DustyFrame Shares with us her experience with how to re batch soap because it did not turn out the first time around. I have had similar problems, and this was my solution also.
Here is Dusty’s story How to Re Batch Soap:
I’m still learning this whole soap making thing. I enjoy it and think I’m getting closer to figuring it out.
This was batch #3 and I didn’t know that citrus essential oils don’t do very well in cold process soap making. I used tangerine essential oil in it as well as grated orange peel for a little bit of “scrubby”.
I used turmeric to color it and while it looked nice as a bar, it didn’t smell like much of anything other than orange peel.
I’m not about to waste a whole pound of soap, so I decided to re batch it.
Here’s what I did.
1. Grate the soap.
2. I added 1/8 c. of Goat’s Milk and a splash of olive oil.
3. I put it in a warm oven 170 in this enamel pan. I checked it every 15 minutes. It did take a fair amount of time until it melted. I just stirred it every time I checked it. Eventually, it looked like this.
4. Then I stirred in peppermint essential oil and some more tangerine–ok I should give up the tangerine because it really didn’t work. I also added about 1 TB of honey.
5. Pour it into the mold–this one happens to be a Rubbermaid drawer organizer that I found at the thrift store for fifty cents.
6. I unmolded it as soon as it cooled. Since it was a re batch it didn’t need to set as long as fresh cold process soap does.
I learned from this batch a few things.
1. Skip the citrus essential oils.
2. I don’t really care for the scent of orange peels, but they are a nice scrubby additive.
3. Turmeric makes a really nice pumpkin color and I’ll probably use it again to color some spicey or fall scented soaps.
4. I’d rather get the soap right the 1st time than do re batching. It’s not really my thing, but it was better than wasting it.
5. Re batching requires a lot less liquid than I used. The goat’s milk, olive oil, and honey were too much. It required a lot longer time to dry than it should have and it’s still not a super hard bar of soap.
The tools you need to accomplish soap re batching all in one place:
sturdy graterGet it Hererotary graterGet it Hereessential oilsGet it Here6 pack soap moldGet it Herebox soap moldGet it Here6 piece flower soap moldGet it Here
Find this on Amazon:
Very informative. Glad there is a way of rebatching instead of throwing it away. I’m glad I ran across this blog!
HI,i have had great sucess with rebatch, but i did a lavender cp soap and the batch that i made did not smell really fragrant so i grated it up and put in the crockpot and when it was done it came out great!!!! …….but it still did not smell strong enough so i grated one more time and it felt really dry it was a little over 3 pounds so all together i put 8 oz of water.Well i think i put to much liquid in it so it did not set up! them i put it back in the crock pot the next morning and cooked it for 3 hrs and did not add any liquid well it still is not setting up but boy i have alot of lather with this one i hate to throw it out so what should i do?????
Debra,
I would put it in a shallow, wide mouth container and use it with a “scrubbie” if it is not quite a solid, but not really a liquid. After all of that work I would not throw it out, especially if you like the lather. Also you could just put some more essential oil in and mix it up so you have the “fragrance” your going for. I have just “boiled” it down on the stove, by passing the crock pot, if I get too much liquid in the mix, in the past. Once you are at the re batching stage you don’t have to worry about the chemical reaction part of the equation so much as all of the lye has been used up.
My goal in life is re use, re purpose or do without – as much as possible anyway. Hope this has been helpful to you 😉
I just bought a few dairy goats about 5 months ago and have been drinking the milk or giving to the chickens. I started making cheese with the extra milk then I found that I could make soap!! I am loving this site! It is giving me soo many ideas on what to do with the extra gallon of milk a day. It also answers questions before I can even think of them. Like this article. Thank you very much for this site.