Rebatching Oatmeal and Honey Soap.

Soapmaking Forum

Help Support Soapmaking Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Stacey

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 5, 2010
Messages
271
Reaction score
3
Back story here:
I made a couple of batches of Oatmeal and Honey soap that didn't exactly turn out. I made one batch, put it in 2 short PVC pipe molds, put them both in a cooler, standing up right. Insulated for 24 hours. The I had to freeze the pipes in order to get the soap out. (that's another frustration that I'll save for another posting :) .)

One pipe's soap turned out fine. The other didn't. Weird, huh? About middle of the mold the soap was lighter colored and streaky. I would've said that it wasn't mixed well and didn't saponify...but if that were the case, why did the other turn out? :?:

So, I tried it again. Same recipe. Same molds, same cooler. SAME results. Now this is getting annoying. I'll afraid to try it again, but I probably will. Side note: I used this recipe before and did a little oven processing after putting it in the mold and it turned out fine. But PVC and the oven aren't too friendly to each other tho....

But on to my rebatching question: So I'm left with all this questionable soap. I'd like to rebatch it but this time add some powdered milk. ("Oatmeal, Milk and Honey) Because I'm rebatching, I shouldn't have to worry so much about the extra heat that milk can create in a recipe, right?

I *should* be able to shred the soap, add some water and the powdered milk (or use the milk powder in the water right away?) and maybe a little more honey, cook it up and all will be well, right? Or wrong?

Any advice or other suggestions?
 
You would want to add the milk powder to the water, but when you rebatch, you don't want to add a lot of water. Like barely any. So you won't be able to add that much milk powder to the soap.

If the soap doesn't zap, I wouldn't rebatch it, just call it ugly and give it away to family.
 
I haven't had much luck with getting my rebatches to look pretty. So, I agree that if these don't zap, I would just let them be their gorgeous little selves!! Great soap- just not the look you were going for.


By the way, CPVC pipe (sold at Lowe's, etc) can withstand temps up to
220 F, while PVC can only go to 140 F.

Depending on how warm you'd need the oven to be, the CPVC might be a better option for you. I use plain old PVC, but haven't had any need to put it in the oven.

How long were the pipes you were using? I use 13 inch pieces, and stand them up in a bucket. I wonder if there's a limit to how long of a piece you can use, and still get good results, especially with milk soaps that like to get hot during gel (the PVC would be very insulating). Maybe try not gelling, by putting them in the fridge for 10-12 hours?

My first "pipe soaps" came out fine- although, the batter was thickening as time went by, and the last one I poured was a bit chunky leaving air bubbles and gaps in the bars. Now, I start at a thinner trace, and that seems to help. :)

Good luck!! Try again!!!
 
Nope, the soap doesn't zap. I haven't tried it yet because I was worried that it wasn't saponified right. Maybe I should just give it whirl. If it's safe for me, should be safe for the family.

The pipes I've used are about 9 inches long and 3 inches in diameter.

What do you mean by not "gelling" them? By putting them in the fridge? You can do that? I'm rather new at soaping and haven't heard of putting soaps in the fridge instead insulating them for slow cooling.

Can you define "gelling" a little more? I think I know what you mean but an explaination would be much appreciated.

The batches I initially made didn't have milk in them. Just honey and oatmeal. I wanted to add milk in the rebatch process. But I also know that honey is a heat conductor. So when I insulated them I just put them upright in the cooler, wrapped in a bath towel to keep them up right and closed the lid. But I didn't wrap the cooler. Because it would be too hot too long. Could that have been the problem?

Truthfully, it's not much of a cooler...doesn't even keep the beer cold on a 80 degree. What a travesty, huh? :lol:

Thanks for the heads up on the different PVC pipes. I'll check that out.

Thanks for the advice!
 
Rebatcing

I have had better luck with rebatching soap than making regular CP soap....:) go figure!!
I shred mine up, add a teaspoon of water put in a freezer bag, double bags, and boil in water..It seems like the soap comes out smoother.. I then use the bag as a pastry bag and squeeze the soap out into molds or box mold.
Thye come out great...

Hope that helps some!!

Deb
 
Soaperbee: It's interesting to me what you say about the rebatching.

There is just as much information out there FOR rebatching as there is AGAINST rebatching.

I guess it's all in how you do it. AND, from what I understand, what you do it with. I had recently read (millersoap.com) that soaps with olive oil as the base are the cause of the ooey-gooey mess a lot of rebatchers get.

The information when on to say that the milk based soaps are the best to use for rebatching.

One thing what was interesting about the process mentioned at millersoap was doing it in the oven rather than the microwave. I might try that.

So, Soaperbee: Why do you rebatch? Is because you have a questionable batch and want to salvage it or do you rebatch intentionally? Meaning, make a batch of base soap so you can add what-ever you want, when you want?

I'm a curious sort of person. :)
 
I'm all FOR rebatching - as long as other people are doing it. It's a way to save soap that would otherwise be tossed, but I'm lousy at it for the most part. Then again I cannot HP nicely either, so that figures.

I do know that if I do it with fresh soap that I shred small, and keep the lid on it while it heats, I get better results. Also if liquid must be added, milk works better than water - go figure.
 
Stacey~ I rebatch on purpose...I really like the way it looks and it is a nice bar of soap..
I am learning how to color my soap, not having much luck with it, so some of the soap I make look ugly to me, so I mix them together..

The only thing I add is fragrance..

I am still honing my craft lol!! :)
 
Stacey said:
What do you mean by not "gelling" them? By putting them in the fridge? You can do that? I'm rather new at soaping and haven't heard of putting soaps in the fridge instead insulating them for slow cooling.

Can you define "gelling" a little more? I think I know what you mean but an explaination would be much appreciated.

Every batch of soap I've ever made was insulated and went through gel, until a few weeks ago. That was just the way I learned, and it worked well for me. Lyn (a member here) had suggested putting my soap in the fridge to preserve the look of some mounded tops I was trying to make. It worked like a charm. The cold of the fridge cools the soap and limits the heat formed during the natural "gel" phase that CP soap goes through as it saponifies. Some people like the texture better... I won't know if I do for a couple weeks, as mine are still curing.

Not-gelling (putting in fridge or freezer,even) is pretty popular- if you search the forum, you'll find lots of info about the pro's/con's, and photos of successes, unexpected results, etc. Gel/no gel can also impact the color of your soaps, and the scent. Not gelling is especially handy for milk soaps, and soaps with sugar or honey in them, which can get overly hot if you insulate them.
 
Stacey said:
There is just as much information out there FOR rebatching as there is AGAINST rebatching.

No one is telling you not to rebatch. It's a huge pain in the butt and I wouldn't do it just to make my soap prettier.
There's nothing wrong with it other than it takes a lot of time.
 
tasha said:
Stacey said:
There is just as much information out there FOR rebatching as there is AGAINST rebatching.

No one is telling you not to rebatch. It's a huge pain in the butt and I wouldn't do it just to make my soap prettier.
There's nothing wrong with it other than it takes a lot of time.

Oh, I completely agree that no one is saying NOT to rebatch...but it's just really interesting to me that some people are all for it and some just aren't. I'm curious to what people's opinion is about it and why. Emphasis on the "why" part of it.

I still plan on rebatching some of my stuff. Just because. To me, it's all in the learning curve of soaping. I just gotta try it for myself. And besides, I already shredded some of my so-called "questionable" soap! :D Gotta rebatch it now! :wink:

Just like I've just got to try this "not gelling" process by putting soaps in a fridge. And trying Hot Processing.

I'm such a noob at soaping that I gotta research it all, read the opinions, ask questions and then give it a whirl myself. Then I can figure out what I like best and what works best for me! :D

That's what I like so much about the soapmakingforum...I lurked for a while in the background before posting. What I found (and have continued to find) was that people were extremely helpful, very encouraging and quick to answer an inquiry!

Thanks to ya'all for that! :D
 

Latest posts

Back
Top