Removing labels from bottles

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Saranac's beers are decent. Not great, but certainly not bad either.

Their pale ale is closer to an IPA in terms of hop character, and I l ike it a lot. Plus, I can pick up a 12 pack of it for $11, so it's definately one of the cheaper commercial beers I enjoy.

They have a good selection of beers, but I can never find anything other than the pale ale in a 12 pack. I picked up a 12 pack 'sampler' from them that had a few amber and light lagers in it, a black-n-tan, and a Bavarian Black Lager that is actually REALLY good, but the only place I can get those varieties is in that sampler pack (6 types, 2 bottles of each).

-walker
 
Walker said:
Every single UK import that I have ever bought has a glue on the label that is VERY easily removed (bass, newcastles, sammy smith, guinness). Some warm water and (maybe) some bleach and those UK labels come right off with very little effort

For american beers, the labels seem to take a lot more work. The Saranacs actually force me to scrape with a knife to remove most of it, then a scouring pad to get the rest off.

-walker

That must be the reason mine came off so easily, Walker. I've only used the ammonia on two cases of bottles some fly-boys brought back from Germany (the only ones I have). I got the ammonia idea from Papazian's book. It worked so well that I decided it must be passed on to the masses. Oh well, my heart was in the right place.

Guess the Oxyclean solution works best as a scrub-free solution, based on the other posts to this thread. Maybe you should give that a whirl. I've also recently seen label removing agents for sale on a few HBS websites. I won't likely be worrying about labels anymore, as the new "bottles" I'll be using are label-free, stainless, and hold five gallons. :D

Be sure to let us know how that blueberry wheat comes out. I want to try it myself at some point.
 
DrewsBrews said:
Be sure to let us know how that blueberry wheat comes out. I want to try it myself at some point.

LOL. That blueberry wheat has been "on the verge" of being brewed for over a week now.

I have everything I need to make it, but I've been busy with work lately and have not had a chance to bottle up my Fat Tire clone. Until that is done, I'm short one airlock. :)

My wife was giving me a hard time because I began to make up a starter for the yeast on Saturday, and then realized I didn't have the airlock. Then I got busy with the bottles so I could get Pandora out of the carboy and into the bottles.

-walker
 
Walker said:
Yeah, but you don't have many american beers available, right? For some reason, we seem to use a much stronger glue over hear.

Every single UK import that I have ever bought has a glue on the label that is VERY easily removed (bass, newcastles, sammy smith, guinness). Some warm water and (maybe) some bleach and those UK labels come right off with very little effort

For american beers, the labels seem to take a lot more work. The Saranacs actually force me to scrape with a knife to remove most of it, then a scouring pad to get the rest off.

-walker
I have had great success with the Amonia method (from Papazian), even with such stubborn labels as Sam Adams Light. American, german, brithish...after a night in the bucket, just a thumb swipe and they slide right off.

Todd
 
yeah, I retract my statement from yesterday.

I was basing my opinion SOLELY on the Saranac labels since they were always the most difficult ones, but it appears that those are using the Incredible Hulk of glues. The ammonia made easy work of EVERY other label in the batch of bottles I was cleaning up, but those damn Saranac labels are still stuck tight to the bottles. *shrug*

Based on those other bottles, I would say that ammonia works better in general.

-walker
 
If you have to scrape the bottle with a knife or chisel, try scrubbing the bottle with isoproply. That will remove that stubborn glue.
 
crum said:
What is the best way to get the labels off of bottles? I have some wine bottles that I got the labels off of but there is still this goo that is a pain to get off. So far I have tried hot water with soap, dishwasher and scrubbing. Is there any easier way to do this?

i get hard lables i use bakeing soda and table salt make a paste/ scrub. :)
 
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