removing labels _intact_?
 

I've seen lots of threads about removing labels, but what if you want to keep the labels intact?

I don't have a lot of room to store bottles, but I do want to remember favorite beers and labels (La Fin Du Monde and Insanity come to mind). I figured the easiest way would be to keep the label and reuse the bottle.

Some labels are cooperating; most are not. Has anyone figured out a way (or even tried; this may be a dumb idea :D ) to remove beer labels whole?

Unibroue labels are tough. I've managed to get them off a couple times by soaking for 24 hours, but it's always hard. I've heard soap helps?

I've always been told that being able to peel the label of a bottle intact is a sign of s*xual frustration. Must be true as I am now able to peel the label off a corona bottle w/o a single tear....

Any increased pH water soak will do it. I know Lye works (took mine off whole in 15 minutes). You might try baking soda, but I don't know if it has the power to raise the pH all that much.

Baking Soda (sodium bicarbonate)

NaHCO3 is a salt which consists of the ions Na+ and the bicarbonate anion, HCO3-. It has a pKa of 6.3 in water which causes aqueous solutions to be mildly alkaline:

HCO3- + H2O --> H2CO3 + OH-

Not a very strong alkaline.

Here's something that may be useful:

http://www.wikihow.com/Use-Wine-Bottle-Labels-As-Art

I wouldn't soak...that'll jack up the ink and paper.
Try filling the bottle with boiling water from the microwave...don't put the bottle in there, lots of labels have metal in them.
When it's almost too hot to hold onto, use a razor blade and gently work off the label. It takes some practice, but you'll get it quickly.

I soak my bottles in a hot solution of PBW overnight...the labels are found floating in the solution the next morning, totally intact.

I had some luck in the past with wine labels by putting them in a warm oven for a while. The heat softened the glue and they came off pretty easily.

Try oxyclean.