Do I have to Remove labels??

Call me lazy, call me impatient, both are slightly true! I have a $hit ton of empty bottles from vacation from the likes of Sam Adams, and Hoe. Most have their labels on them. Some fell off in the cooler. I have run into some notoriously difficult label glue during prior bottle cleaning sessions. I have come to ask myself this question: Do i really have to remove these damn labels? I got lazy last bottling and scratched the name off of them so I know ones I bottled at quick glance. Is there a scientific reason to remove them? I figure with enough use, they will eventually come off, but to spend minutes on each, does it matter?

i suspect you already know the answer to your question.


obviously, the beer tastes better when the outside of the bottle is spotless.

As long as they don't start to get dirty you won't have a problem with it, I wouldn't suggest sharing bottles with the old label though, I think it gives a bad impression.

ha ha ha, boy does it. For me it is just kind of perfectionism that drives me to label strip. I just use one of those rubbermaid tubs filled with hot water and a liberal amount of oxyxlean and leave it overnight. the labels and glue on most bottles just melt off, the ones that don't take no more than 15 seconds to "scrub" or they just go in the recycling.

DansBrew said:

Call me lazy, call me impatient, both are slightly true!

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You are a candidate for kegging.

bhatchable said:

ha ha ha, boy does it. For me it is just kind of perfectionism that drives me to label strip. I just use one of those rubbermaid tubs filled with hot water and a liberal amount of oxyxlean and leave it overnight. the labels and glue on most bottles just melt off, the ones that don't take no more than 15 seconds to "scrub" or they just go in the recycling.

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This. I keep an old cooler full of oxyclean water in the back of the garage. Whenever I get bottles with labels on them, I just toss 'em in the oxyclean cooler, when it starts to get kinda full, I take all the bottles out and get 'em cleaned up for use.

*this is disgusting and everyone who comes to my house is grossed out, so you might want to just soak bottles when you have a full cooler and then dump out the oxyclean*

I have some label-less bottles I use as "giveables," and some with labels that I drink. I certainly don't care if a bottle has the wrong label on it, but I wouldn't hand it out that way.

Lol thanks for the expedient responses. I have some that are absolutely spotless( I also bought 2 cases of 22oz for the VIP handouts.) Harpoon brand has been very hard to get off, I used a putty knife and the best I could do was scratch the white gunk under the soaked off label. Some are sheer personal use, thats for sure. I'll try the Star san soak, and see if that helps. I have a little more time than I thought... My american brown is still at 1.020... My main wonder/concern was whether or not leaving labels on can screw up sanitizing... Like label and or glue gunk getting inside a bottle from soaking them in sanitizer. The answer is probably yes, but I figured I would feel out the experts!

At first I didn't remove labels at all...then I got anal and removed every label on every bottle....realized what a pain that was and now I just soak them, and pull off the label. If there is residue, or a white patch I don't care. Sam Adams labels come off easy with a nights soak. I don't scrub anymore.
Labels are like a drunk woman's clothing, it will come off eventually given enough use

TheMan said:

Labels are like a drunk woman's clothing, it will come off eventually given enough use

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FANTASTIC!!

I've got enough bottles now, that if soaking doesn't take the label off, I generally don't keep them. Its just not worth it.

I realized that when I spent an entire weekend trying to take labels off heineken bottles that someone left at my place.

Soaking in PBW makes most lables fall off, and the rest give up without a fight. I like the uniformity of all my bottles being with out lables. I'm sure once I get a keg system I'll start making lables for the beers I'm letting age.

Synovia said:

I've got enough bottles now, that if soaking doesn't take the label off, I generally don't keep them. Its just not worth it.

I realized that when I spent an entire weekend trying to take labels off heineken bottles that someone left at my place.

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Exactly. I soak overnight or maybe a few days and then bottles that give even the slightest difficulty getting the label off go right in the recycling bin.

I'll only buy beer in bottles I know the label comes off for just this reason... even if I love the beer? (You hear this STONE? Love your beer/bottle design but I won't buy more than one a year!)

I soak overnight in Oxiclean and if those buggers don't come RIGHT off, they get sent to the recycling center and I move on. After a while you figure out which ones are easy and which ones are not.

JVD_X said:

I'll only buy beer in bottles I know the label comes off for just this reason... even if I love the beer? (You hear this STONE? Love your beer/bottle design but I won't buy more than one a year!)

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A strong solution of star-san can take the stone and most other printed on labels right off after an overnight soak. Or so it's said.

I have ran into a few brands that the labels will not come off of. there is a local brew that uses some sort of plastic label that is impossible. If I buy those, I don't even bother any more, I just get rid of em.

Other than that, I have never had an issue with a good soak in HOT water with oxyclean. labels float off by morning.

JoshuaWhite5522 said:

Soaking in PBW makes most lables fall off, and the rest give up without a fight. I like the uniformity of all my bottles being with out lables. I'm sure once I get a keg system I'll start making lables for the beers I'm letting age.

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Not heineken bottles. Plastic film labels, petroleum based adhesives, good stuff.

With a soak in hot oxyclean or pbw, I've had most labels come off in an hour or so. I don't like Heineken bottles anyway because they're green.

No real reason to do it other than aesthetics, unless you plan on entering your beers into competitions. Then it will be necessary to completely remove all labels so there aren't any identifying marks.

Old star-san that has clouded up really bad is great for Stone bottles. Soak a day or two and the ink literally rinses off.

Another "Don't care" here. I try to remove the labels but if they do not come off then I still use them. I have some sitting not that I used in a hurry and the inside was clesn but the outside didn't even get a good washing.

I only take off the label if I'm giving it away or sending it off for competition. No need to go through the effort for a bottle that I pop open, the pour into a glass.

Thats what I was thinking Edcculus... Ever since I acquired some of the nicer glass ware from some local bars, I don't drink from bottles anymore...

my last batch i bottled i didnt care... and since i keg, that last batch was PAINFUL! I hate bottling... dear kegs: i love you

i know you let sleeping dogs lie... one night round 1200 i come home and upon backing the race car in to the drive, i spy something odd (i don't have reverse lights only brakes). turned out to be a six pack of unlabeled beer with firestone caps in a bag. the brewery is 30 miles from me, so i think 'huh, someone brought me homebrew.' it was very similar to fw double barrel. didn't kill me.

Yeah, I delabel. Have to use PBW, as prolonged soak in Oxi-clean with our well water will leave a white film on the glass that requires a subsequent acid wash in white vinegar.

And I've learned which brands to collect and which not to. Some brewers (all U.S. based, in my experience) are incredibly proud of their bottles, and never want the labels to come off. This tendency seems to have no connection to the quality of the beer. The worst I've encountered are from Two Brothers in Warrenville, IL (who make phenomenal beers- try Domaine Du Page, Bitter End, or Cane and Ebel). They've gone with some kind of plastic label with glue to match.....my empties go right in the recycler.

if you're going to enter compitions, then the bottles need to have labels taken off as well as any residue from the labels.
as far as my beers, some bottles do have label. it doesn't bother me that the labels are there because i know what beer style i have in the bottles as well as that it's something that i've brewed.

Used to be, I didn't care if they came off but now have a practical reason to remove labels. We recently had to have our dishwasher repaired we thought it was to be on warranty--however after tearing the thing apart the repairman found the food macerater filled w/ various kinds of junk that plugged it up. One of the worst culprits being paper. I had been in the habit of cleaning/sanitizing in the dishwasher not worrying about labels etc.just picked out the pieces at the bottom when done. Well, obviously that wasn't good enough & it cost me $75. Labels weren't the whole problem but certainly figured into it.

Guinness labels are by far the easiest to remove. Just cut them off.

The solution is clear. Start drinking imports.

I've noticed most Euro bottles will slip the label off if you soak them in water for 10 minutes. American beers and American market beers however are intended to be drunk cold, so they make the labels glue on and stay on when soaking in a bucket of ice water.

That being said, I had a large batch of Sam Adams bottles donated to me, and I soaked them for a good 2 or 3 hours in starsan and that floated the labels right off. Oxyclean works great too for that.

i find sierra nevada and sam adams to be the easiest labels to remove.

its the only reason i've been buying SN celebration ale like a madman...