Labels . . . worth the effort?

I love the idea of making labels for my beer . . . but is it more trouble then it’s worth? I can see myself scrubbing the outside of a bottle trying to get all of the adhesive off to re-use the bottle.

What are your thoughts/experiences?

i don't bother labeling the bottles I consume myself, but if I'm giving the gift of homebrew, they sure are an attractive addition. People think it's pretty neat to get homebrew with fancy labels.


-walker

If you can't drink all of your homebrew before you bottle the next batch it's probably a good idea to label them. This way you don't get them confused. I just use mailing labesl to note which brew is which.

When you make big fancy labels, what do you use for your label? I have a good color printer at work, but adhesive label paper is quite expensive from what I can tell.

I buy the gummed label paper. It's kind of expensive, but since I only make labels for 6 or so bottles, I don't mind the additional cost.

You could use regular paper and a light glue, I suppose.

-walker

That's a great idea! Maybe a glue-stick or something, or double-sided tape. I'll have to try it out.

A glue stick would be best, it cleans up easily and it easy to apply.

rhinostylee said:

When you make big fancy labels, what do you use for your label? I have a good color printer at work, but adhesive label paper is quite expensive from what I can tell.

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I use White Mailing Labels, 3.33" x 4" (Avery stock # 5164). I get them by the box, 600 labels/box, for about 18 bucks. I use whatever graphics program suits my fancy to design the lables, then run them through my color laser printer.

Removing them isn't hard, just a little incovenient. I do it a case at a time. I soak them in hot water and Oxyclean for about 20 minutes, then pick off as much of the label as I can by hand. Anything left I scrub off with a green scratch pad. This takes maybe 2 hours for the case, with most of that time spent soaking the bottles so it't not a lot of physical effort.

Wow, that's great . . . my company can supply all that stuff for me at no charge. Thanks!

Just a quick suggestion:

Even if you can't be stuffed making pretty labels, at least do little hand-written ones on cheap stickers.

I currently have five different brews bottled in my house (and I'm sure others have many more), and would have little idea what was what if I hadn't labelled them.

I Just labled my blueberry wine. I printed on plain paper, sprayed it with a fixitive (ink jet printer) cut them out & used a glue stick. Same as what was said, the glue will easily wash off. Also, the gluestick allows for some repositioning where an Avery label won't.

The Councilman said:

I printed on plain paper, sprayed it with a fixitive (ink jet printer) cut them out & used a glue stick.

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Where do you get this fixitive?

I name my all my beers after my wife's nicknames. The labels are defenitely worth it because then she never questions how much I spend on stuff from the homebewing store.

rhinostylee said:

When you make big fancy labels, what do you use for your label? I have a good color printer at work, but adhesive label paper is quite expensive from what I can tell.

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I don't have fancy labels yet but my son is working on some for me. His first version I printed out on light weight paper (can't find it now but I think 15# bond) Read some place to use milk! as an adhesive. I tried it and it works. Easy to soak off too. Just brush it on the label and slap it on. I'm a newbie but am tentatively testing techniques I hear about.

Question about getting labels off? I'm using 1cup ammonia in 5 gal water. Many labels are floating right off. Soaking difficult ones now to see if that works.

I just soak mine overnight in warm/hot bleach water.

They get sanitized at the same time.

El Pistolero said:

Where do you get this fixitive?

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Any kind of a clear spray. Just use a light touch or it will oil stain the paper. I had some left over clear topcoat in the basement that I used. Aerosol hairspray would probably work, it has laquer in it.

They sell a sealer spray at craft stores.

I label for special occations, but most of my beers have a small sticky label on the cap which tells me the type and bottle date.

OtherWhiteMeat said:

I label for special occations, but most of my beers have a small sticky label on the cap which tells me the type and bottle date.

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Same here.

Labels?

If they are on the bottles, it is nice to have them.
If not, I miss them, even if they are a bit more trouble to apply.

However in my brewery...

{Which used to be a pantry}
{including the spare bathroom shelves}
{But not counting the 14 milk crates of emptys stacked in the corner by my bed.}

There are 14 shelves.
Capable of storing 14 batches of homebrew.
Labels or no labels.
Each shelf a batch.
Just label the shelf, with scotch tape and plain paper.


But yes I like labels,


Knife...

I use a couple of methods.

Either I will use a sharpie and initial the disposable cap, or if I bottle flip tops I use them little round stickers on the caps.

I made my own nice labels once, but it was such a pain in the butt that I got lazy.

In my limited experience, I haven't kept a beer for long enough to worry about it, but if you're going to give them away, a label is a nice touch. Go to Kinkos if you don't need a ton of them.

If it's just for identification purposes, use different colored caps. That's what I do. I ordered a bunch from homebrewheaven.com. I can tell what batch is what by the color. My wheat is green, the porter silver, the rye was a fourth of July brew so it is red and white stripes or the blue with white stars, the hefeweizen is teal, the stout will be black and the IPA will be gold. Easy identification.

brewsmith said:

If it's just for identification purposes, use different colored caps. That's what I do. I ordered a bunch from homebrewheaven.com. I can tell what batch is what by the color. My wheat is green, the porter silver, the rye was a fourth of July brew so it is red and white stripes or the blue with white stars, the hefeweizen is teal, the stout will be black and the IPA will be gold. Easy identification.

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That's an excellent idea.

I just use a Sharpie on blank Caps....

I was in search of a place to order custom caps... but noone has them in small batches...

i used vinyl stickers, like what people use on the windows of cars, we have a vinyl cutting machine at work so it was free for me. i just have a duggy's brew logo on them with a blank bit on them to write the batch number or beer type with a marker. they have lasted the last 6 brews none have come close to peeling off yet. but i dont know how much that would cost from a shop to make, unless you know someone in the sticker buisiness.

This answer may be slightly off topic... But, if you just need the labels to distinguish between your beers and not for a fancy visual appeal to your bottle I would recommend taking a sharpie and initialing the bottle cap with whatever brew it is.

I like this idea

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f46/cheap-easy-bottle-cap-labels-125410/

We used to label some, the best method I liked is just plain paper with milk adhesive. They last a long time and are easy to get off, I still have some wine in the cellar labeled this way from 2 years ago, no problems.

Don't label anymore unless I'm giving it away, we just use the little round stickers on the cap or write on the cap.

Excel didn't copy exactly as I wanted, but here's about as a generic a label as you can get (like the generic food (black and white) aisle that was popular in the late 70's early 80's.) It prints about 1.75" high and 2" wide and 21 to a sheet (US 8.5" X 11"). I use 3/4" strips of scotch tape to stick them to the bottles. After I'm done pouring, I rinse the bottles, wet the labels, split them in half and tear off label and tape. In my basic label, the top two lines are blank, the next three just don't have any dates. Plus, I now give AHS second billing... I add the info, save as..., then print. I have 5 or 6 different kinds of beer in my pipeline right now. It helps me to tell them apart.
Austin Homebrew
Bass Ale Clone
Brewed 9/26/10
Bottled 10/19/10
Drink 11/9/2010

I just label the ones i give away.If you bottle alot its more time spent than looking at the bottle a minute or two if that while drinking it. I just code my caps.When I pour in the glass,I then just have rinse out for next use.If you enjoy making them for all the bottles and dont mind then have at.Over time you may find its another step to do if you brew often and find the short lived satisfying visual not worth it to yourself but to show off to others makes for a more enjoyable experience for you and them.Then they will want all of your beers and take your much needed bottles.Ha

Duffman53 said:

This answer may be slightly off topic... But, if you just need the labels to distinguish between your beers and not for a fancy visual appeal to your bottle I would recommend taking a sharpie and initialing the bottle cap with whatever brew it is.

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lol, you are replying to a thread that is over 5 years old.

Hang tags are cool too, here's revvys: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f46/wine-beer-bottle-hanging-tags-93201/

I just write on the cap with permanent marker and abbreviate everything. When I give more than one type away, I throw in a "decoder" card, so they know that "AW" on the cap stands for Apfelwein, and so on. I also add a little description of the bottled product on the card. So I guess you could say the card my way of using a universal label, but it's nothing fancy.

earwig said:

lol, you are replying to a thread that is over 5 years old.

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damn zombie thread! It ate my brainz too!