oops I forgot to add the coconut oil

[deg195]

I recently started to refrigerate my soaps. I made a milk and oat soap stuck in the the frig. and took it out about 15 h later. The soap was set up and color was beautiful. It realized it wasn't even sticky. I thought I was so lucky and cut into it...the soap cracked like it was frozen. It took me an hour to realized that nothing else was frozen in the refrigerator. I happened to check my recipe. And low and behold I just realized I did not add the coconut oil... 12 oz.
I guess this will be my first rebatch...I am nervous...
Going to rebatch in the oven- can I reuse the glass pan or is it just for soap after the rebatching?
spay with water and then add the missing ingredients? How long do I cook it?
Thanks, Barb

 

[AlchemyandAshes]

I would just grate it down WHILE WEARING GLOVES because that soap is going to be LYE HEAVY :!:
Lucky for you, you know exactly which oil and how much was left out, so this should be an easy fix.
You may or may not need to add any liquid...I would start off without and only add SMALL amounts if you do.
Let the grated up soap start to soften down, then add your missing 12 oz of Coconut Oil and stir thoroughly. Stir it occasionally until it gets an even jelly like texture. Take a blob out, let it cool, and zap test. If it zaps, keep cooking a little longer and try again.

 

[deg195]

Thanks, I will try this tonight. After dinner is made in the oven- LOL
How long does a 2lb batch usually take?
I am thinking hours?

 

[AlchemyandAshes]

Well, I do mine in a crock pot instead of the oven...but I'm guessing it won't take more than an hour. You don't want to cook it so long that it dries out. I like to use one of those crock pot liners,and when it's finished cooking, I use the liner as a bag to squeeze out the soap, like icing a cake. Less to clean up and looks smoother in the mold than glopping it in :wink: also, keeps any soap from actually touching your crock pot. I have a designated crock pot for soap, but if the rebatch is too big, then I use my huge kitchen crock pot with a liner.
Good luck!

 

[soap_rat]

Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I thought if we rebatch because it's lye-heavy, adding more water is important for the lye to react well with the oil? I know I've encountered that info here and there (not that it makes it correct) but then when I had to rebatch for lye-heavy/missing oil, my batch pH did not drop until I got frustrated and added enough water to make it rather soupy.

 

[AlchemyandAshes]

Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I thought if we rebatch because it's lye-heavy, adding more water is important for the lye to react well with the oil? I know I've encountered that info here and there (not that it makes it correct) but then when I had to rebatch for lye-heavy/missing oil, my batch pH did not drop until I got frustrated and added enough water to make it rather soupy.

Here's my thinking on this particular problem:
The OP only left out the Coconut Oil so she already had a higher water to oil ratio than necessary if her calculations were correct. The lye had enough water to act as a "carrier" (for lack of a better word) for the oil she used. Unless she used a steep water discount, this isn't a problem. Her soap isn't lye heavy because the lye concentration itself was too strong, but because she left out an oil component. As long as she ran her recipe through a lye calculator, and knows exactly which oil and how much she left out, she should be okay rebatching and only adding her missing oil.
Adding extra water isn't a huge problem in itself...it only adds to more water to evaporate during cure which can lead to warping and shrinking of the finished bar.
If she had actual lye crystals in her soap, I would probably suggest adding a small amount of liquid in the rebatch.
In your case. the pH won't always drop as soon as cook is finished. Sometimes it drops during cure, as long as you didn't just use way too much lye. You can have a higher pH without it specifically being lye heavy.

 

[deg195]

My hat off to all who rebatch...
wow..., did not have a large grater so I smashed the soap with a hammer into pieces (obviously not small enough) because there were pcs of heavy lye soap throughout. I could tell if the soap was grated it would have worked beautifully but some of the pcs did not want to get smaller...I finally after many hours sacrificed the soap...for my own sanity...
I am putting this all up to a learning experience. Thanks for all the great info- next time I need to rebatch I will purchase a large grater...Barb

 

[AlchemyandAshes]

Aww man, sorry to hear that :cry: I hate to throw soap out that could be saved...

 

[deg195]

I was nervous that the pieces of the old soap would be chunks in the rebatch. I will definitely pick up a big grater. If the pieces were smaller to begin with it would have worked- no doubt. I'm sure I will rebatch again..with more success.

 

[soap_rat]

Since adding water isn't usually needed, I think that my batch didn't react properly until I added a lot of water because I had cooked it about 6 hours trying to get it to its proper pH and it was so, so dry. (I don't stop cooking until it stops zapping, and at 6 hours I finally figured out there must be something wrong!)

 

[CourtneyLynn]

I forgot to add all my coconut oil. About almost a cup. It. I made a three pound batch (the four pound mold ended up not fitting four pounds so I make three and it fits fine) I left out a little less then a cut out of my soap. Should I re-batch this soap or is a way to still save it? I have never re-batches before. I set aside the coconut oil that was missing. But I am not sure what to do from this point.

 

[Genny]

CourtneyLynn ~ The only way to save that batch from being lye heavy is to rebatch it.
Anne-Marie from Brambleberry/Soapqueen has some rebatching videos that might be helpful
http://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-b...queen-tv-presents-how-to-make-rebatch-soap-2/
http://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/rebatch-double-boiler-method-2/
http://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/rebatch-soap-plastic-baggie-technique-2/