Diane's Naturally Handcrafted Soap - Natural handmade soap for sensitive skin

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Hot Soap and Rebatch (4)

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Rebatch Soap
Suck and see microwave method

Originally developed some time in 1999
By Diane Buckley
Aka "Gooney Bird" and "Jolly Green Giant"
soaps@ihug.com.au

This method has been called Rebatch or Handmilling or French Milling.. The name does not matter so long as you have fun and enjoy the soap you get from the process.

There are many ways to rebatch... stove top, double boiler, oven or microwave.
I am writing only of using a microwave here.
A search of the internet will find many and various peoples writing on the point.
Any liquid I use is milk or oils.

What you need

I use a 3 litre heavy duty rice cooker (it cost about $20). This is a microwaveable
container, with a fitted lid that is sold for rice and pasta cooking. It is my favourite piece of soapmaking equipment . Lighter, smaller and cheaper ones should be just as effective, or you could use a microwaveable casserole dish of some kind. There needs to be a lid on this container when you are melting the soap.

• Around a kg of good quality handmade soap base. This method is NOT meant to relate to soap other than that made by me or to a product I am sure is similarly made.
• A microwave
• Some milk to add to the soap mixSit can be cowsmilk or goatsmilkSabout a tablespoon a kg. This amount is sufficient for newly made soap base. If you are using older base then the amount will need to be altered.
• OilSyou can also add in small amounts of oil of your choiceSeg castor, olive, almond, macadamia, etc. This will just give a little bit of extra goodness and help with the melting of the soap. Again Sabout a tablespoon in amount per kg.
• Soap moldsSthese can be commercial ones that you buy. Make sure they will withstand the heat of this sort of soap and make sure that they are a reasonable size. Small molds sold for chocolate making are too small for this process. Small food containers from the supermarket that hold about 100-150 gm, either round or square, are great.
• Additives Slavender flowers, calendula flowers, finely ground oatmealS.your choice.
• Fragrance of your choice. Plan on allowing1.5- 2% of the soap weight for fragranceS.if you do a kg of soap then you need 1.5- 20 mls of fragrance for the total batch. How well that fragrance does in the soap will depend on the quality of it . Essential oils or fragrance oils can be used.
• ColourS.approved soap making colours are readily available but for just starting out I suggest that you stick to something simple like the additives suggested above and leave the colours until you are more experienced.
• Large cheese grater or a cutter to chop the soap with. A paint scraper is good for cutting.
• Wooden spoon or very, very stiff spatula to mix the soap with.
• Spatula to scrape the soap out of the pot.
• Apron
• An oven mitt to handle the microwave container which can get quite hot.

What you are after is a soap that looks good, feels good and will be treasured SSS..or used up fast !!! It may take you more than one go to get perfection. However, irregularly shaped soap that looks like a person cared enough to make it, as opposed to buying a factory soap, is highly prizedS.and people pay money for such soap!!!!! .
Take your time and don¹t rush the process til you are familiar with it. Better to take longer in the melting process than be fast and fatal.

Method

For 1 kg of soap... chop it finely or grate it. The soap pieces need to be no more than approximately 3 cm square and 1 cm thick until you get the knack of it all. This is approximate and not a "rule". Put the soap pieces in the cooker with the milk and zap it for... say 2 minutes on high. This will vary with your microwaveS.mine is 600 watts on "high". If yours is a higher wattage then take down the power setting for all these instructions.
Even better, but more work, is to grate the soap. This will melt better and be sort of more mixed in.
But having chunky chopped bits allows more texture in the finished soap. Either way is fine. Your choice. Try it both ways.

Stir it and then zap for say 1 minute on high and another 1/2 minute on medium. Stir. Add the oil. Stir. You are after a "good stir" but not over zealous. Get the melted parts mixed up well with the non melted parts

Continue this way, at medium temperature or lower, until the soap is melted enough to put into the molds. The word usually used to describe this process is S"glopping". This type of soap is never pourable. It you have added in enough liquid that it is pourable then you have added too much.

Add the botanicals and mix. Cook for 30 sec on medium low.

You may have unmelted pieces here and there... don't worry so long as it will "glop" into your molds .If you want to get rid of all the unmelted bits, keep zapping, but at very very low temps for another 30 seconds and see how it goesS or grate it rather than chop it to start with. There is no set number of minutes for any zap. You have to do it and see how it is. Always underzap if in doubt. You can "burn" the soap... it will go into brown hard bits. Don¹t get it so hot that it looks foamySthat is one step away from burning.

When it is melted enough for you, mix it around a bit to cool it down if you are going to add any fragrances.
If it is too stiff to mix then either it needs a TINY bit more milk.
Then add the fragrance and mix really well Sreally mixing it all up.

Have the molds ready... you do need to work fast. Add some soap to the mold. Bang the mold down on the counter top to make sure you get air bubbles out and that the soap is as flat on the bottom as possible. Continue til the mold is full.
Fill all your molds as fast as possible.
Keep the soap container covered while you are filling the molds as it will dry out.
If it does dry just melt it slowly again with a bit of liquid.

Let the soap cool then put it into the freezer til frozen . This helps to remove the soap from the mold. Run some hot water over the base of the mold and then press down on the centre of the mold with both thumbs to release the soap. Place it on something like a cake rack to let it get back to room temperature and to start to dry out.

Doubtlessly there will be surface flaws on the soap. If you are unlucky there will be big holes !! Wait till the soap is defrosting and easy to play with and just smooth it out with the back of a spoon. Take bits of soap and fill in the holes... like the road workers with pot holes This works just fine and it all smooths over. For the soap bottom, if it is really roughSslice it smooth with something like a paint scraper or a sharp knife. Save those bits for patching or throw them into the next lot of soap you do and it will add a bit of interesting texture. I find it rather soothing to just sit and smooth this soap out and I never aim for perfection in finish.

This method relies on slow but sure melting of the quality soap base that is itself not "old" and dried out.
It also relies on not adding a lot of liquid to the base. Doing that will merely make the soap too moist and will end up with the finished soap taking ages to dry and having a "shrunken head" look.
It will still be useable of course , just less attractive.
Adding in a lot of liquid is the "easy way out" and some people teaching this method will tell you to do thatSS.. but it is not going to give you the good looking soap and longer lasting soap that you get with a bit more time and patience.

Soap done this way is useable as soon as it is dry but will be harder and last better if it is left for a couple of weeks to dry out more.

ENJOY

Diane

Further reading:

• DBHP - The Enclosed Double Boiler System
• HP - The Wrapped Method
• Hot Process Soap, Oven Method
• Diane's Soap recipes

Diane's Naturally Handcrafted Soap

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