Hot Glue bottle wax experiment

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Pretty rookie job but It turned out okay, I didnt use Crayola crayons I used the generic store brand Jumbo Crayons. I used 7 jumbos instead of 12 little ones and used 22 sticks of hot glue. Giving away as gifts at Christmas. Unfortunately the Wax is starting to crack on some of the bottles. But it should make them easier to open. I was pretty happy with the end result overall.

You seem to be linking to a gmail account, ...rookie ;)

Edit: I realize that wasn't exactly helpful. We aren't going to be able to see a picture in your gmail for security reasons. Upload the picture to Google's Picasa and you can link to it there.
 

Those look nice.

If you want the picture in the post try this in picassa online:

picassa%20options.JPG


Since your original image size is quite small you might not see size options (step three above)

Then use the "Insert image" button on the forum to put the picture link in your post (or manually wrap the link in IMG tags)

And voila your pics:
chris1.jpg
chris2.jpg
 
I know this is an old thread but I was looking at wax sealing some bottles of stout. Anyhow the etched images website http://www.etchedimages.com/_catalog_60784/Dipping_Wax_for_Wine_Bottles?Page=1&Items=12 has grey bottle wax on clearance for $6 a pound. I think that might make it cheaper than screwing with crayons and glue sticks. Plus while grey isn't the most universal color you can buy cheap dry pigments at hobby stores. I'm going to dry adding a metallic copper pigment to the wax when I get around to waxing my bottles.
 
Well I got my Etched Images bottle sealing "wax" last week. Tonight I decided to heat up a pound of it in a $4 SS mixing bowl I picked up today. I threw it in the oven to do a majority of the melting since it was already hot from cooking. After it was most of the way melted I just threw the SS bowl on top of one of my small electric coil burners to melt rest of the way.

Here's my results from the plastic polymer they sell. I did seven bottles total as a test run. I still have plans on adding some copper powder to color the wax a bit. I found it best to dip quick and get the wax running down the bottle then set it on some wax/parchment paper to cool in case there are any drips. I have to say I'm a happy guy!

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dead thread lives!

I have been playing around with a formula for DIY bottle wax and today tried this combo: 8 crayons, 1/2 lbs of Gulf Wax, and 10 regular glue sticks.

seemed to do pretty well. I am just experimenting right now because in a week or so i'm going to bottle a barley wine and want to wax them. I MAY add a couple more glue sticks as the mixture seems a bit thin, but it still looks pretty damn good. I'm not sure how many bottles this amount would do, but i'm guessing almost a case or so
 
I've just finished finals for the semester and have been playing around this evening. Everything was really cheap at walmart--<$5 for 24 10" x .44" glue sticks (~1.3 lbs), ~$2.50 for parrafin, and I kinda regret getting cheap crayons rather than Crayola, but they were $1.60. Something I have seen on sites dealing with letter sealing wax is the use of Shellac. That might help get a harder plastic-like texture a la Makers.

Has anyone dipped in cold water afterward to set the wax?
 
I've just finished finals for the semester and have been playing around this evening. Everything was really cheap at walmart--<$5 for 24 10" x .44" glue sticks (~1.3 lbs), ~$2.50 for parrafin, and I kinda regret getting cheap crayons rather than Crayola, but they were $1.60. Something I have seen on sites dealing with letter sealing wax is the use of Shellac. That might help get a harder plastic-like texture a la Makers.

Have you tried it yet? I have the same ingredients for the most part (down to the cheap a$$ crayons). I waxed a few of my bottles the other day using just the glue/crayon method originally posited (the 12 crayon to 20 glue stick ratio).

Maybe I am being unrealistic but I am having one issue with expectation versus reality. The wax is too tough for my bottle opener to pierce what has accumulated under the cap. Since it can't get a grip on the underside of the cap through the wax, it can't pop the top. What I would like is for the wax to be soft enough to be able to use a standard bottle opener to open these without trouble, but still have the wax look shiny and perfect without cracking.

In my head the solution to the problem is more wax and less glue in the ratio. I was thinking about adding a fair amount of paraffin and removing about half the glue sticks from the formula. If you've already done this I would be interested in hearing the results!
 
I have been playing around with a formula for DIY bottle wax and today tried this combo: 8 crayons, 1/2 lbs of Gulf Wax, and 10 regular glue sticks.

I used the ratio posted above but cut down to half size--4 crayons, 1/4 pound parafin, and 20" of .44" glue stick. This seemed to work pretty well. Then I added zinser shellac, which I had just laying around. It seemed to hard up the mixture a bit and maybe give a little more sheen. You could definitely do without. I think 4 tablespoons in the amounts I used was perfect, because at 6 tablespoons, it became a little too crumbly. I will post pics later.

I definitely recommend splurging on real crayons. There were a lot of crappy pinkish reds in the pack I bought, and few really good reds. Oh, well.
 
Most are doing this for the decorative aspect but it can help with long term aging for beers. The caps will allow oxygen transfer through the plastic liner over time. This just provides an additional barrier for the oxygen to work though.
 
cracked open a barleywine that i had waxed dipped. The bottle was easy to open, and the wax was easy to remove with a butter knife. Beer was damn good too hahaha
 
Decorative element for gifts, possible aid in preventing any oxidation through the cap.

This is why I'm doing it. I am also curious to the effects of long-term aging of wine bottles with #8 corks (which I don't think seal as well) once they've been waxed. I've only done apfelwein, but I might try a mead and don't wanna lay out cash for an expensive corker (the $5 hammer operated job does just fine with #8s).

I'll edit with pictures:

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The color is a little better in real life because I suck at photography. The one on the right was without shellac, the two on the left have it. The middle one is probably the best, since I waited for the wax to cool a bit and thicken up. I was just practicing with these because they are headed to my brewpal who doesn't remove his own labels.
 
Updating the thread with my results. I was doing half batches using the following recipe:

6 crayons
3 - 10 inch 0.44 diameter hot glue sticks
a little bit less than 1/4 lb paraffin (Gulf) wax

I chopped it up, threw it into a tin soup can, and put it right on the glass top of my electric range on medium heat. It took about 5 minutes with intermittent stirring to reach total well-mixed liquid form.

After that it was a quick dip into the wax, a quick spin to get off some of the excess wax, then a quick flip of the bottle to let some of the excess drip down the side of the bottle to get that classic look you see on bottles of Dark Lord.

As I previously stated my problem was that using the crayon/glue combo looks gorgeous but I couldn't get the bottle opener to crack the top without serious effort. I was looking to thin down the mix so the spurs of the cap would stick out enough for the opener to get purchase on them.

Adding the paraffin successfully accomplished this. I can open the bottles without the floss/string or a knife or a sprained wrist. Also the wax comes right off of the bottle with no problem. The only downside here is that the wax is thin enough that any writing on the caps still comes through (as you'll see in the pictures I'll post later).

Also to answer a possible question in the future, I did this with these ratios 3 times with different colors. The exact amount of wax produced was enough to coat the tops of 30 bottles +/- 5 depending on how hot/cold your wax is (it goes on thicker if it's colder).

Hope this helps people out with some of the issues I was wrestling with!

Edit - pictures attached:

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I think using a twist-tie around the neck of the bottle would give a nice pull tab to get the wax off, plus they are free in the produce section of super markets! :mug:
 
Seems that adding the bottling wax from midwest or nb to your next order would be the easiest. You cant be saving that much by doing it on your own.
 
Seems that adding the bottling wax from midwest or nb to your next order would be the easiest. You cant be saving that much by doing it on your own.

You're probably right, but it's still fun to experiment. It fits the DIY ethos of homebrewing, so I think that's why I enjoyed doing it.
 
Seems that adding the bottling wax from midwest or nb to your next order would be the easiest. You cant be saving that much by doing it on your own.

Seems that buying beer from store would be the easiest. You cant be saving that much by doing it on your own.

:cross: :p :tank:
 
Seems that buying beer from store would be the easiest. You cant be saving that much by doing it on your own.

:cross: :p :tank:

That doesnt really work. You actually cant get similar beer in taste and variety for the price of homebrew, which equipment costs aside, is usually .50 to .60 cents a beer. The price for the wax and crayons is at least 7 or 8 dollers, probably more. The wax off of midwest is 12 and you know its going to work.
 
But you get a whole lot more home-made wax, and the ability to make different colors. I will be experimenting with some candle dye in my wax recipe. To do the Christmas-style green and red I would have had to shell out $24, not $7. For four colors the dye was only an additional $6, plus maybe $2-$5 more for more gulf wax, and I've got $48 worth of bottle wax.

Plus, I like messing with it, too. DIY and all that. :mug:
 
3-1 ratio of "smaller" glue sticks to crayons

That...is a sexy bottle. I'm gonna go ahead and say you have some of the best results on the thread, can you please post a more detailed description of your process? I'd love to do something like this on a 15% oak-aged imperial stout I'm bottling soon...
 
Thanks guys.

However, I didn't reinvent the wheel, I just took the advice of the forefathers of this thread. As detailed by Conpewter, I used an empty soup can directly on the stovetop. I would suggest thinking through the width of your can. I would suggest as narrow a can as possible that lets you fit the whole bottle neck into as when you get to the last 1/4 of bottles, the volume will get low and its tough to cover enough to look right. This is the first time I have done it, and I am saving the extra to heat up and use in the future.

At my local hobby store (for me, Hobby Lobby with their weekly 40% off coupon) I bought a pack of 25 of the thinner gluesticks for about $3. These were plain with glitter imbedded in them which gives the sparkly look sort of comes through in the picture, but looks great in person and matches the background of my label. With that, I took 4 blue crayons that I bought a mixed lot on ebay. Together, I used less than $4 worth of supplies. Dropped them all into the can and turned on the heat. With something disposable (i.e. a popsicle stick, NOT a knife from your wife's fine china) I stirred a couple times until it was throughly mixed.

OH-I also wrapped a produce tie around the top of the bottle neck to get a tab to pull off to help it uncapping it, ala Makers Mark. As soon as I open one, I will report back with whether or not that works.

1 by 1, I dipped the bottles, let the major excess drip back into the can, then flipped to let some run down the side. The amount of drips you want will make a bid difference to how far the volume will go. Not having tried reusing it yet, I would suggest using more than you need and saving the leftovers. If it melted the first time, I have no idea why it wouldn't melt again.

Hope that helps.
 
I tried this out tonight on some bottles of apfelwein. Other than the wax cracking on a couple bottles, it worked beautifully.

To aid in wax removal, I wrapped floral stem tape around the top of the bottle and doubled it over to leave a tag hanging off. I tried it on one of the bottles and it works perfectly.

The tape is nearly identical to stuff I've seen used on commercial waxed bottles, and much cheaper than the stuff sold for waxing bottles. I got about 60 feet for $2.49.
 
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