Maybe the worst ever..... (label removal)

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mdwmonster

mdwmonster

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So, a buddy of mine supplies me with most of my empty bottles, and I return the favor by filling some of them for him. Anyway, he gave me some bottles from the Crown Valley Brewery in Ste. Genevieve, MO. I have not had their beer and don't know if it is good or crap....but DAMN THOSE ARE THE WORST LABELS EVER. They are like some kind of waterproof sticker. Soaked in water with some Sam Adams and Schlafly (maybe the easiest label to strip) for 2 days. SA and Schlafly peeled right off. Not the Crown Valley. Into the Oxyclean overnight. Still nothing. Had to take a razor blade to get the edge up, then pliers to pull them off. They did come of clean (after some profanity) without much residue on the bottle, but still......what a PITA.

Ok, so I know maybe you don't care, but I just wanted to vent my frustrations to a crowd that might at least be somewhat sympathetic.
 
So far after washing 6 cases of freebies, I've found the easiest labels to get off are Newcastle. The most horrible PITA labels I've had so far are Heineken.
 
Sounds like Southern Tier. I just leave the labels on and those are the ones I give away, and don't care if I get back.
 
Spaten labels to me are much easier than even Newcastle. 5 minute soak in warm water and they fall off themselves. Quick wipe with a damp cloth and residue is gone. I do loves me some Optimator so this is a good thing.
 
Southhampton labels are ridiculous. I soaked them a week in oxyclean a they wouldn't budge.
 
mdwmonster said:
So, a buddy of mine supplies me with most of my empty bottles, and I return the favor by filling some of them for him. Anyway, he gave me some bottles from the Crown Valley Brewery in Ste. Genevieve, MO. I have not had their beer and don't know if it is good or crap....but DAMN THOSE ARE THE WORST LABELS EVER. They are like some kind of waterproof sticker.
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I have no experience with that brewery, but they may be like the Weyerbacher labels that I'm familiar with.

For Weyerbacher labels, I hit them with a heat gun for a couple seconds, and they peel right off, no soaking or scrubbing needed.

Give it a shot, they may become your favorite labels ever!
 
moosetav said:
Spaten labels to me are much easier than even Newcastle. 5 minute soak in warm water and they fall off themselves. Quick wipe with a damp cloth and residue is gone. I do loves me some Optimator so this is a good thing.
Click to expand...
+1
I thought maybe I just got lucky once with them, the next 6-pack was just as easy.
 
carnevoodoo said:
You guys bottle in clear and green glass?
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I can get them for free, and They'll condition in a dark room where there will be no exposure to the sun and the lights are on a few minutes a day. So if I can get them for free, I'm not too worried about the color of the bottles.
 
My personal pet-peeve of a label to remove is Dogfish Head. They use some gnarly glue on their labels that peel off one small random piece at a time. Takes hours of soaking and peeling, scrubbing and scraping to get them off.

BTW, I usually use TSP to remove labels, it seems to dissolve the glue and remove any residual slime in the bottles. Available at most big-box stores from what I've seen.
 
3 Dog Brew said:
My personal pet-peeve of a label to remove is Dogfish Head. They use some gnarly glue on their labels that peel off one small random piece at a time. Takes hours of soaking and peeling, scrubbing and scraping to get them off.
Click to expand...

That's weird, I stripped 3 cases worth of bottles last night and the Dogfish labels came off so clean that you could slap them on a new bottle and send them back out for sale. I use two scoops of Oxiclean and hot water in the bathtub just high enough to cover the bottles.

I also remembered why I hated stripping bottles, but I'm bottling a whole batch out of a cornie to take to a late holiday party tomorrow.
 
Sierra Nevada labels are the easiest I've come across. Half an hour in OxyClean and they're floating.

So far the absolute WORST are from Oaken Barrel in Indiana. OxyClean only softens them a bit, then I get the kids to start scraping! Aren't kids great?
 
Hey mdwmonster, I'm in Missouri also, and I have to agree with you on the Schlafly and Sam Adams. I never buy store bought anymore but if I do, it's always SA or Schlafly. I have to give Schlafly some props on the Oatmeal stout and the APA. I've scrubbed a lot of bottles and nothing has come close to these two. Soak in hot water and they peel right off.
 
The best way I know to remove stubborn labels is to use a stainless pot scrubber after a long soak. It even removes metallic labels, yet it doesn't scratch the bottles.
 
Just like mdwmonster said, Schlafly labels are the easiest to get off. I have about 50 ready to go. And I don't have a problem drinking the beer that is inside them either!
 
Back road brewery in Indiana, It's like trying to remove a bumper sticker. I gave up on their bottles.

I've had good luck removing labels with Cascade dishwashing detergent and hot water.
 
bennyd said:
So far after washing 6 cases of freebies, I've found the easiest labels to get off are Newcastle. The most horrible PITA labels I've had so far are Heineken.
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WTH are you doing trying to salvage green bottles? Those things are only good for beach glass.

Edit: It appears I am late to the game to give you a buncha crap about it. :p
 
Worst I've had to deal with was Weeping Radish. Their labels are like vinyl, and they're stuck on with really strong adhesive. I pulled up a corner, yanked on the edge with pliers and got only about 1/4 inch torn off. To add insult to injury, after all that work I realized that they didn't really fit with a normal bottle cap! Had to chuck the lot! Arggghh!
 
Randar said:
WTH are you doing trying to salvage green bottles? Those things are only good for beach glass.

Edit: It appears I am late to the game to give you a buncha crap about it. :p
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What can I say? I'd rather get them free knowing that I'm not going to be exposing them to light rather than paying for them. If they are stored in a dark space, then what's the danger?

Now if I were able to get brown bottles for free, sure I'd take them over the green and clear. But I don't have as many at my disposal. Hope you can forgive this cardinal sin:eek:

Or you can just call me cheap!
 
bridgeport labels give me the most trouble...so I just throw them in the recycling bin, I dont need the headache.

Oh, Sierra Nevada and Budweiser American Ale are the easiest for me.
 
damn i hate it when they do that, i kind of just intentionally purchased cheap but good 500mls of german and slavic beer the past few months (the labels come off in one piece after sitting in hot water for 30 seconds) and now almost all my beer is 500mls.. yeah the american micro ones are a huge ***** though
 
bennyd said:
What can I say? I'd rather get them free knowing that I'm not going to be exposing them to light rather than paying for them. If they are stored in a dark space, then what's the danger?

Now if I were able to get brown bottles for free, sure I'd take them over the green and clear. But I don't have as many at my disposal. Hope you can forgive this cardinal sin:eek:
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No need to appologize! I have used several green bottles in every batch I have ever bottled and never had a skunked beer. This anti-green sentiment is utter beer snobbery. You know how it goes, if enough people repeat a lie, it must be true. I have little doubt that in a side-by-side test a green bottle mayl skunk before a brown one, but as I said, after years of using green bottles, no skunks, and I have not been overly careful either.

IMHO green bottles look better then the brown ones. It is also easier to spot the sediment in the neck as you pour a green bottle. :tank:
 
I just tried to scrape a case of Smuttynose with little sucess. Just wondering. Does ease of label removal help decide what beer you purchase?
 
I've found Weyerbacher to he the most difficult. I'll have to try the heat-gun trick someone mentioned earlier...

The easiest I've found is New Glarus.
 
Quaffer said:
No need to appologize! I have used several green bottles in every batch I have ever bottled and never had a skunked beer. This anti-green sentiment is utter beer snobbery. You know how it goes, if enough people repeat a lie, it must be true. I have little doubt that in a side-by-side test a green bottle mayl skunk before a brown one, but as I said, after years of using green bottles, no skunks, and I have not been overly careful either.

IMHO green bottles look better then the brown ones. It is also easier to spot the sediment in the neck as you pour a green bottle. :tank:
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It isn't a lie. UV light reacts with alpha acids (hops) to create a skunk smell.
 
I use any type of bottle that I can cap and de-label. Color makes no difference. I condition them in milk crates covered with a black trash bag in a dark closet. Then into the beer fridge which is pitch black. The little exposure to light they would get when I bring a sixer to a buddy's house is negligible. I see no point in avoiding clear and green glass.
 
si_ex_pat said:
I just tried to scrape a case of Smuttynose with little sucess. Just wondering. Does ease of label removal help decide what beer you purchase?
Click to expand...

Smuttynose is the most difficult that I've dealt with but it doesn't mean that I won't buy their beer.
 
Two Brothers is worst for me. Same thing, some sort of vinyl/plastic thing. I don't even bother trying to remove them, it's not worth the effort. They go straight to the recycling bin. Oxyclean soak overnight removes all these labels no problem:

Sam Adams
New Belgium
Dogfish Head
Darkhorse
Bells
Sierra Nevada
New Glarus
 
Sierra Nevada labels are my favorites. Thirty minutes in warm water and they come right off. No additives in the water needed.
 
Try scoring the labels BEFORE you soak them (with a razor knife or othe sharp impliment) in a criss cross type pattern. This should allow your solution to penetrate into the gum below instead of just at the edges.
 
I have a big plastic bin filled with bleach water that I am soaking empties in. I was able to clean and de-label 2 cases in the middle of October and then I forgot about it. I still have at least 40 bottles in there. I went to add a few bottles to it in December and realized that the entire bin is frozen solid. I guess I'm not cleaning bottles until spring...

Hopefully I'll have my kegging setup ready by the time my latest brews are ready...
 

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