SoapyScrubs
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I was wondering if I can make the hand milled soap out of a re batch base?
rebatch question
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Rebatch & Hand-Milled are basically the same thing from what I understand. Hand milling is basically just grating the CP.
pepperi27
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To hand mill is to use a machine I use it cause it sounds fancier when selling soaps. Rebatching however is melting down cp soap and cooking it further to produce a longer lasting soap or so they say! If you'd like to check out my blog I posted a recipe and a tutorial! Anne Marie from brambleberry actually posted my tutorial on her blog as well!
Hi Pepper,
I'm sorry I am going to have to disagree. :wink: There are books out there that refer to the process of grating soap, mixing it with fluids and other ingredients as Hand Milled. One of those authors is Norma Coney in her "The Complete Soapmaker". I have heard of some soapmakers that cut their CP into chunks and then melt it down and this is where I have been getting confused about rebatching and hand milling.
I'm sorry I am going to have to disagree. :wink: There are books out there that refer to the process of grating soap, mixing it with fluids and other ingredients as Hand Milled. One of those authors is Norma Coney in her "The Complete Soapmaker". I have heard of some soapmakers that cut their CP into chunks and then melt it down and this is where I have been getting confused about rebatching and hand milling.
Hand milled certainly sounds like shredding.
I thought I read somewhere that hand milled is sometimes then compressed together into molds rather than melted down. I'll have to see if I can find that. My impression was that it might require special equipment and might not be for the average soaper the way rebatching would be.
I thought I read somewhere that hand milled is sometimes then compressed together into molds rather than melted down. I'll have to see if I can find that. My impression was that it might require special equipment and might not be for the average soaper the way rebatching would be.
technically "milling" means grinding. and in the commercial world the milled soap is then pressed under hundreds if not thousands of pounds of pressure into rock hard bars (check out triple milled commercial soaps as an example).
but crafters don't have those presses, so our only option is to melt the soap and remold it. grated first or chopped or whatever using any means available (be it your salad shooter, your grater, or a kitchen knife). we tend to call that rebatching, but there's no legal Standard Of Identity so people call it whatever the blazes they choose. And some choose to call it hand milling - guess it sounds prettier.
In this world there are no standardized names. Heck, Room Temp soaping has at least two distinctly different definitions too!
but crafters don't have those presses, so our only option is to melt the soap and remold it. grated first or chopped or whatever using any means available (be it your salad shooter, your grater, or a kitchen knife). we tend to call that rebatching, but there's no legal Standard Of Identity so people call it whatever the blazes they choose. And some choose to call it hand milling - guess it sounds prettier.
In this world there are no standardized names. Heck, Room Temp soaping has at least two distinctly different definitions too!
SoapyScrubs
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. I have a hand milling instruction book and they said I could only use grated beauty bars from stores, but I have read on other sites and books that I can use a cp rebatch base to hand mill. I can use the rebatch to hand mill correct? So hand milled soap creates a harder bar?
HAND MILLING = REBATCHING
calling it whatever you want, you can grate/grind/cut/chop/smoosh any soap or soap-type thing.
you get a harder bar if they are pressed under hundreds or thousands of pounds of pressure. you MIGHT get a harder bar if you start with a commercial soap product (more likely it will be a detergent or partially detergent bar with much less glycerine resulting in a harder product). But if you are working with CP which has naturally occuring glycerine to soften it (which is removed or absent from commercial soaps) and which tends to have a higher water content then you are going to get a softer product.
also, in pressing they add little or no liquid, if you heat then you may have to add some.
calling it whatever you want, you can grate/grind/cut/chop/smoosh any soap or soap-type thing.
you get a harder bar if they are pressed under hundreds or thousands of pounds of pressure. you MIGHT get a harder bar if you start with a commercial soap product (more likely it will be a detergent or partially detergent bar with much less glycerine resulting in a harder product). But if you are working with CP which has naturally occuring glycerine to soften it (which is removed or absent from commercial soaps) and which tends to have a higher water content then you are going to get a softer product.
also, in pressing they add little or no liquid, if you heat then you may have to add some.
carebear said:
Totaly correct. Any soap can be a rebatch base. That is just a term that people who are selling it use. Some people do not make there own soap from scratch and rely on others making bases. Same thing.
pepperi27
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They also say in some of those books to add too much water to the rebatch bases and that is wrong. All that will do is make you batch shrink. I use hand milling term to sound fancy but not i cannot physically hand mill any soap as I do not have that type of machine. You might've heard some companies saying french milled soap? Well that type of soap like mistral is made with a pressing machine and that is how they create their soap.
I've actually done that one - too much fluid. It goes very "jelly" like and takes forever to dry. It still works as a soap and once it's dry it looks "ok" but not nearly as nice as when you get the "right" amount of fluid in it. This is something I'm still experimenting with and getting better, but overall I prefer my CP.
Cheers
Cheers
