Rebatch with oil

[ozziesgirl]

I have a batch of soap that is lye heavy. How do I know how much oil to add with a rebatch? Are there any tricks to rebatching, other than shredding and melting?

 

[jcandleattic]

How do you know it's lye heavy? What was your recipe? Did you mismeasure and you know exactly what went wrong? Or are there just lye pockets?

Rebatching will fix a lot of problems, but first we need to know exactly what the problem is. If it is lye heavy, you just need to know which oil you mismeasured and add that amount back in.

And yes, rebatching in a sense is just melting down, stirring while melting it down and then remolding/cutting.

 

[ozziesgirl]

How do you know it's lye heavy? What was your recipe? Did you mismeasure and you know exactly what went wrong? Or are there just lye pockets?

Rebatching will fix a lot of problems, but first we need to know exactly what the problem is. If it is lye heavy, you just need to know which oil you mismeasured and add that amount back in.

And yes, rebatching in a sense is just melting down, stirring while melting it down and then remolding/cutting.

I did a poor job of transferring numbers, and the batch of soap ended up with almost a full extra ounce of lye.
This is the recipe:
12.3 oz. coconut oil
10 oz, lard
10 oz. olive oil
3.7 oz. grapeseed oil
3.2 oz. cocoa butter
.8 oz. swt. almond oil
16 oz. water
6.68 oz. lye
1 oz. lemongrass EO
So someone said I should rebatch with extra oil, but I can't find any detailed instructions on how to do that.

 

[cmzaha]

If you have a non-reactive pan that will fit in your oven you can get a much smoother melt.
As for the rebatching, I would wear gloves, grate it and melt in a crock-pot or oven if possible. I do not like using a micro especially for larger batches like yours. You would add the missing oil to the dry shreds, stir to coat the soap and start melting. If you use a crock pot you may have to add in some liquid, I would start with a quarter cup or so, and do not let the batter get to dry. This is why I like using the oven it melts so much easier. I use an large oven proof bowl at 200-220º F for melting it down.

 

[ozziesgirl]

If you have a non-reactive pan that will fit in your oven you can get a much smoother melt.
As for the rebatching, I would wear gloves, grate it and melt in a crock-pot or oven if possible. I do not like using a micro especially for larger batches like yours. You would add the missing oil to the dry shreds, stir to coat the soap and start melting. If you use a crock pot you may have to add in some liquid, I would start with a quarter cup or so, and do not let the batter get to dry. This is why I like using the oven it melts so much easier. I use an large oven proof bowl at 200-220º F for melting it down.

I am sorry if this is a stupid question, but how does a person work a recipe backwards to figure out how much oil they were short?

 

[dixiedragon]

I'm not mathematically inclined, so what I do is plug the numbers I used into the calculator, print that recipe or write it down, then start tweaking.

I like the calculator at www.thesage.com for this, since it gives me a range:
https://www.thesage.com/calcs/LyeCalc.html

So, here is a very basic recipe. Let's say I used 100 oz of lard and 15 oz of lye. As I can tell from the range, (blue circle on right) I am lye heavy. Whoops! I click the Edit recipe button (blue circle on bottom) and increase my oil to 105 oz. Still lye heavy.

I increase my oil amount by 5 oz increments. At 115 oz oil, it works out:

So I would rebatch by shredding/chopping this into very small pieces and mixing with 15 ounces of oil.

The simpler way would be to make confetti soap. Chop or shred this batch. Make another 100 oz batch, this time with a 10% or 15% superfat. Mix new soap with old soap shreds. Gel - this will get the soap shreds melty so they will bond with the fresh soap batter.

 

[ozziesgirl]

I'm not mathematically inclined, so what I do is plug the numbers I used into the calculator, print that recipe or write it down, then start tweaking.

I like the calculator at www.thesage.com for this, since it gives me a range:
https://www.thesage.com/calcs/LyeCalc.html

So, here is a very basic recipe. Let's say I used 100 oz of lard and 15 oz of lye. As I can tell from the range, (blue circle on right) I am lye heavy. Whoops! I click the Edit recipe button (blue circle on bottom) and increase my oil to 105 oz. Still lye heavy.

View attachment 36324
I increase my oil amount by 5 oz increments. At 115 oz oil, it works out:

View attachment 36325

So I would rebatch by shredding/chopping this into very small pieces and mixing with 15 ounces of oil.

The simpler way would be to make confetti soap. Chop or shred this batch. Make another 100 oz batch, this time with a 10% or 15% superfat. Mix new soap with old soap shreds. Gel - this will get the soap shreds melty so they will bond with the fresh soap batter.

Thank you so much for taking the time to explain that so well. I really appreciate it!

 

[dixiedragon]

You're welcome!