What is the best way to remove labels from beer bottles?

Hello I am a first time homebrewer and I have been told that oxyclean and water or soaking in chlorine and water, which one is Better? However I am concerned with if I soak the entire bottle to remove the label will it be read to use for bottling once dried? Thank you!

I use oxyclean 'free' and hot water. Most labels will fall off in around 5-10 minutes. Some I scrub off with the rough side of a kitchen sponge. Some...just won't come off easy. I use a bottle brush on the inside of the bottles, rinse and dry. You'll still need to sanitize them come bottling day.

I fill a larger cooler with hot water and a powdered cleaner like oxyclean that is made specifically for brewers - its called PBW. I submerge the bottles in that and leave it for a few days. When I come back, the labels are generally all floating, although some brands use plasticized labels that are difficult to remove. I rinse the bottles quite well afterwards, then put up a bottling tree to dry. Then they are ready to be sanitized when the next bottling day comes around.

You must sanitize your bottles immediately before filling them.

PBW soak for awhile works and then scrub glue with a green pad.

Just did 6 cases yesterday. Even though I enjoy bottling, one of my least favorite parts of this hobby is delabeling and scrubbing bottles! I use a large utility tub, fill it with bottles, toss a couple scoops of generic oxiclean in, and fill with hot water. I try to fill as many bottles as possible while the tub fills and poke down the ones that pop up. Then let them sit for at least an hour. Some labels fall right off, some have to be scraped off. Some have almost no glue left, others are covered in a thick film and have to be scrubbed. I keep a plastic scraper, a plastic scrubber (like plastic steel wool for nonstick pans), and a bottle brush on hand. Every bottle gets the brush even though I rinse meticulously before storing. Even if the label comes right off, you have to use the scrubby to get the glue residue off. I toss the tough ones back in and deal with them last so I don't have a bunch of paper floating around. Use the plastic scraper over a trash can to get as much of the paper off as possible then scrub the rest off. I then dump the dirty soak water (through a strainer if there is a lot of paper) and rinse every bottle inside and out. Now they are ready to be sanitized. I use my dishwasher set as hot as I can get it and that has always worked for me. I have a batch of bottles sitting in mine right now that I ran through last night waiting on me to fill em up! I even run them through the dishwasher, let them dry, put them back in the case, and throw foil on them to keep creepy crawlies out until bottling day.

Wow! Thanks guys!

One scoop of Oxyclean in a sinkful of HOT water. As hot as you can get it from the tap. Within an hour the labels should slide right off, or already be floating. I scrub the remaining glue residue off with a green pad, rinse them, and store in 6-packs.

The HOT HOT HOT water is key. If the water is just a little hot or lukewarm you won't get anywhere with the labels.

Also, certain labels are just a pain, I actually have a sinkful of Brooklyn Brewing bottles soaking right now. They take extra effort to remove.

Lately, I've been drinking Sam Adams Boston Lager because my pipeline ran dry. After I pour the beer, I simply fill the beer bottle with hot water and set it into a large pickle jar filled with water. I let it soak overnight, and by the morning, the label peels of very easily. I also have a stainless steel scrubber that I use to get the remaining glue off. If the labels DON'T come off easily, the bottle gets recycled!

glenn514

So what would be a good ratio to use for the oxyclean and hot water?

Not much ratio here...I dump a couple of scoops into my utility tub, fill with bottles, and fill with hot hot water.

Texasbrowncoat said:

So what would be a good ratio to use for the oxyclean and hot water?

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I use 1/2 scoop Oxyclean free to 5 gal of hot water in a big ice chest, let sit for 8 hrs, labels have fallen off or will wipe right off, just like Pappers said, but I wait less time.

Cheers

For 'plastic labels' (Heinekin type, I use their 7oz bottles for testers) put the bottles in your oven at 180ish, peel off label, scrub remaining haze with a green pad.

I've actually gone from hating plastic labels, to preferring them, they peel off in one piece with little effort.

I also use oxy and soaking for all others. Grolsch labels are the easiest to remove, another reason to hunt down grolsch in swingtops.

Guinness bottles are my favorite because the label is just plastic shrink wrap that can be taken off with a single slit with a razor blade, and the bottles are a cool shape without any logos molded on the glass. Unfortunately the cost of a six-pack of Guinness is crazy.

Careful with the oxyclean, if you don't rinse the bottles immediately after dunking in that stuff it can leave a white residue on the bottles.

AP

APendejo said:

Careful with the oxyclean, if you don't rinse the bottles immediately after dunking in that stuff it can leave a white residue on the bottles.

AP

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Is there anyway to remove the residue on the outside?

Texasbrowncoat said:

Is there anyway to remove the residue on the outside?

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Scrub well with a white pad and Starsan solution, or if you are on teh cheap make a vinegar/water solution, make sure you get a brush inside the bottles.

AP

I just have an unused plastic trash can that I bought from Home Depot for like $5 filled with water and PBW/oxyclean. When I finish drinking a bottle, I rinse it out and throw it in there. Whenever I get a hankering for working on beer stuff, I will pull a few out. The labels come off with no effort if they're not already floating freely, unless they are the plastic-glue labels. I then give them a quick scrub with the green side of a sponge and rinse and rinse and rinse with hot water. Every once in a while I will empty out the trash can and refill with new cleaning solution, but not often since it continues to work its magic without much interaction.

I soaked them in hot water and many peeled off... except for the troegs bottles. I had to use a magic eraser after running them through the dishwasher after soaking for 8hours. No idea why they need to use super glue for their labels. Abita does the same.

ingnuty said:

I soaked them in hot water and many peeled off... except for the troegs bottles. I had to use a magic eraser after running them through the dishwasher after soaking for 8hours. No idea why they need to use super glue for their labels. Abita does the same.

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Same with Great Divide...they get recycled! That is a good supplementary question. What are the worst labels to get off? The easiest?

Real Ale labels from Blanco TX just fall off in warm water. Miss those guys...

TANSTAAFB said:

Same with Great Divide...they get recycled!

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Why do they feel the need to do this? We bought the beer to drink, so what do they care what happens to the bottles afterwards? Lol.

On a side note, Bass and Great Lakes bottles have wicked easy labels (although bass has stamped glass)

ScottG58 said:

PBW soak for awhile works and then scrub glue with a green pad.

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I soak mine in PBW for 30 minutes and paper labels literally fall off

I get the majority of my bottles from commercial beers I buy. Provided you like the beer and your torn between brand X and an Abita brand let me tell you I have never seen labels melt off so easily.
I use OxyClean in a container that holds only a few bottles at a time. Most labels need at least overnight to break down the adhesive. So getting my bottles naked can be time consuming if I have any quantity to speak of. However I was able to undress 24 Abita's (2 diff't styles) in about 6 hours. No other bottle I've dunked has sloughed its label so easily. It def added a few points to that beer for me.
Just sayin'

I just use hot water... but Russian River (Pliny/Blind Pig) labels are really hard to get off... just so happens to be my favorite bottles to use as well. For those I soak for a while then use goo-gone and the glue comes right off. I've also noticed that there may be some goo-gone left over even after a wash in the dishwasher and star-san because the last couple of label I put on those bottles came right off sitting in warm water.

I recently discovered that plain vinegar and baking soda mixed with hot water is the best approach. An hour soak in a cooler and the glue just needed to be wiped away. No real scrubbing.

I should state that the labels still had to be removed. But they came off easy and still no scrubbing.

I gave up on this just because of the pain that it is. I really don't care if the bottle has someone elses lable on it. If i'm going to give some away, I give them bottles with no label. I just don't worry about it anymore otherwise.