My first rebatch - how did I do?

[inkyfingers]

I made a soap 5 days ago that still had the consistency of soft marzipan. The recipe I used, was olive35%+coconut30%+avocado30%+castor5% hasn't worked as well as soapcalc indicated it would.

I also decided to remedy the recipe by revising it to olive35%+coconut30%+avocado20%+cocoa butter 10%+castor5%.

So to plan my rebatching, I made a chart...

ingr. new soap, old soap, difference
olive 455, 228, 228
coconut 390, 195, 195
avocado 260, 195, 65
cocoa butter 130, -, 130
castor 65, 33, 32
H2O 494, 247, 247
NaOH 184, 92, 92
weight 1978, 990, 989


So I cut up my too soft to grate soap in my pan on low heat, (it was really about 940g, but I'm assuming some H2O evaporated, so I added 50ml back in), and added the oils in my difference until it was mostly melted (still a bit chunky, but really soft). I let it cool some, and prepared my lye water separately. Once at ~ same temperature, I added my lye water and blended. it got thick really fast and became like soft sugar cookie dough - slightly chunky here and there, but mostly uniform. I scooped it into my mold and it is now sitting in a quiet place.

Is my logic sound to assume I will end up with the recipe on the left, once it is cured?

 

[inkyfingers]

The tab key wouldn't let me make a chart, so here I was putting spaces in so it would resemble a chart, but then they didn't show up. I hope you can follow my post.

 

[MzMolly65]

Interesting logic and I'm curious to see your results (I mean that in a good way)

I'm in the middle of rebatching a similar soap today. Mine also had the same consistency after several days and I chalked it up to incomplete saponification. (DeeAnna told me once that sometimes in the cavity molds if a soap hasn't been taking to a far enough trace it can't get hot enough to finish saponifying) ...

So I stuck it in the crock pot and it's reheating to get it to finish but I never thought to add more ingredients or try to make an entirely new soap out of it.

It's a good idea and I really want to see if this works for you.

 

[inkyfingers]

My soaping buddy and I made a few batches with just olive, coconut, avocado and castor oil because we want to avoid using palm oil if possible, and we want to keep it simple and affordable. Upon further research, I see that some soaping sites recommend keeping the avocado to 20% or less. With this information, I realize that if I were to just rebatch, it would eventually STILL be the same proportion of oils. This is my attempt at problem solving, I guess. The mold is already harder one hour after pouring (or squeezing, scooping) than my old batch was after 2 days.

I hope it works. We'll know by tomorrow.

 

[inkyfingers]

I was hoping to get more opinions on my calculation/formula because I'm certainly no math major, and while I do have a chemistry background, college was 20 years ago. But as it turns out, only 6 hours after squeezing the soap into the mold, it was ready for cutting - and already passed the zap test. I'll let it cure the recommended 4 weeks, but so far I feel good about it. It's somewhat marble on the inside, very rustic looking, but charming. It looks very handmade.

Soap fixed, problem solved.

Now watch it fall apart tomorrow and turn into little pea sized soap chunks or break out into measles...

 

[MzMolly65]

Hopefully someone will chime in with an educated opinion soon. Glad it seems to be turning out for you .. that's always a happy day.

 

[JusDin]

We want pictures! :razz:

 

[inkyfingers]

There it is! It's more than just a little rustic looking, with tiny cracks here and there. It unmolded easily after 6 hours, although I suspect I could have gotten it out sooner if I wanted to. I've been trying for pretty soaps for weeks now, but if I turn out to be better at this kind of soap, then I'll just have to work with it.

 

[Tienne]

I'm a little late to the game, but I can't see why the do-over wouldn't work and it seems to me, it has! I can see it hasn't gotten the measles yet, either! LOL Well done! Nice save and looking good! With your creative way thinking, inkyfingers, you'll be making "pretty soaps" in no time. Practice makes perfect, so just hang in there! Every single soap you make teaches you something, so take an abundance of notes (coz you will forget the hows and whys of each soap as you make more) and then just keep on truckin'! I can't wait to see your next creations.