Rebatching with an oven bag!

[Best Natural Soap]

Has anyone ever tried rebatching using an oven bag??
I read about this on another forum, and want to try it with my soap scraps--

The person recommended grating relatively new soap with a salad shooter (don't have one, but sounds good!), and putting it into an oven bag (the clear sort you can roast a turkey in). Twist the end. Rubberband it. fold it over itself and rubberband again so that's it really really leak-proof.

Add up to 2 teaspoons of additional oil per 100 GRAMS (it was an international site) of soap, to help it get more creamy.

Drop the bag into 3 qts of simmering water. Leave it for an hour. When it's all nicely melted, with oven mitts on- massage the bag to mix. Snip off a corner, and "pipe" it, cake-decorator style, into your molds.

Sounds easy enough...

 

[Chay]

That's the method I use. I've never used an oven bag though, I double bag two Zip-loc bags.

 

[rubyslippers]

I use the oven bags for rebatching and will never go back to the ziplock. I had the biggest mess of my soaping history when my double ziplock bags melted (or burst) and my rebatch mixture went into my boiling water. I now purchase and use more oven bags for soap than I do for cooking

 

[ewenique]

That's happened to me, too! Now I rebatch using the microwave. No more leaks or burned fingers.

 

[rubyslippers]

Never tried the microwave...hmmmmmm. So, Ewenique, do you use a ziplock, ovenbag or a microwave safe container?

 

[ewenique]

I use a microwave safe plastic bowl, uncovered. I've only done small batches - 1-2 lbs. You can set the power level to 3 and let it cook a couple minutes, but I usually just zap it on the regular setting and keep an eye on it.

When it starts to puff up, I'll take it out and give it a stir. If it's not all the way melted, I'll zap it again. When it's pourable, scoop the soap out and glop it into a mold.

I've even done this with single molds that I know are microwave safe by putting soap shreds right in the mold. When the soap starts to puff, I take the mold out, whack it on the counter so the soap settles, and zap it again if necessary.

If the soap is new, no additional liquid is needed. If it's cured for awhile, add just a little bit. If you overcook the soap, you will have to add more liquid, too.

I only rebatch soap that didn't turn out quite right. Either it didn't set up properly, it looked ugly, or I didn't like the fragrance. Usually my rebatch turns out quite nice. Give microwave rebatching a try!

 

[rubyslippers]

Thanks for sharing your technique Eweinque and I will give it a try. I was rebatching today because I didn't like the scent of one of my batches. It had boiled for awhile and I was gonna give it a good squish and open the bag to add FO but must have had too much air in the bag because it split at the seam and hot soap oozed out on my countertop so I never got to add the FO. I plopped it into a log. I had added some leftovers shavings to the batch so hoping I had enough "other" scent to help mellow out my stinky soap. I've never had any problems with ovenbags until today. But the next time I rebatch, I will use your method!

 

[tespring]

I would think that the turkey bag would work better than the ziplocks, but I wouldnt try it because I am totally accident prone and would end up trying to pick up the bags without any oven mitts on...

 

[carebear]

Add up to 2 teaspoons of additional oil per 100 GRAMS (it was an international site) of soap, to help it get more creamy.

that's adding another 10% (ish) superfat in addition to whatever your initial formula had in it. I personally think it'd be overkill unless you soaped at 0% SF to begin with.

I rebatched two batches in int he last 2 days. One was a ancient mucked up batch that I'd shredded but kept in a zippie and the other was a fresh (24 hours) batch of pine tar soap. I use the crockpot. I don't like the microwave (I've tried) because my soap dries out too fast if it's not covered well. And I don't like boil in bags because I cannot effectively smoosh them even with gloves on - too hot! I like the crockpot, with a lid on and a spritz or two of water or a splash of milk - on low and for a long time.

My pine tar soap looks almost like a CP batch - the other one not so much.

But whatever - I HATE REBATCHING.

 

[krissy]

Add up to 2 teaspoons of additional oil per 100 GRAMS (it was an international site) of soap, to help it get more creamy.

that's adding another 10% (ish) superfat in addition to whatever your initial formula had in it. I personally think it'd be overkill unless you soaped at 0% SF to begin with.

I rebatched two batches in int he last 2 days. One was a ancient mucked up batch that I'd shredded but kept in a zippie and the other was a fresh (24 hours) batch of pine tar soap. I use the crockpot. I don't like the microwave (I've tried) because my soap dries out too fast if it's not covered well. And I don't like boil in bags because I cannot effectively smoosh them even with gloves on - too hot! I like the crockpot, with a lid on and a spritz or two of water or a splash of milk - on low and for a long time.

My pine tar soap looks almost like a CP batch - the other one not so much.

But whatever - I HATE REBATCHING.

can you share the pine tar that looks almost CP? i'd love to see a pic!