition to my experiences already posted above in my previous response, here's another one:
Making rebatch soap with too much added water, produces soap so wet, that after moulding takes ages and ages to evaporate and harden. During that process, it shrinks so much that even though inside a pretty mould, becomes deformed and is not in the least attractive. I did that when new to soapmaking.

Making rebatch soap as a confetti soap where the new soap batter is the glue that holds it all together, produces a nicer looking new soap that doesn't have to become ugly and deformed as it cures. The secret is not to use too much water when moistening the old soap.

 

[kdm]

Not sure what went right or what went wrong, but this was a worthwhile experiment with some offcuts. The white flecks are a commercial soap I'd been saving in a jar for ages. I shredded a lot of my own lavender soap, moistened it and heated it. Possibly not enough water, possibly not enough heat... This was weeks ago and it's still barely hard on the outer layer. But what do I need to do to get rid of the airgaps?

 

[AliOop]

Welcome to rebatching. Your result is pretty common, and a good example of why some folks only make confetti soap instead of rebatching, and others don't rebatch at all.

Commercial bar soap doesn't remelt easily at all, usually because it is milled from soap noodles to make it extremely hard. Plus, it has the glycerin removed. Unless you use a food processor or grater to shred it fairly fine, it will always stay as white chunks in your mix.

The air pockets are from putting the batter in the mold when it was already getting firm. To minimize this, you have to smash in a small amount, pound down the mold, smush and smash in another small amount, pound it down, and on and on till you are done. You should keep the melted soap on the heat while you do this.

You can rebatch this again, and try using the stickblender to make it more homogenous. Or you can cut it up, let it dry a bit more, and shred it up for confetti soap in another batch.

 

[kdm]

I'm Okay with the white: I didn't shred the commercial soap as I wanted the chunks. I'm more pissed about the amount of air in the melt.
There's no way this was ever soft / wet enough for the stick belnder to have made any impact. maybe I simply didn't wet / heat it enough?

 

[AliOop]

It looks like you had more than enough water, so more heat would be my recommendation. You can microwave it, or put it in the oven.

 

[kdm]

It looks like you had more than enough water, so more heat would be my recommendation. You can microwave it, or put it in the oven.

Maybe I'm just tentative. It honestly felt like it was about to burn or something. I'll try nuking it next time.