philosofool

Recipes 

What are some good ways to make removing bottle labels easy? It's a special batch of beer (made at my bachelor party) and I want to bottle it attractively.

s3n8

Recipes 

hot water + oxyclean, 3 hours, rinse well

Nanobru

Recipes 

The easiest labels to remove by far is Hoegaarden. A quick soak and they come right off. Others are not so kind. Soak in the sink with hot soapy water for at least an hour, some require overnight. Some labels fall right off, some require scraping with a knife or razor blade. Once most of the label is removed, the remaining glue can be removed by scrubbing with a scouring pad. Some people swear by PBW, and it may work the best, but dish soap is ALOT cheaper and works just fine. Make sure you rinse very well.

BrewInATL

Recipes 

You can also run them in the dishwasher on the hot cycle. The first run to get the labels loose and the second for the glue.

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MoRoToRiUm

Recipes 

There is good info on this in the label thread (sticky too if I'm not mistaken). Normally hot water soak, fingernail for the label (if they don't fall off), and 3M scratchy for the goo works great for me.

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thereefgeek

Recipes 

Second that. Easy and effortless, even on those stubborn labels.
I usually pull hot water right of the hose bib drain for my waterheater, and if you use it often enough, it also keeps the sediment deposits flushed out of the tank

PMSfishy

Recipes 

Stainless Steel Scrubbers work well to get any stubborn glue off.

zac

Recipes 

Oxi Clean or PBW always works for me. I've never met a label I can't remove fairly easy.

Section143BrewCo

Recipes 

Just cleaned/removed two cases worth of lables today. Mostly Sam Adams and some Michelob. Sammy's were pretty easy just soaking in hot water and then giving them a nice scrub with a towel to get the glue. Might try the oxy clean next time to make sure all the glue is off. They will work for now. Michelob's were a bit tougher.

All this being said I definitely came to this section of the forum to start reading up on kegging cause bottling just doesn't do it for me!

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Section 143 Brew Co.
Est. 2008 - Pittsburgh, PA

In primary: None
In secondary: Amber
Bottled (Conditioning): Pale Ale
Bottled (Ready to Drink): Oktoberfest, Porter
Next up: Section 143 Originals - "Off-Season Ale" and "Draft Day Lager"

lx302

Recipes 

I use the old method of a bucket of water and a small amount of ammonia and the labels fall off in a couple hours.