Marking your carboy

HempelNet said:

Hate to bring up an older thread but wanted to say thanks.. I seen this and had to give it a try. This is what I ended up with.

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Cool design! I like the way you marked yours although it took me a moment to realize which marks were for full gallons and which were for halves...

-Tripod

I plan on sand blasting mine this summer. Was thinking on my logo but the gallon marks make sense. Maybe even other marks, like 1/2 gal or even cups. I can do good detail with my sand blaster and a practiced hand at an exacto with double layer masking tape is all that is needed. I have a fine grain sand that lets me do good detailed work and when you are done before peeling off the masking tape you can fill the sand blasted areas with marker or ink or even colored silcone rubber. No integrity problem there. I have 4 5gal carboys and 1 six gal carboy. Most are full now. But come spring, I should be able to do some tests with the 1 gal old organic juice containers to get the depth right, keeping it very shallow and even. I have etched 1/8 in deep into Aneeled glass, much harder. Also I sandblasted one of those thin glass domes you buy at the craft shop for display. It isn't hard, just time intensive with the exacto. The better your attention to detail in that stage the better your etch is. And yes both sand blasting and glass etching compound WILL show up to a hair's with of a mark. What you do with the tape after cutting it is just run over it with a finger to press down the edges and then you get no seapage.

try blasting a coke bottle first, i bet it breaks. the ones Ive used were not gentile

Wish I'd read this thread a few days ago. I used vinyl (sp) weather-proof stickers from Home Depot for one on my 6 gallon carboys. Think I'll go for etching with the other. Thanks for all the tips and design ideas.

I would use industrial grade green diamond blasting grit that has been blasted at least once as it's broken into finer particles as well will only need a quick flash across the glass for a frosted finish. Done without stopping you will not dig into the glass causing any weakness in your fermenters. The down side the diamond eats away your blasting nozzles trust me on this one as I have four 5 gallon buckets of diamond grit once shot i've used in the blasting many items. The nozzles go away rather quickly.

I'll have tio give that a try it looks kinda fun

I etched a 3-Gallon carboy this evening using this method... turned out looking great! I know to really move the acid around and brush it more than I think I need to next time, but overall, it looks really sharp. I am definitely going to try this on some bottles...

Just did mine. Turned out alright. No more half-rubbed off sharpie. Yay.

Very cool.

bdennis said:

Very cool.

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I second that, just be careful and not slip and drop a wet frementer or get injured and cut, glass scares me. It sure does look sharp I must add, nice job.

Very nice job to all! Any pics with some beer inside?

Very nice..

Is there a similar solution for Better Bottles besides a sharpie ?

kappclark said:

Very nice..

Is there a similar solution for Better Bottles besides a sharpie ?

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Well, a BB is far to thin for actual etching, If you want the frosted look you could try some of that frosted window film stuff that you put on a bathroom window for privacy. Just cut it to the design you want.

Just did mine. Abstract barley sprout thingy.

wow these all look wonderful..... HBT has added another project for me to do, one question though, did this affect the structural integrity of the bottle? I plan on doing this to some of my 22 oz and don't want them to break when I bottle condition.

JoshuaWhite5522 said:

wow these all look wonderful..... HBT has added another project for me to do, one question though, did this affect the structural integrity of the bottle? I plan on doing this to some of my 22 oz and don't want them to break when I bottle condition.

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I had the same concern when I first looked into doing this. Let me assure you that the actual etch is not deep enough to cause any structural damage. If you were to use a cutting wheel or something like that then it would cut deep enough but this stuff is more like a thin glaze.

When I run my hand over my finished product I can barely feel the frosted areas and I can't perceive any actual "depth" to it at all.

Hope that helps...

-Tripod

Tripod said:

I had the same concern when I first looked into doing this. Let me assure you that the actual etch is not deep enough to cause any structural damage. If you were to use a cutting wheel or something like that then it would cut deep enough but this stuff is more like a thin glaze.

When I run my hand over my finished product I can barely feel the frosted areas and I can't perceive any actual "depth" to it at all.

Hope that helps...

-Tripod

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+1 Exactly.

Awesome, I'm going to be a glass etching fool......

I love it!!

Hmm...I know it's not the same but I've got some glass frosting spray paint lying around in several colors. Might give this a try using that instead of going out and buying glass etching acid.

Fyxen said:

Hmm...I know it's not the same but I've got some glass frosting spray paint lying around in several colors. Might give this a try using that instead of going out and buying glass etching acid.

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I'd like to see how that turns out!

i just ordered a 22oz container of armor etch from overstock for 26.95 including shipping:

http://www.overstock.com/Crafts-Sew...d=123620&fp=F&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=11554855

thought id let you all know in case someone was going to be ordering soon

I've been told etching solution in a water balloon also works great on tire burning speeding idiots in a quiet neighborhood on said vehicles windshield. Don't ask just from my sons friend. Problem solved.

I used a sheet of light orange colored tinted glass that was heated then sealing wax applied and cooled. A design carved thru the wax into the glass (a must down to the glass with a sharp new scraper) with different width Exacto Tools plus your signature at the bottom an extra personal touch to a room divider with said etched glass solution.
Sand blasting places use a thin surgical sheeting with a sticky back then draw and cut out out what will be fine sand blasted or glass bead blasted. Both simple processes. Fine green diamond grit once used also works great being broken down finer but destroys even carbide blasting nozzles. With thick 3D diamond or sand blasting there is a large heat created that can cause glass expansion and fractures, trust me I made this mistake once.

I finally got around to doing this a few days ago. I did 5 carboys and it took me about an hour to finish them all. THe pictures do it no justice!

Here's a pic with brew in it. It's harder to see the markings with dark beer.

Some of these are really creative!

how much does the cream cost?

commandercool724 said:

how much does the cream cost?

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From the photo looks like $19.75

JOHN51277 said:

I finally got around to doing this a few days ago. I did 5 carboys and it took me about an hour to finish them all. THe pictures do it no justice!

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From the photo looks like $19.75

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good call lol. from what I have read that bottle will last forever though. I am probably only gonna buy a small bottle

Mine was a smaller bottle for around $7.50 I believe. It doesn't take much at all...

Here's a question from a different angle - has anyone used this process to remove the print (enamel, or whatever they use for "labels" on some bottles) from certain bottles? I'm not sure of the correct terminology. You can't scrape it off. I'll probably try it myself and see how it works but I figured I'd ask first. I've searched for a long time for any information about removing that stuff from bottles but haven't found anything useful, so I'm wondering if this etching will do the removal trick or not.

Rossnaree said:

Here's a question from a different angle - has anyone used this process to remove the print (enamel, or whatever they use for "labels" on some bottles) from certain bottles? I'm not sure of the correct terminology. You can't scrape it off. I'll probably try it myself and see how it works but I figured I'd ask first. I've searched for a long time for any information about removing that stuff from bottles but haven't found anything useful, so I'm wondering if this etching will do the removal trick or not.

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I would think that you would leave some etched glass you might not want. Try this thread: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/another-good-use-starsan-32159/ read through at least post #10

I like it. Thanks for the idea.

yup. Double strength the star-san and let it soak an hour -

the only problem I've run into is Stone Brewing's paint - it takes a little longer, maybe a little scrubbing - but every one else's just dissolves after a soak.

On topic - I still need to do this... too much to do

off topic - I just leave the stone bottles in the normal strength star-san bucket for a week, labels wipe right off.

These look great! Excellent idea. Guess I have another DIY as my sharpie marks and tape just aren't cool enough.

BrewBeemer said:

A design carved thru the wax into the glass (a must down to the glass with a sharp new scraper) with different width Exacto Tools plus your signature at the bottom an extra personal touch to a room divider with said etched glass solution

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? reading that hurt my brain.

GamePreserve said:

? reading that hurt my brain.

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If you carved a design through wax on the glass (all the way through the wax with a sharp new scraper) with different width Exacto tools, and added your signature at the bottom, it would add an extra personal touch to a glass room divider with said etched glass solution.

As anyone confirmed the wax masking worked? In theory it should work perfectly as a ground. I'm a printmaker and took some intaglio classes in college (etching metal plates and then printing them) so I'll have to create some bottle art if the wax works well.

My only concern would be getting the wax off easily. I guess if you put them in the freezer, the wax should fall right off.