Ever wonder what Rebatch soap (or Triple Milled soap or French Milled soap) is? In this episode of Soap Queen TV, I show you how to make Rebatch soap. Rebatch is great if you want a soap that’s a little more natural and rustic looking soap but don’t want the hassle of dealing with Lye when making Cold Process from scratch.
Soap Queen TV: How to Make Rebatch Soap from Soap Queen on Vimeo.
Ingredients:
1 oz. Pink Grapefruit Essential Oil
1 oz. Lemon Essential Oil
2 oz. Dried Calendula (Marigold) Petals
1/2 oz. Sweet Almond Oil
1/2 oz. Annatto Seeds
4 pounds Basic Rebatch
3 Tbsp. Distilled Water
Molds used:
ELF Slim Rectangle mold
Bramble Berry’s 2 pound loaf mold
Plastic food container
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Does it work to rebatch salt CP soaps?
Hi Andrea!
You can totally rebatch any type of cold process soap as long as it isn’t lye heavy. π
-Becky with Bramble Berry
Very helpful, but I have a few more detailed questions. I have made a CP lavender soap a week ago with alkanet root that turned out very dark and displeasing to look at. May I use this method (rebatch) before my soap has had time to fully cure? Also the tutorial shows white soap being colored. I would like to take the color OUT of my soap or at least lighten it up a bit, I also have scented the soap a wonderful strong lavender vanilla scent so I know this (the vanilla) is the main reason my soap turned out so much like the color of dark purplely mud. Can you give me a suggestion on what to do to improve the soap? I know you receive many wonderful comments on your website so I feel redundant with doing the same, but I appreciate your tutorials and extremely helpful tips. I don’t think I would be able to try so many different things with soap making without your website! Thank you for your time.
Tracy
Hi Tracy!
You could definitely rebatch your soap if it didn’t turn out how you liked. We typically suggest waiting for it to cure, but since you already know you want to rebatch it, you can go ahead and do that.
There isn’t going to be a lot you can do to make the color too different, but you can always add some Titanium Dioxide, Kaolin Clay or Super Pearly White to try to help and lighten it up.
Titanium Dioxide Pigment: https://www.brambleberry.com/Titanium-Dioxide-Pigment-P4040.aspx
Kaolin Clay: https://www.brambleberry.com/Kaolin-Clay-P3235.aspx
Super Pearly White: https://www.brambleberry.com/Super-Pearly-White-Mica-P3463.aspx
I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any other questions. π
-Becky with Bramble Berry
Great tutorial….Thanks.
I am wondering though if more liquid is added, so it’s not so dry making it easier to get into molds, could you pop it into the oven at 170F like CPOP to speed up the drying times?
Also, I was wondering if you could ‘rebatch’ without shredding the soap. Could you cut it into chunks then mix it into a new batch of CP soap? Would you be able to CPOP this batch?
Thanks a bunch!
Good morning, Natasha!
Anytime you add extra liquid to a rebatch base, it is going to take longer to dry. We’ve never dried our rebatch in the oven, but as long as you are using an oven-safe mold it should work. Just keep an eye on it and let us know how it turns out!
And, you can rebatch without shredding, but the shredding is what gives the soap a uniform texture that will quickly and evenly “melt” into the final soaps. If you had chunks, it would take longer then normal to have it melt down. CPOP is a totally different process than rebatch. Rebatch is done with finished, lye-neutral soap and CPOP is a process of making soap from scratch.
I hope this helps! π
-Becky with Bramble Berry
Does re-batch soap have to be cured?Do I have to wait 4-6weeks to use the soap ?
Hi Somaya!
Since rebatch soap has already been cured in the previous process of it becoming soap, you do not need to let it cure the 4-6 weeks. As soon as it has dried you can go ahead and start using it. =)
~Becky with Bramble Berry
Hi there
As always I love your videos and site. I love the look of the rebatch soap you did with the annato seeds and the calenuda oil/petals…can I do this in a cp batch? I’ve tried rebatching my own soap and its quite a hassle…whenever I’ve tried putting dried flowers in before (lavender) they were ugly within a few weeks. Would it be better in a hot process?
Thanks so much, Karen
Yes, you can do an infusion of annoto seeds and calendula petals and oil in regular CP and it will stay orange-y and the Calendula will not go too brown (not like lavender). Calendula is one of the only herbs that will stay a nice yellow =)
I’ve wanted to make soap, but with two cats and a 3-year-old, I knew I’d need to get a second kitchen before I could work with lye (we’re working on the basement as a workshop now…). But then I saw this video. So with five pounds of shredded goat’s milk rebatch, I started. I’m doing smal test batches, 8 oz at a time. First ime I added 1 T of olive oil infused with lavender buds, plus .25 oz lavender essential oil. It’s a nice soap, just the right amount of lavender scent. I learned that to get it out of my Milky Way mold, I needed to put it in the freezer for a couple of hours.
Since I’m a beekeeper, and have a personal rule to put bee products in everything I make, test #2 was 8 oz of goat’s milk, plus 1T goat’s milk powder and 1 T honey, with a small splash of water. I scented it was a mixture of orange EO and clove bud EO. Really nice! I know that was a lot of goat’s milk and honey, but it works.
Last try was 8 oz, plus 1 T goat’s milk powder, 1 oz honey, and crushed sage and mint leaves, with a minty sage EO mixture. It’s still drying, but I think it will work.
Maybe it’s novice’s luck, but I love this, and am having a great time with it! One question: could I add beeswax to rebatch, and about what proportions? And what would it to for (or to!) the resulting soap?
Thanks!
Your recipes sound awesome. Great job! Just be aware that the addition of the milk may start to spoil after a couple of weeks in the rebatch (since it’s not going through the saponification process like CP).
I’ve never used beeswax in rebatch before but in theory, it should act as a hardening agent. Use it at a .5% usage rate.
Courtney from Bramble Berry
I never even thought of spoilage! Thanks for telling me! Well, the additional goat’s milk isn’t necessary, anyway. Mostly, I’d like the honey and wax. π
Thanks!
Ok so I tried, emphasis on tried, to make the rebatch…I did it in the stove in a baggie at first. It looked nice in the bag but it started drying out super quick. By the time we got it in the mold it didn’t look right. So I broke it back down and put it in the crockpot with 1/4 cup if water. Much better turn out. The strawberry fragrance I used wasn’t as strong as I liked…maybe add a little more? I felt like I put too much in.
You’ll want to do 1/4 to 1/2 ounce per pound of soap for the fragrance. The crockpot method is great! Did you see the SoapQueen.TV episode on making rebatch? We did crockpot for that.
Yes, you need to work super quickly with rebatching soap but it’s worth it. I love working with rebatch with delicate essential oils.
What other colorants can be used to color rematch soap?
Really you can use any colorant that you would use to color CP soap. LabColors, pigments and micas all work well. We just find the LabColors are easiest to mix in. – Amber
Thank you,
Canadian Fan! (janine)
Hi,
Love it! I have made this with your re-batch(perfect).
This time I wanted to do it with my own cold process soap.
I have made an unscented & un-coloured batch.
How long do I let it cure before shedding? (24 hours)??
How long after shedding can I re-batch?
Thank you so much, I can’t seem to find an answer to this question anywhere?
Janine
You can shred the soap as soon as it’s hard enough to handle, which is usually 24-48 hours and you can cook it down right away!
Have fun rebatching!
Courtney from Bramble Berry
Hm, I usually do low temp for longer time. I'm not a big 'rush rush rush' girl when it comes to rebatch.
Still sticky and squishy after 2 days? No worries. I think that you could easily wait up to a few weeks before they actually harden up much for you =)
As in a med or low temp for the crockpot? The first batch is still sticky and squishy 2 days later,lol! I had all three batches on high with the crockpot.
Or it's possible that there was less liquid. If it was more dry looking, there was just less liquid. If it was the same consistency but more opaque looking, it probably just needed to cook a little better. =)
Kristen, Thanks for the suggestion. Milk proteins are always luxurious in soap.
I used the crockpot method and the consistancy looked a lot different then the double broiler method. Is it possible I didn't leave it on the crockpot long enough? Anne Marie's looked a lot better!
Can you use re-batch to make a liquid soap?
FAB tutorial…. I love adding just a bit of powdered mil to give it a creamier consistency. About a TBS per pound.
Fabulous tutorial! You make re-batching look soooooo easy. I'll have to give it another try:)
A few hours later I came home and the video worked.
oooh! i have made rebatch soap and it is wonderful stuff!
i am, however, so impetuous, that I always add either too much water, or my favorite emulsifying agent; glycerin. I found that softens up a batch of soap like nothing else.
but like you said, you trade lathering qualities. and today's consumer thinks lathering is paramount to clean, so…..
can't wait to try it out again, and that soap looks positively delish; almost like food…..
yum
yum
yum!
thank you!
Great video!! Rebatch is something I've never considered trying until now. I didn't think it was that simple. Thanks for yet another great idea, Anne-Marie!
wow! never in a million years would i have considered making rebatch soap, especially after the boring chapter i read in a book. but now? your video has pushed me into a new dimension! thanks!
Great video – and, Anne Marie, your skin looks fabulous!!!
Great video. I learned that I have been pronouncing calendula wrong for a long time….LOL
I just got some calendula in my grab bag – today, actually – and I was wondering what to do with it. I have pink grapefruit and lemon essential oils, too.
Great video!
Thanks!
Ann Marie – fantastic video! Now I know how to rebatch. I must try it next time!
Thanks
Anne-Marie
You just made ugly soap look pretty
again π
If only I waited an extra day I could have made my ugly soap look pretty…instead it looks like oatmeal raisin cookie gone wrong :-p
I will definitely keep this video in my library though!
Thnx!
I actually have to make re batch tonight!! I like the luxury base!!
Is it just me but I can't get this video to work. I'm on a Mac and used Safari and the whole video stopped just as you were cutting out the mold template. Now I'm trying it with Firefox and it won't load at all.
Hello,
I’m also using MAC but I’m using Firefox instead of Safari. However, I have checked Safari too – it’s works perfectly! π So, you probably having troubles with your MAC settings.