Removing Commercial Beer Labels

Once upon a time, I was trying to get the labels off some Dark Horse Brewery bottles so I could reuse them. I painstakingly scratched the labels off with a credit card. Then, after half an hour, steel wool, Brillo, detergent, and acetone, nothing worked to remove the adhesive goo where the label had been. I told SWMBO to get a different solvent. She came up with vegetable oil. I laughed at her.

So, long story short, if you want to get the label goo off a commercial beer bottle and nothing else is working, you might try this method. Soak it in warm water to weaken the paper and then peel off as much as you can. Then use a paper towel to apply cheap vegetable oil to all the goo that is left over. You will know if it is working because the goo is gone. The oil dissolves the adhesive immediately. The paper towel wipes it off effortlessly. It only works if you wet, weaken, and tear off the top layer of the paper (which is not that hard). The oil will only dissolve the adhesive it can actually get to. If there is a thin layer of paper, a little rubbing with a paper towel might get the oil to soak through the paper (if it is thin and weak enough) and it will come off easily.

If the bottle feels oily afterward, a grease-cutting dish detergent will remove the oil as fast as the oil removed the goo. Then I clean the inside of the bottles just in case anything made it in. I have to clean the inside anyway so it works out nicely. Using this method I can pour myself a glass of Sam Adams, and have the bottle cleaned, delabeled, and ready for sanitization before the head is gone. No overnight soaking, no expensive cleaning solutions, no nothing.

I have heard that if you put a little milk in with the water and soak the bottles for a little bit they peel off effortlessly, leaving no goo. I haven't tried this but a guy at my LHBS let me in on the "secret"

-Matt

Have you tried oxyclean and hot water? Bottles come clean in anywhere between 1 and 48 hours depending on the toughest glue. The labels just float to the surface. Goo remnents rinse right off.

Thanks for the tip! I normally soak my bottles in hot water and oxy-clean and most labels float right off. But every once in a while there's a bottle or two with some sticky glue on it that won't come off. I'll be sure to try this when that happens.

I used to soak in Oxyclean and then scrub briefly with a Chore Boy. The abrasiveness usually removed the leftover glue pretty easily...

+1 to oxyclean, but Star San is also good at removing labels, especially the newer clear ones. and it can remove painted on labels too I have heard.

I will try this on a couple White Yeast tubes I kept, and a stubborn Sierra Nevada bottle that will not beat me.

Another alternative is a quick soak in warm water and ammonia. The labels and glue come off very quickly and easily.

I have found that throwing the bottles REALLY hard at a brick wall gets the labels off super quick!

Just cleaned all the goo off our wooden dining room table with cheap vegetable oil. SWMBO is really impressed with it. One less thing to use chemicals for! It does even better on wood because it soaks in and buffs out nicely and you don't have to worry about rinsing it off.

+++ on the oxyclean. learned that trick here. works awesome. well worth the $6.50 or so I spent at Target to buy it. I just put about 24 qty 22oz bottles in a big cooler filled with water and oxyclean - labels come right off, and the inside of the bottles are clean too. Works for other stuff too. SWMBO put some in the laundry.

I usually just let them soak in water/bleach solution for a few hours and then peel of labels. I then fill up the sink with hot water and use a scrub pad to get the adhesive off, it comes off fairly easily.

Oxyclean for me... works great. Every now and then there is some glue residue and I just use a scrubbing pad and it comes right off.

I just soak my bottles in hot water for a little while. The labels usually peel off easily, and the glue remnants come off easily with a green scrubby and some dish soap.

Bullbythehorns said:

Another alternative is a quick soak in warm water and ammonia. The labels and glue come off very quickly and easily.

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Can you share what dilution you use? I'm not doing well with oxyclean (gritty/sandy/powerdy residue) and want to try something different.

I'll start with a dollop of Amm. in a 5gal bucket until I hear otherwise.

A Sure fire way I have found is just soaking for a few days in a mixture of a cap all purpose bleach and a little vinegar and 5 gallons water(depending on the container I fit in a case worth). Then I used this amazing tool you can buy for like 2 bucks at Bed Bath and Beyond that is a plastic little scraper intended for non stick pans(they have them in that little section of crap no one ever intends to buy but ends up with 5, of right by the cash register)I scraped off the labels with ease and then scrubbed off any remaining glue residue with a scotch brite pad. Easiest way I've found so far and that little scraper turns out to be the best 2 bucks I've spent on beer supplies

Cheers

Hey Stout, do you have a pic of this two-headed scraping beast? It sounds useful.

I tried the oxy-clean and it worked no better than soap and water. Some labels come off easily, some do not. I did find that scraping the labels with a wooden spoon helps.

I've decided that it is not worth my time to scrape labels anymore. I buy new bottles everytime now.

I can get a shot of it at some point. I'm not very tech savvy when it comes to posting photos, Really anything with a flat edge like that will work. I've just found that thing works better than ruining my wifes cooking tools and I wont break my Credit card in half.

After you soak and the paper comes off and there's still adhesive, use GooGone. You can pick it up at Home Depot, Walgrens, CVS, etc. With a hurricane bearing down on us here in Florida, I once mistakenly thought that putting duct tape on the windows was a good thing to do. I forgot to remove it from a couple of upstairs windows and they baked in the Fla. heat all summer. No way I could get the adhesive off no matter what I used. GooGone took it right off with a minimum of elbow grease. Works good for bug residue on the family chariot too.

Up till now, a hot soap water overnight soak has done it form me, followed by a next day scrub. What works on Corona bottles? For now, I'm just leaving them as is...

The 5 Star PBW (same company that makes Star San) works brilliantly, and cleans the hell outta the stainless steel sink. 95% of labels peel right off. 4% take a bit of scrubbing, and that last 1% I have no idea. Mostly it's that little sun label on the Mirassau wine bottles. Veggie oil works too.

I've gotten to the point that if the label doesn't just peel right off, then I don't futz with it.

Has anyone had luck on removing the labels off the white labs vials? I soak bottles in Oxyclean and all of the labels fall off. But the white labs ones seem to be really stuck on there.

MSUConrad said:

Has anyone had luck on removing the labels off the white labs vials?

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I pressurecooked a WL vial to see if it would melt (it didn't but the little flange below the cap deformed a bit) and when I opened it up the label had fallen off. The glue that holds the label on is still quite tacky. I don't really need the tube so I might toss it rather than trying to goo-gone the sticky off it.

Revvy said:

Have you tried oxyclean and hot water? Bottles come clean in anywhere between 1 and 48 hours depending on the toughest glue. The labels just float to the surface. Goo remnents rinse right off.

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How much oxyclean per gallon of water or do you just follow the directions on the tub?

It seems to me that American brewers use a much stronger adhesive than the Brits - I have have been buying bottles of London Pride/Fullers lately, and just soaking them in hot water for 24 hours - labels float right off.... Same goes for Chimay, Duvel, pretty much anything made outside of the U.S....

RandalG said:

How much oxyclean per gallon of water or do you just follow the directions on the tub?

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I don't really measure...I use a couple large scoops in a huge tub of water...

Revvy said:

I don't really measure...I use a couple large scoops in a huge tub of water...

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Im not gonna lie.... I use my MLT as a label removing vessle. I managed to put 50+ bottles in it, then 4 scoops of oxy clean, 4 days of patients, = simply rinsing off my nice clean bottles. SWMBO will not allow me to take sons "geo-track" rubbermaid tote, so I have to multi use the MTL. :rockin:

MSUConrad said:

Has anyone had luck on removing the labels off the white labs vials? I soak bottles in Oxyclean and all of the labels fall off. But the white labs ones seem to be really stuck on there.

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There's a waterproof coating on the label.
Water can get in at the edges though, then you can peel off the top layer and soak again to soften the paper.
The glue is totally waterproof, but no match for vegetable oil.

Following a tip from my local brew shop guy I soaked a bunch of Long Hammer IPA and Sierra Nevada Torpedo bottles with a scoop of Tide dry laundry powder overnight. Long Hammers came right off as did the glue with a gentle wipe but the Sierras had a nasty glue on them. I tried the sanitize cycle on the dishwasher and still lots of glue. I had some low-odor mineral spirits from some painting I was doing and tried a damp paper towel and :rockin: came right off.

First batch is a bubblin'

Haha..same thing my wife said. I'm up to about 30 12-packs and counting

I use milk crates which stack and each can hold one case of beers, in half the footprint of traditional beer cases.



They stack as high as you need them to.

Bullbythehorns said:

Another alternative is a quick soak in warm water and ammonia. The labels and glue come off very quickly and easily.

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+1. This is what I do. Works VERY WELL. 1 cup ammonia to 5 gallons h2o. Soak 24 hours.

Wow super old thread. For those that suggested Oxyclean, that won't work on Dark Horse bottles.

I got a few bottles of Crooked Tree IPA and no matter how long they soak in oxyclean, it's still a b**** to get off. These labels are almost like a sticker with a strong adhesive as opposed to most labels being paper with a weak glue.

Haha my mates and I used goo gone, sponges and a good amount of time

Paradigm said:

Haha my mates and I used goo gone, sponges and a good amount of time

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I ended up tossing the Crooked Tree IPA bottles. My buddy gave me about 30 bottles and only 4 were Crooked Tree.

I had an easier time with Amstel Light bottles.

I just leave the labels on,my Friends think they are drinking a spotted cow

crash1292 said:

I just leave the labels on,my Friends think they are drinking a spotted cow

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Lol!

When I was still buying beer to accumulate bottles, I used ammonia and a little dishwashing liquid mixed in hot water for an overnight soak, and it was very reliable. Anything from Sammy, Wachusett, Mayflower, DFH or Sierra Nevada, no problem - the labels would be off the next morning without breaking a sweat.

But one weekend I was up near Franconia Notch working on our cabin and I bought a sixer of Mad River (Vermont brewery) IIPA (respectable brew, fwiw). When I later tried to get those labels off it was a freakin' nightmare!

I eventually discovered they were using a solvent based glue (irresponsible dumb@sses!) and at that point I wasn't about to go all Rambo on a sixer just for the bottles, so I chucked 'em into the recycling bin.

I also emailed them an exothermic missive taking them to task. Haven't bought another of their brews since, so I don't know if they're still doing stupid things...

Cheers!