best way to remove labels from recycled bottles

How can i get the labels off easily from bottles that i save or get from recycling?

A soak in Oxiclean will do it. A few hours and they just float right off for most labels.

Make sure to get the unscented Oxiclean.

PBW works as well.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/what-best-way-remove-labels-beer-bottles-396552/
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/how-do-i-remove-labels-stone-bottles-140125/
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/how-do-you-remove-labels-old-bottles-85526/
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/how-remove-labels-glue-bottles-70784/

Pick your poison! But I use oxiclean and bleach for as long as I feel like

even just plain water works, just let them soak for a bit whatever you do

beergolf said:

A soak in Oxiclean will do it. A few hours and they just float right off for most labels.

Make sure to get the unscented Oxiclean.

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The regular oxiclean works just fine

beergolf said:

A soak in Oxiclean will do it. A few hours and they just float right off for most labels.

Make sure to get the unscented Oxiclean.

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This

If you're on a budget, I recommend 3 things you can get practically for free.

Water (to soak the bottles in for a couple hours)

Elbow

Grease

I clean my fermenter with PBW or B-Bright, using hot water and soaking for an hour or two. When I'm done with the fermenter the solution goes into a cleaning bucket and in go any unlabeled bottles that need cleaning for a good soak. After I'm done with the unlabeled bottles any labeled ones go in for a 6-12 hour soak, the lables come right off... if they don't the bottles go into the recycle bin. I can usually delable several cases of bottles before the cleaner gets dirty enough to make me stop. Works for me.

+1 to the oxy/PBW/etc soak. I use a DIY PBW (70/30 oxiclean/TSP90 blend). Labels usually fall off within a day or so. I sometimes need to use a nylon scrubby to get off all the glue residue. Quick rinse and then stored for next bottling day.

On particularly tough labels I've done Oxiclean followed by a double-strength StarSan, and if needed Oxiclean again. Might be a little wasteful on the StarSan, but if you have really tough labels, it works great.

Also, elbow grease.

I soak'em in a PBW solution of 1.5oz per gallon of water. The labels usually slide off overnight. The glue dissolves or is really soft. I then use a Dobie brand scrubber & a bottle brush to clean'em real quick. Then rinse & onto the bottle tree to dry before storage.

When I'm cramped on time or just to stubborn to wait Ill soak them just long enough to remove the paper of the label and then use a pizza stone scrapper (small brown flat plastic square) to scrap the glue and remaining pieces off cleanly.

I use HOT water and Oxy for most labels.


3x-4x the reg amount of StarSan in water and soak for days will remove corona labels and similar bottles.

Trying to work on the harder ones like stone, rogue, and so on

richlong8020 said:

Trying to work on the harder ones like stone, rogue, and so on

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I've found that the StarSan works fine on Stone's bottle ink, but it's really, really hard to get the Rogue printing off...not a problem though, because I really don't drink Rogue beers much at all...

That's just like Great Lakes labels & others who use computer label sheets to print their labels. Idk what kind of glue it is,but it's really stubborn. I've soaked them for days till the ink is soaking off...still stuck. Softened a bit,but stuck. I guess they're worth it though,since they are plain,long lasting bottles. So far,the best bottles for bottle carbing & conditioning are the German ones. Paulaner,Franziskaner,& Wernesgruner so far. They seem to perform better than most of the others,save for Sam Adams.

The labels that Oxyclean won't remove, I scrape with a plastic pot scraper then remove the glue with Google Gone.

...and then I try to remember not to buy that brand again.

I like a Baking Soda soak.

I just let the bottles soak in really Hot water, the glue on the label softens up and they come off really easy. A Brillo pad takes off the rest of the glue no prob

Euphist said:

The labels that Oxyclean won't remove, I scrape with a plastic pot scraper then remove the glue with Google Gone.

...and then I try to remember not to buy that brand again.

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The labels that Oxyclean won't remove, I throw out...and then I try to remember not to grab those brands from my neighbor's recycling anymore.

Euphist said:

The labels that Oxyclean won't remove, I scrape with a plastic pot scraper then remove the glue with Google Gone.

...and then I try to remember not to buy that brand again.

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Haha. I've done that.

unionrdr said:

That's just like Great Lakes labels & others who use computer label sheets to print their labels. Idk what kind of glue it is,but it's really stubborn. I've soaked them for days till the ink is soaking off...still stuck. Softened a bit,but stuck. I guess they're worth it though,since they are plain,long lasting bottles. So far,the best bottles for bottle carbing & conditioning are the German ones. Paulaner,Franziskaner,& Wernesgruner so far. They seem to perform better than most of the others,save for Sam Adams.

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Usually stick with 3 brown bottle types. Pacifico, Fat Tire, and Sam Adams. But my cider bottles are all Coronas. All label free.

Hot water and dawn works, let emsoak for a few minutes and peel the label under the water. I use a stainless steel scrubber to get the glue off. Guiness draft bottles have shrink wrap labels, and are by far the easiest I have found to remove, razor blade down the side and the label label comes right off. Luckily I have a friend that Guiness draught is all he drinks, so I dont have to drink it.

I let my bottles soak in water for 24 hours. I'm sure that's more than enough time, but hey I'm not doing any work at this point. I then get a brillow pad, and they will easily come off. I've never used oxiclean, but a friend told me it works well for the hard labels. You can also buy certain breweries beer and you won't have to worry about this. Lonerider is one of them. Their labels are more like stickers. Very easy to peel off once you got a corner started. I've found European beer, the glue they use does not hold up well with water and practically the label has come off by itself after 24 hours.

Although PBW and Oxiclean work very well, it is overkill and too expensive for soaking off labels, glue remnants, and removing crud from the inside.

My main cleaners are:

• Laundry detergent (Surf)
• Washing soda (soda ash)
• PBW (Homemade version)
• Oxiclean (generic)

I use a cup of old fashioned laundry detergent powder (Surf) in a 20 gallon plastic tote with hot water. Submerge about 30-35 bottles in it and let soak for a day (or longer). Labels float off, and a little scrub with a stiff brush removes all the glue. A good brushing inside with a bottle brush, drain and they're ready for the completing steps:

• rinsing (hot water jet spray)
• inspection
• sanitizing

Hopzilla said:

I let my bottles soak in water for 24 hours. I've never used oxiclean, but a friend told me it works well for the hard labels.

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I use Oxiclean (perfume free) and have had great results. The labels literally peel off with no or little work in the water overnight and you can wipe off the extra adhesive with a sponge. Then wash the bottles in the dishwasher, no soap, on sanitize mode with steam and pull them right from the dishwasher while bottling. Super convenient!

Hopzilla said:

I've found European beer, the glue they use does not hold up well with water and practically the label has come off by itself after 24 hours.

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I was washing up some bottles last night and noticed this exact thing. i had a bunch of bottles I was saving up in a bin on my back deck its been really rainy here and the bin collected several iches if rain water in it. The samuel smith labels pretty much came off when I took them out of the rain water. Most of the rest peeled right off in the sink of dawn and hot water. I drink alot of different beers some of them habe labels that are impossible to get off (st peters/ stella artois cidre are 2) so I keep a razor blade by me, they make quick work of really hard labels.

Throw in another vote for oxyclean free. I struggled removing labels till some gave me that trick.

Throw bottles in a cooler. One scoop of oxyclean, and fill it with hot water from the tap. Come back tomorrow, the labels fall right off and the glue wipes away with no effort.

+1 or or maybe +100 on oxyclean.

I've become more picky as time goes on. If the labels don't come off easy after 10-15 minutes of soaking in a hot PBW solution they go in the scrap bin.

Many of 'em come of that easy. Those that don't aren't worth the effort unless you're dead set on a specific type of bottle.

Some I've found to be easy -
Bell's
Deschutes
Duvel
New Glarus
Goose Island
Sierra Nevada
Southern Tier
Summit (a little more work but not too bad)

With the exception of Summit, the labels on the above just slide off after 10 minutes, give or take, in the solution leaving behind just a little glue residue that easily comes off with a non-scratching ScotchBrite pad. Leave them in the solution a little longer and you can pretty much wipe off the glue slime with your hands.

A couple I've found that will just go the trash from now on because they're more work than they're worth; IMO, of course -
Lucid Brewing
Brau Brothers

Hot water/oxy soak (as little as a few hrs or as long as 24 hrs). Regular oxy or oxy free. I rinse pretty thoroughly so I think between a thorough rinse and then another rinse when sanitizing regular oxy should be fine. JMHO.

Toughest label I've had (by far) has been "Old Leghumper" Porter by Thirsty Dog Brewing Co in Ohio. When it showed no sign of coming off after a 24 hr soak I just gave up.

OP, I've tried hot water soaking for an hour, works and only a quick rub with a scour sponge to remove the glue. Beer brite worked similar to water after one hour and Oxiclean lifted labels right off overnight.

My problem is the Southern Tier Pumking. I can't get that crap off to save my life. 24 hours in Oxiclean after 2 hours in hot beer brite and I was still scrubbing glue. I am still trying with another bottle but it's too much work. I'll likely bottle the two pumking bottles I have with labels.

Hello said:

OP, I've tried hot water soaking for an hour, works and only a quick rub with a scour sponge to remove the glue. Beer brite worked similar to water after one hour and Oxiclean lifted labels right off overnight.

My problem is the Southern Tier Pumking. I can't get that crap off to save my life. 24 hours in Oxiclean after 2 hours in hot beer brite and I was still scrubbing glue. I am still trying with another bottle but it's too much work. I'll likely bottle the two pumking bottles I have with labels.

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I've found that a double concentration of StarSan will strip off silkscreening and even tough glue. So if you have a lot of bottles, 2 oz for 5 gallons, or 1 oz for 2.5 gallons. Let bottles soak for anywhere from a couple hours to a couple days. You may still need to use a little elbow grease depending on the paint or glue on the bottle.

My "difficult bottle" regimen is an Oxy-Clean soak, followed by a 2x StarSan soak, and if necessary, a second Oxy-Clean soak. Your other option would be to not use those bottles, or not care about the label and use it anyway.

eulipion2 said:

My "difficult bottle" regimen is an Oxy-Clean soak, followed by a 2x StarSan soak, and if necessary, a second Oxy-Clean soak. Your other option would be to not use those bottles, or not care about the label and use it anyway.

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You could probably buy new bottles for less than that, if you put any value on your time.

whoaru99 said:

You could probably buy new bottles for less than that, if you put any value on your time.

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I see your point, but until I moved to Richmond I didn't have a LHBS so I would have had to ship bottles. Now I've moved away from Richmond and the closest LHBS is almost an hour away, so I'm back in the same boat. So it's totally worth scrubbing bottles to save gas. Honestly most of the "work" is passive, so it's no big time suck.

Water based glue just needs 15 min in hot water and the label will slide off and the glue can be easily wiped away. Oil based glues though are a pain, either soak in hot oil or use a hairdryer to heat the glue and remove the label however neither works that well. IMHO its not worth the effort to remove the labels stuck on with oil based glue, just ditch them.

How can you tell if they're stuck on with oil based glue?

I can't usually tell what type of glue it is until I try to remove the label. I soak all the bottles, if the labels don't come right off I know they are stuck on with oil based glue and not worth the effort to try and remove.

Couple things:
If you absolutely want the bottle, you can score the label all over, up-and-down, with a razor blade, soak some more.
You can scrape off painted-on labels(Stone), with a razor blade, but, paint MAY contain poisonous metals(cadmium?), so best to collect it on newspaper and into a landfill. Or, call Stone and ask!
Sam Adams bottles are from 10 to 30 grams heavier than the typical 22oz ones, so less likely to burst if overcarbed.