Re-batching on purpose?

[ArlingtonSoaper]

Hi. I made this soap:

Olive oil: 37 ounce
Lye: 5 ounce
Water: 9.3 ounce

That's a 0% superfat, all olive oil soap. I dump the batter on a cookie sheet and let it sit for three days. Then I shred it and put it in a pan and heat it up for maybe two hours until it gets gelatinous. Then I add:

Cocoa butter: 2 ounces

Then I mold it.

With 0% superfat, all the olive oil should be consumed. And after three days of sitting, the saponification should have approached, if not reached 100%. I believe this gives me a 5% superfat that's 100% cocoa butter.

Is it worth it for the trouble?

 

[Arimara]

You might as well have just made the soap via HP, waited til the soap was saponified, melt the coco butter, and add it to the castile soap you made. It would have saved you three days.

 

[glendam]

I have actually been thinking of doing rebatched soap just to be able to use less essential oils than with cold process. I have done hot process before, but it seems it is too tricky to distribute at the right temperature based on the EO (the soap seems to be too hard by then). As far as your soap, in theory it seems it should work. Though I have also read that superfat does not stay in the skin to moisturize it, that it merely makes the soap milder, more gentle. I just found this while looking it up to confirm: Soapy Stuff: Superfat

 

[AliOop]

I have actually been thinking of doing rebatched soap just to be able to use less essential oils than with cold process. I have done hot process before, but it seems it is too tricky to distribute at the right temperature based on the EO (the soap seems to be too hard by then). As far as your soap, in theory it seems it should work. Though I have also read that superfat does not stay in the skin to moisturize it, that it merely makes the soap milder, more gentle. I just found this while looking it up to confirm: Soapy Stuff: Superfat

You have to fully melt the soap in order to rebatch it, so it will be just as warm as if you added the EOs after you have finished your HP. Plus, rebatching is never as smooth as the initial HP.

As @Arimara noted, the better option is to add the super-fat and EO after you have finished cooking your soap. In fact, this is one of the best ways to make your HP batter more fluid, along with:

1. not overcooking the soap - this is HUGE in my experience. Start zap-testing at 20-30 minutes into the cook. You may be surprised at how quickly the saponification may be complete. As long as the batter is cohesive (no separation or curdling), you can stop cooking when there is no more zap.
2. using a higher water % in the lye solution than one uses for CP
3. adding hot sugar-water post-cook
4. adding warmed milk of all kinds, including yogurt, coconut milk, etc., post-cook
5. adding sodium lactate post-cook
6. not scraping the dried soap batter off the sides of the cooking pot or the spatula. This creates a chunky soap with different-colored bits throughout. It is still soap and will work just fine, but these bits keep the soap from looking nice and smooth (one of the big objections to HP).

 

[glendam]

You have to fully melt the soap in order to rebatch it, so it will be just as warm as if you added the EOs after you have finished your HP. Plus, rebatching is never as smooth as the initial HP.

As @Arimara noted, the better option is to add the super-fat and EO after you have finished cooking your soap. In fact, this is one of the best ways to make your HP batter more fluid, along with:

1. not overcooking the soap - this is HUGE in my experience. Start zap-testing at 20-30 minutes into the cook. You may be surprised at how quickly the saponification may be complete. As long as the batter is cohesive (no separation or curdling), you can stop cooking when there is no more zap.
2. using a higher water % in the lye solution than one uses for CP
3. adding hot sugar-water post-cook
4. adding warmed milk of all kinds, including yogurt, coconut milk, etc., post-cook
5. adding sodium lactate post-cook
6. not scraping the dried soap batter off the sides of the cooking pot or the spatula. This creates a chunky soap with different-colored bits throughout. It is still soap and will work just fine, but these bits keep the soap from looking nice and smooth (one of the big objections to HP).

Thank you for all the tips, I think overcooking is my biggest difficulty, and I also have scraped the dried soap from the edges, that explains a lot!

 

[AliOop]

@glendam I am one who doesn't like to waste ANYthing, so it is really hard for me not to scrape the dried soap off the sides! I have been known to scrape out the cook pot later and add the scrapings to my bag of rebatch shreds.

 

[IrishLass]

I've rebatched on purpose before, way back in my early days of soaping (it was actually a thing back then with some soapers over on the Dish Forum and over at the Miller Soap site). My first and second batches were actually made for rebatching on purpose. My aim was to avoid having to mix lye so often, and to have lots of soap shreds on hand to make just one or 2 individual bars at a time at my leisure as needed, scented/colored with the precious few FO's/colorants I had on hand at the time. It served its purpose for me only temporarily, though, when the Cold Process bug caught me in its full grip and I discovered how much less of a hassle and how much more easier and fun it was to just make small 1.5 lb to 2 lb batches of fresh CP instead of melting scraps down for individual bars.

If you are going to be rebatching a whole 2 lbs at a time, I would just do HP. As Arimara said, it will save you much time and trouble.


IrishLass