Scorched Soap

[Sponiebr]

So, I've been doing some in depth web poking and I can't seem to find ANYTHING as to what scorched soap looks like. I'm attempting to rebatch those Red Ginger and Saffron ghost swirl batches in a crock pot but I really have no idea what I'm looking at. I keep getting a dark honey colored liquid at the bottom of the crock with very pretty creamy soap looking stuff on top. When I stir it together it looks riced. 

Thorts?

 

Sponie "We bring bad ideas to life." 

 

[Shari]

it sounds like it's scorched to me.  I've had one overheat in the mold so badly it had orange ish liquids oozing from it and it wouldn't go back together when I tried to hp it.   I don't have pictures though sorry.

[TallTayl]

Sounds like your soap is very, very dry in the crock pot. You want to heat gently and keep covered to prevent too much water loss. Often I add a bit more liquid (coconut milk for instance) too keep it from getting too dry. A sealed bag, like those used to boil meals, works well in a pot of hot water too. 

 

 

[Sponiebr]

3 hours ago, TallTayl said:

Sounds like your soap is very, very dry in the crock pot. You want to heat gently and keep covered to prevent too much water loss. Often I add a bit more liquid (coconut milk for instance) too keep it from getting too dry. A sealed bag, like those used to boil meals, works well in a pot of hot water too. 

 

 

I tried the plastic bag in the crock pot and well when a stick blender got involved things devolved rapidly. The batch was definitely wet.  That honey like fluid eventually disappeared and the batch got to that mashed potatoes stage but not until a lot of the water had cooked off. I followed something that I had seen on SoapQueen where one adds 1 cup of liquid per pound and lets it sit over night. THen you bake it for a few hours at 200F. Yeah. Not happening again. It took me almost 7 hours to rebatch that soap.  

[Gsmakinsoap]

I was just looking at that particular advice! So, was it just too much water that ended up being a soup you had to take 7 hours to bake? Would it have worked with less water?

 

[Sponiebr]

8 hours ago, Gsmakinsoap said:

I was just looking at that particular advice! So, was it just too much water that ended up being a soup you had to take 7 hours to bake? Would it have worked with less water?

 

There was a plethora of missteps and inexperience that led to the 7 hour crucible affair. 

 

1. MANY different interpretations on HOW to rebatch soap.

The majority seem to like: 1. Grate the soap finely. 2. Only a couple of Tblsps of water or other liquid. 3. Cook to varying degrees of either gel like Vaseline or mashed potatoes.   

2. I used a method that called for 1 c of liquid per pound, (That's a bit more than a couple of tblsps), and then let the stuff "soak" overnight to get a very smooth mixture. And it DID do a pretty good job of getting everybody in chopped up soap world involved with each other.

3. Temperature. I followed some suggestions that I just put the cooker on low and leave it be for a couple of hours. Well, it got things moving in the right direction and caused it to smooth together well enough but I was getting that separation when I stirred it. So after about 4 hours of this I cranked up the heat to high. Things changed, but it wasn't doing what I had understood rebatched soap should do, namely turn into mashed potatoes. DAMMIT I'M HUNGRY and I haven't got the time for this! (wait... It's NOT mashed potatoes?) That honey stuff? I tasted it, It was VERY MUCH SOAP.  So I'm wondering what the hell am I supposed to do, and out came the stick blender, which caused ALL SORTS of bubbles to form even when there wasn't any air trapped down in the end of the blender. It also eventually snagged the plastic cooking bag I had lined the crock pot with, and well, the bag left the party soon after that. 

So, I've SB'd the mess and it still reverted back to the honey on the bottom and the mashed potatoes on top. Now I'm analyzing this issue. I'm also waiting to hear back from all y'all on what scorched soap looks like. I'm seeing steam coming off the pot too... Hum... So I left it alone for a few minutes and went back to stir it. The batch had improved with less of the honey stuff. AH HA!!! WATER! THAT'S the problem. So I keep this reduction process going and eventually I'm getting little brown globs here and there of gelatinous brown stuff coming off the sides of the crock in the hot zones (burnt soap? I couldn't tell ya)... I stir more frequently. I try molding a few individual cup molds to see what it does and finally it all seems to be behaving sorta well. So after 7 hours I pull  the plug and into the loaf mold it glops. The consistency was like heavy mashed potatoes.  I'll probably get to cut that loaf tomorrow after Church. 

Rebatching is a little problematic for me as I don't have regular access to a crock pot, and I have NO access to a stove. I have a microwave oven, a convection oven, and an electric skillet. I guess I could get a can of sterno to cook the stuff in but that seems kinda nuts. 

So to answer your question gsmakinsoap, I have NO idea, but I wouldn't try that over night "soak" in tons of liquid again, at least not without fully accepting that what I was endeavoring to do was likely NOT going to work the way that I was looking for it to work.  The method worked, but not like I thought it was going to work. Also 200 F for a couple of hours seems a tad light on time to me. But... I didn't put mine in an oven. I dunno... I just don't know... 

[TallTayl]

One way I rematch is to use 1/3 of a batch as shreds in a brand new batch. Melt the oils, stick blend in the shreds til smooth. Add the lye solution. Proceed as usual. 

[CareBear]

I find that milk works better than water.