Monday, October 18, 2010

Saving A Seize: A Tutorial by Anne-Marie

I'd like to thank Anne-Marie Faiola, of Brambleberry, for taking time out of her busy schedule to create this tutorial to share with all of us. And check out those awesome snazzy goggles?? Think I may have to get a pair of those next time I place an order. :)

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Anne-Marie's re-batched soap


Did you ever have a batch that you just knew would be perfect … only, it wasn’t? Sometimes, batches curdle, seize, separate or do otherwise strange things on us even when we think we’ve accounted for all of the variables in our cold process soap batch. Not to worry – your batch is not all lost. This post will show you how to save each of these formerly-ruined batches. This technique will work up to 24 hours after your batch has been ruined. If you check on your soap a day after you made it and found it’s separated in the mold into an oily top layer and a goopy hard bottom layer, not to worry, this method will work for that too.

Wearing all of your safety equipment, pour your entire batch into a stainless steel pot. The lye in your soap is still present because saponification didn’t quite work out the way we had planned on. Your pot must be 3X larger than the batch size. You need a lot of head space for this process.



Put the pot onto the stove. Turn the stove onto medium.

With your goggles on, start to stir your gloppy, blobby mess. It’s okay if it’s still in chunks. It will start to liquefy shortly. Keep stirring.


If your soap starts to pop oil up at you, turn down the heat until the oil is no longer spitting at you from the pot. You want to stay as close to medium as possible.



Keep stirring. The soap should start to fully liquefy and become an oatmeal like consistency, easily stirrable.


When the entire batch is fully consistent in texture and color (no oil leaking, no strange looking globby spots) and the batch is sticking together in the pot in a smooth and homogeneous manner, you are ready to glop.


This soap is hot, hot, hot. Make sure that the mold you are pouring the soap into can withstand the heat. This plastic mold started to bow on me soon after I put the hot soap into the mold.


Let the soap cool for 24 hours and harden up. The soap is ready to use right away. You have literally cooked the pH down to a soap-level (around 9). If you let the soap sit for 4 to 6 weeks, it will become harder as it evaporates out its water.



Great save. Great tutorial. Thanks, again Anne-Marie!!

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

A-M always has good info to share! Thanks to you both. :) Those goggles look like the no-more-tears onion goggles I've been wanting to get!

Peacecat said...

Thanks for the info. I had one of those separated batches some time ago. Not knowing what to do with it I threw the whole batch out. If it happens again I'll know what to do.

Green Afro Diva said...

THANK YOU FOR THIS!!!! my soap seized on me a few months ago with oil floating at the top and I threw it in the trash. I will follow this tutorial next time it happens

Burnt Mill Candles and Soap said...

good to know!

Polly McNamara said...

Great tutorial, Thank you, like the others, I've just binned the batch if it seizes. I'll try this next time xx

The Soap Sister said...

Thanks for this fab info, so nice to know an "Uh-Oh" can be salvaged! :)

Amy Warden said...

Oooo, rebatch on the stove! I've always done mine in the oven...and it takes f.o.r.e.v.e.r. I wonder if the stovetop method is any quicker?

Teresa said...

Thank you this...I learned this the hard way.
Soapmaking is always an interesting road, eh?
Thank you again!

Anonymous said...

I totally enjoyed reading about making soaps. I just found this site where you can order free soap samples: http://twurl.nl/lrg1k0 Enjoy!

Anne-Marie said...

Thanks for the love Joanna! It was fun being a guest blogger =)

Quail cottage said...

April 1st-2011- what an April Fool I was - botched the batch- EO too strong- got on line and found your
site- thank you so much for this info- i have saved the batch today-put it in a pot and covered
around midnight; opened it up and heated the entire disaster to a
seething mess and wow, it looks great- i was so upset as I had put so much into this -but I think this is saveable i loved the colour and original texture I almost had it.......April Fool
what did i expect.... lol. Lynette
from Qualicum Beach BC.

Lynette from Qualicum said...

Hi me again from Qualicum Beach-when you have put the rebatch into the mold to cool down,
do you cover it at all???
hoping to get a reply, Lynette

Unknown said...

I've encountered at least 3 different times my soap batter wouldn't work right. thought that it was the weather or the oils I was using or if there was too much or not enough lye water solution. no matter what I tried on my own, it never worked out for me. now that I know about this technique, I'll never pitch a bad batch again!