Removing Labels...

Ahhh the perils of bottling. I got a six of Rogue Red Ale and a six of Magic Hat IPA and I plan on using them to bottle. Last time I removed labels I just soaked the bottles in real hot water and scraped them off with my fingernails (not fun). I just wanted to know if anyone has a relatively painless way of doing this or if I simply have to pay my pennance for not kegging. I thought I read somewhere on this forum that they soak them in an ammonia/water solution and they slide right off, just wanted to know dilution factor of the ammonia:water. Thanks fellas.

Joe

just soak them in hot soapy water for about ten minutes, then remove as much as the label you can by peeling off, soak another ten minutes, then scrub with a scrubby, or chore boy. They shouldnt be that hard to get off, ive done hundreds of bottles, and never broke a sweat, or used ammonia, or oxy-clean: just soap, water, time,a green scrubby and a little elbo grease.

A paint/razor scapper works well too. Normally it would be used to get paint off a window after painting the frame.

IGOR

The brand of beer you are trying to remove labels from makes a big difference too. Becks is a complete nightmare; those foil labels are a menace to remove. The best I've found is Bass. Soak those in hot water for 10 minutes and they fall off themselves. It's a thing of beauty after scrubbing other more stubborn labels for a few hours.

cutigers81 said:

The brand of beer you are trying to remove labels from makes a big difference too. Becks is a complete nightmare; those foil labels are a menace to remove. The best I've found is Bass. Soak those in hot water for 10 minutes and they fall off themselves. It's a thing of beauty after scrubbing other more stubborn labels for a few hours.

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Never tried Bass, but Fullers labels behave the same; and ESB or London Pride both taste much better than botled Bass IMHO.

-a.

Put the bottles in a big Tupperware tub and fill it with fairly strong ammonia and water mixture. Leave them over night and the labels literally slide off the bottles into the bottom of the tub. Rinse the bottles well and you are done. Just don't get any bleach (chlorine) mixed into the ammonia! A very dangerous combination.

I think one of the keys is to just not be in a hurry to get the labels off. Try to have all the bottles ready before bottling day.

Whenever I have extra One Step left over from whatever I'm doing, I put it in a pail with a lid. As I drink store-bought beer, I rinse out the empities and put them in the pail. They may sit in there a week or longer before I check on them again. Whenever I do, all the labels are floating on top and there is no glue on the bottles. No pain...

cutigers is right, the brand of beer makes a huge difference. New castle labels come off incredibly easy while becks IS a b!tch.. Widmer bros and Flying dog also have tuff labels.

I've tried soaking them in bleach and in washing soda solutions and believe that hot water works just as well. I've never tried ammonia but I think I will next time. Here's how I do it: soak them for a while.. like over night and then remove one only when you're ready to take the label off... those things can readhere/dry really quickly. I use a little plastic dish scraper to scrape off almost all of the label (any scraper would probably work well.. I just don't have to worry about cutting myself with the plastic one). Whatever adhesive and paper is left is easily removed with some powdered bark keepers friend and a sponge. It takes me maybe a minute at most to do the tuff labels this way.. not too bad if you ask me.

I agree with those who have said that the key is not to be in a hurry. Oxy cleaner and washing soda both work very well, in my experience, with an extended soak (several hours).

Both of these things leave a filmy residue that requires thorough rinsing, though.

I used to throw some Automatic Dishwashing Powder in the bottom of my sink then fill it up with very hot water. I threw the bottles in there for about 10 minutes, and the labels would slide off easily. Just a few scrubs to get the glue off . . . and they were clean and ready to rinse well.

Since then . . . I've read that dishwashing detergent will reduce head retention, but I've never had a problem with head retention. I haven't had to peel labels lately, so I guess I will use some One-Step next time.

Oxyclean in Warm Water if you soak a couple hours lift the bottles out by the neck and the labels will be in the bucket

RichBrewer said:

Put the bottles in a big Tupperware tub and fill it with fairly strong ammonia and water mixture. Leave them over night and the labels literally slide off the bottles into the bottom of the tub. Rinse the bottles well and you are done. Just don't get any bleach (chlorine) mixed into the ammonia! A very dangerous combination.

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This works like a charm - even for Sam Adams which are the hardest to get of in our neck of the woods. Don't remember the solution, I'm not home now to look it up but I think a cup per 5 gal.

Some of the worst to get off are Pete's Wicked. Sam Adams are a cinch compared to Pete's. But a lot of soaking and a little scrubing work. And yes, Flying dog are also a PITA.

There is a product called Straight-A Premium Cleanser that works extremely well at removing labels. I think it is available at most of the HBS's



Dave

I put the 15 bottles I got from my LHBS' bottle return into the diswasher to sanitize/wash them. (Who knows where they've been). I went in to get a glass because all of my glasses were dirty and grabbed a couple bottles and the labels slid right off! The Negra Modelo foil tops even came off fairly easy.

I say use the dishwasher and peel the labels off when it is in mid steam cycle. Worked good for me.

All I do is put my bottles with labels in the dishwasher add soap, turn on and walk away. About the time when the dry cycle is almost done I open up the dishwasher and peel the labels off the bottles. At that point there aren't very many that have labels still on them but the sticky ones slip right off. As for the glue I just fill the soap back up and wash again after, of course, scooping the fallen labels out of the bottom of the dishwasher before doing so.

Oxyclean, hot water, and time are your friends.

Get up about 30 minutes earlier then normal and put your bottles in the tub. Fill the tub with hot water, add Oxyclean, and then go to work. Make sure the bottles are actually sunk to the bottom and not just floating around and FILL the tub dont just cover them bottles. When you come home about 8-9 hours later I guarentee 95% of any labels out there will be floating right off the bottle.

RiversC174 said:

I thought I read somewhere on this forum that they soak them in an ammonia/water solution and they slide right off, just wanted to know dilution factor of the ammonia:water.

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From Papazian's book: Effective ratio is 1 cup ammonia (plain old grocery store brand works fine at a buck a quart) added to 5 gallons of cold water. Soak overnite. Lift bottles out of solution and wipe the label off with a finger, if it doesn't slide right off when you pull the bottle out of the liquid. Rinse well and dry. It's that easy. The ammonia completely disolved the glue for any label I've come across, save the metal ones. Those remain the PITA for any method of removal.

Try to soak the bottles outdoors. Ammonia fumes aren't nice to the nasal cavities. It's not overly strong, but being in a closed area concentrates the fumes.

I used table spoon of B brite in a 5 gal bucket put the bottles in last night and after breakfast I took them out the labels pulled off easy then I just wiped the glue off with a dish rag no problem. bottles were Warstiener I think thats how to you spell it?

5 gallon bucket?

I must be the only one here who does like 5 cases of bottles at a time

Pumbaa said:

Oxyclean, hot water, and time are your friends.

Get up about 30 minutes earlier then normal and put your bottles in the tub.

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Do I have to!? Can't I sleep in just this once? Or, better yet, couldn't I soak the bottles in the evening so they are finished when I wake up in the morning?

Pumbaa said:

5 gallon bucket?

I must be the only one here who does like 5 cases of bottles at a time

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You dont have the keg setup yet? I just bottle some for easy transport.

just think, once you get 2 cases of bottles with no labels you never have to remove them again (assuming you do a 5 gallon brew).

but if you take some homebrews over to your friends house, you have to remember to take the empties back with you, which is hard to remember after a few brews...

barrett

ok from a girl... soak em then after they slide off.. if you take a bit of olive oil and a soft scrubber the glue will come right off the bottle..

the dishwasher is awesome for it too.. when you wash in there the labels always seem to peel off!

gremlin said:

just think, once you get 2 cases of bottles with no labels you never have to remove them again (assuming you do a 5 gallon brew).

but if you take some homebrews over to your friends house, you have to remember to take the empties back with you, which is hard to remember after a few brews...

barrett

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Actually, you will find you need more that 2 cases of bottles. Unless you drink the entire batch before you bottle the next one you won't have enough. Also, many of us like to have a variety of home brew on hand. You may have 3 or 4 types of beer bottled at once.

mmditter said:

Do I have to!? Can't I sleep in just this once? Or, better yet, couldn't I soak the bottles in the evening so they are finished when I wake up in the morning?

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Great idea!

Everyone has the plan that works best for them. I've had nightmares getting labels off of Sam Adams bottles, but with Becks, those are a piece of cake for me. I know that from above postings people have complained that Becks are hard to get off, but with a soaking overnight in some soapy water, the foil labels fall right off for me. A quick wipe with a washcloth, and the outsides are clean as can be. Best advise as everyone has been saying...Just take your time and let them soak. For me, I do small batches so I'm not cleaning bottles for hours on end.

I'll have to try those newcastle bottles as Lost pointed out above in his posting.

Ah, but the Newcastle bottles are clear... (at least the 6 I just consumed were) But that's a different debate thread. (brown/green/clear bottles)

While drinking the Newcastle on the other hand, I removed the bottles I had for a soak to remove the labels. Many of which were several years old...

My recipe for what it's worth...

Find a big cooler you're not using this weekend... 3 or 4 or 5 scoops of Oxyclean, fill with water, then bottles, let sit for 4 days. Remove bottles. Those labels that don't come off on their own, peel 'em off, (they come off easily enuf) What residue is left, grab a Dobie, takes it right off... Then spray them out really well. (REALLY well if you are bottling immediately, good enough if you are storing for the moment and are going to wash them again) Sanitize when ready....

Even the Warsteiner foil peeled right off.... The only ones that gave me trouble were the Out of Bounds.... some kind of plastic overlay on the label...

All in all, another 20 ready to go, another case soaking....


Ize

I'm revisiting this topic and would like to add one other note now that I have some more experience under my belt.

I've found that the Bass bottles have a rim that is slightly larger than other beers, and hence, I wasn't able to cap my beers as tightly as with others. These produced flatter beers than the beers in from the same batch in other bottles. I also had the same problem with Stella, except worse.

But, the labels do come off easily...

Soak in TSP, used to remove wallpaper etc. Rinses off real easy.

usually the soaking tips whatever that most folks have mentioned here work great. but i have some bottles from paper city brewery in holyoke massachusetts. it sems that they use rubber cement for label glue.

it usually comes off after a long soaking, but i have to scrape the label into pieces to remove it. how can i get the label off in one piece for my collection? i've never seen such sticky stringy gummy label glue!

i guess this is more about label removal and preservation than just pure label removal. anybody else have this problem?

barrett

Did you ever try heat?? like from a hair dryer??

RiversC174 said:

Ahhh the perils of bottling. I got a six of Rogue Red Ale and a six of Magic Hat IPA and I plan on using them to bottle. Last time I removed labels I just soaked the bottles in real hot water and scraped them off with my fingernails (not fun). I just wanted to know if anyone has a relatively painless way of doing this or if I simply have to pay my pennance for not kegging. I thought I read somewhere on this forum that they soak them in an ammonia/water solution and they slide right off, just wanted to know dilution factor of the ammonia:water. Thanks fellas.

Joe

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I finf that after a soak on hot soapy water, a razor blade takes the lable off and most of the glue too, and no messing around with amonia

I have a bucket of Oxyclean water in my brewery/cellar and I just drop in a couple more every so often. At the same time I pull up some and which ever ones have no label on them anymore, get rinsedoff and put in the bottling queue.
After a long time, I dump the wather (and the few doxen labels at the bottom) and start a new batch of soaking solution.
Takes a while but I never scrape or scrub any more. Stubborn ones go in the trash.
Lagunitas is the easiest Ive found.

well i wouldn't consider bottling a peril - i thoroughly enjoy bottling.

i have a big rubber maid tub on the porch of my brewshed filled with oxyclean and water. i deposit any bottles there that i may collect. usually about once a month i will go through them and the ones that the label hasn't already floated to the surface or can be scratched off with my hand, i will put aside and the others i will hit with my power sprayer. i really refuse to scrape any bottle. to me if i have to go that far i might as well but a case or two of bottles.

A friend and I gathered about 180 bottles. Stopped and each picked up a 12pack... When I woke up I had a headache and a bunch of clean bottles

We soaked them in the tub with the hottest water we could get. His tap water is about 145F so after they soaked in there for about an hour they would just come right off. Then the glue could be sponged off. There were a few evil brands 22oz bottles but I can't think of it right now...

Indiana Red said:

I have a bucket of Oxyclean water in my brewery/cellar and I just drop in a couple more every so often. At the same time I pull up some and which ever ones have no label on them anymore, get rinsedoff and put in the bottling queue.
After a long time, I dump the wather (and the few doxen labels at the bottom) and start a new batch of soaking solution.
Takes a while but I never scrape or scrub any more. Stubborn ones go in the trash.
Lagunitas is the easiest Ive found.

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Cool, but how often do you add Oxyclean to the bucket? The power of oxygen-based cleaners only last a couple of hours. If you don't add more oxyclean every few hours, all you are basically doing is soaking your bottles in water. Save a few buck, just use the water!

RiversC174 said:

I just wanted to know if anyone has a relatively painless way of doing this

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Yup. I have a real painless way of doing this.... I buy new bottles and don't use full labels I label caps. I put labels on a few before, thought it was fun and all... but man.... for all the complaints of bottling, this is the biggest pain in the A$$ part of it.

I put about 8 in a pot standing up so I can pick them out with my fingers and bringto a boil. Take one out put one in to replace it, peel off the label, rinse, repeat. New Belgium brews work the best.

You know when I started brewing it was not thought to be good practice to use recycled bottles. The thought was that the glass was thinnner then what we would use if we had boughten them. Was this a understanding to some of the older brewers here? What changed... bottles or attitude?