Easiest de-labeling?

I've been buying and drinking bombers like crazy to get enough to bottle a five gallon batch. It's a cross I have borne admirably.

Now I need to get the labels off. What is the easiest way?

Steve

I just soak them in the bath tub with HOT water, a heavy dose of Oxyclean (2 scoops) and baking soda (about 2 Oxyclean scoops size) for about an hour or two. Most of them will fall right off. I scrub them up a little with a dish scrubber, and if everything doesn't come off right away, I just move on to the next one, and then come back to the ones I couldn't get on the first go. If I have to scrub too much to get one off, I'll just recycle it.

Soak in oxy-clean or one of its off brands. The labels should come off easily in 3-4 hours and probably just fall off if left for more than a day.

Just make sure you rinse them well after the Oxyclean bath. That stuff takes a couple rinses to really get out.

B brite cleaner from Midwest works great, sprinkle 2 tablespoons in your water, let them sit for 25 minutes and they peel off quicker than my sister's panties.........

I soak in hot water and some ammonia over night in my basement wash basin. The next day I scrub them off with the scratchy part of a sponge, comes off like butter. I follow that up with a good rinse and an oxy clean soak.

De-labeling is one of my least favorite homebrewing steps and I've found ammonia to be the most effective. Oxy-clean on it's own works but doesn't make it quite as easy.

dstranger99 said:

B brite cleaner from Midwest works great, sprinkle 2 tablespoons in your water, let them sit for 25 minutes and they peel off quicker than my sister's panties.........

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zingggg

I use water and white vinegar (10% vinegar) soak them for a few days in that and the labels should come right off. Some labels are MUCH harder to remove. Sam Adams and Red Hook are the easiest labels to remove after the plastic Guinness labels.

B brite does work really well. I also use a butterknife to speed in the peeling process.

I have been using oxi clean like the rest. Works excellent! Buy the fragrance free kind.

Some labels refuse to come off I just move on and recycle.

Reach out to non brewing but beer living buddies to save you bottles

I've had really good success with just hot hot water out of the tap and a stainless steel scrubby, the sort of ball shaped kind made of wound stainless strands. The hot water melts the glue like butter, and the scrubby takes care of the rest no issues.

Are there many labels that won't come off this way? I keep seeing people saying they have to use chemicals.

I just do hot water and baking soda. Works pretty well for me

Easy = Overnight soak in Oxyclean. about 1/3 scoop in water enough to cover the labels in a 5 gallon bucket. More if you have a larger container to soak in. Most of the labels will be off, if not a quick rub with a nylon scrubbie will get the label and the residue off. Rinse and ready.

more easy = hot water and ammonia, let them sit for a while, labels and glue come right off.

yso191 said:

I've been buying and drinking bombers like crazy to get enough to bottle a five gallon batch. It's a cross I have borne admirably.

Now I need to get the labels off. What is the easiest way?

Steve

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I just use hot tap water & dish detergent. Soak for about a hour!!! The easiest ones that I've come across is Samuel Adams, sometimes all you need to do with them is run under hot water!!! Lol

Dilute acetone also works well. Depending of the label but in my experience, a few minutes in acetone and that label should glide off

Use PBW. 30 minute soak will remove nearly any label.

I fill a 5 gallon bucket with 120F hot tap water and mix with PBW and soak the bottles for a few days. I have found that not all labels will come off within a day if soaking, especially the local microbrew bottles. Sometimes if I am busy with work they end up sitting in there for a week. When I pull the out all of the labels are either floating at sunk to the bottom. Then there is just a small amount of glue that easily wipes off with a sponge and some water.

With some glue residues that are a pain to remove, I will soak them in a double starsan solution to help remove the glue residue. I usually throw them in that bath after scrubbing off the label if PBW doesn't work to remove the glue. Rahr, Lagunitas and Heineken bottles (for mead) both are a PITA to delabel. The 2x starsan will munch through the glue and it can be wiped off pretty easily when left a few days. Just don't rinse with warm water until the label is removed. Warm water makes them sticky again.

Today my hands are so dry after cleaning bottles for hours yesterday. Starsan cleans the oils off your hands pretty well. Still have tons more to clean, but may do that tomorrow.

When the bottles are a total PITA to remove, I now just chunk them. I have enough already. Lagunitas bottles are a pain, so I usually chunk them and I also hate the short neck clamping area. I am trying to remove those bottles from my collection also.

Cheapo said:

I've had really good success with just hot hot water out of the tap and a stainless steel scrubby, the sort of ball shaped kind made of wound stainless strands. The hot water melts the glue like butter, and the scrubby takes care of the rest no issues.

Are there many labels that won't come off this way? I keep seeing people saying they have to use chemicals.

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Oxyclean works great. Soak for about an hour, glue and all will come off !

overnight soak in B-brite....I always wake up to find all the labels floating.