How Do You Make Rebatching Cold Process Soaps?
Soap-making, based on a chemical reaction between lye and oil, is very forgiving. If you’ve made a batch of cold-process soap that turned out too hard, soft or lumpy, you can rescue it by “rebatching.” This method is also used by soap-makers to introduce fragrance to homemade soaps. Allowing a batch of soap to harden and then re-melting it before adding fragrance retains more of the essential oils of the fragrance and produces a smooth, translucent soap. This method of soap-making is often referred to as “hand-milled” soap. Soften the soap. To do this, grate the soap into fine particles and place it in the top half of a double boiler. Add 3 tablespoons of liquid for every pound of soap. If your previously made cold-process soap was made with animal fats, use distilled water for the liquid. If it was made with vegetable oils, use milk. Cover the mixture and let it sit overnight at room temperature to soften the soap. The next day, place the pan of soap into a double boiler over very low
