Label Removal Thread

TerapinChef said:

I've got my entire collection of coke bottles soaking in a muriatic acid solution right now. I'll be honest, I was kind of scared of the stuff. I was worried about what to soak them in, terrified when I poured the acid into the water (NOT THE WATER INTO THE ACID) because it smoked a little...It's scary stuff but I hope it works. It's been about 12 hours, I"m going to check on them.

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Yeah, the stuff isn't pleasant.

As far as time goes, if it will work the paint will probably come of in 15 minutes or so. I have run into a few things the acid won't cut though. Some glassware I was trying to delable and a 7 year old Arrogant Bastard bottle, new ones work no problem.

I soak mine in hot water with about a cup of bleach. The hardest ones are Mexican beers with foil though just scrup away. Also a dremel and dust wheel does a great job of getting off the left over glue.

Currently at walmart and trying to find oxyclean. Is it Oxiclean that is in the laundry detergent section? It has a 'I' instaed of a 'y'. I also see a oxydeep but is spray liauid. Just want to make sure I get the right stuff.

I soak my bottles in weak bleach solution and then run them through the dishwasher (no detergent) to sanitize. When they come out of the dishwasher the labels (Sierra Nevada) just come right off with little or no residue left behind.

Worst for me have been Sam Adams Light. They don't want to come off at all. Best have been the German beers. Erdinger and Paulaner are my 2 most popular. Also, the beer store near me has the 1L Erdinger bottles. Those are really nice. Oh and I've had some bottles (can't remember what the brand was) where the label was made of some sort of really thin plastic. These came off super easy because the glue hadn't soaked into the label at all like a paper label.

I've done the hot water and oxyclean. It works.

If you want a method with 0 chemicals and have a decent set of rubber coated tongs, you can just boil your bottles. I've done this and the easy labels just come off and float to the top.

I've tried hot water, hot water w/ bleach, and hot water w/ soapy water but by FAR the easiest has been ammonia. Just filled the sink w/ HOT water and ammonia and let the bottles sit until the water had cooled to warm and most came right off. Don't let the water get cold though, it seems to re-stick the labels more than ever.

Hardest to remove, Amstel Light. Brutal. The Atlanta Brewing Company bottles are tough too.

Oh and the easiest way to get the remaining glue off is Goof Off, just have to wash the bottle w/ soapy water afterwards. Tried to use the scrubby side of a sponge and the glue just gummed it up after about 12 bottles.

Anybody ever tried a wire brush or wheel on grinder or drill?

5 gallon pail filled with HOT water and some baking soda soaked for a few hours does an amazing job!!

Hello, I'm SWMBO... I try to help my hubby with his brewing, and usually I am cleaning the labels off bottles... Negra Modelo bottles (the foil on top) have been the hardest for me so far. I'm a bit leery about using Oxiclean (assuming it's the laundry detergent I am thinking of) since that's not exactly "food safe" in my opinion. Soaking in hot water didn't work, and neither did a stainless steel brillo pad. And no one ever wrote how much soda and water to use...

BUT... Combine these, and (voila!) the foil, labels, and glue wipe right off!

I did it in the kitchen sink, about 2 gallons HOT water (as hot as the tap would go, then I just wore dish gloves to help handle the heat), and maybe 3-4 Tbsp. of baking soda. I made sure all the soda was dissolved, and I noticed it actually gave the water a "slimy" feel... Let the bottles sit about 45 seconds, then take the brillo pad to it. The labels & glue wipe off with a light touch. The foil takes a little bit of rubbing, but it's not at all hard to get off. After the baking soda treatment, a little dish soap to remove any reside, and the bottles look like they never had labels on them!

Whoever thought of using baking soda, here's a beer salute to you!! You saved me a lot of time and frustration cleaning labels off bottles!!

newbeerpig said:

I'm a bit leery about using Oxiclean (assuming it's the laundry detergent I am thinking of) since that's not exactly "food safe" in my opinion.

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What's not "food safe" about oxiclean? It's a standard oxygenated cleanser isn't it? From what I understand this type of cleaner is very commonly used to clean food prep items in industrial settings.

PhlyanPan said:

What's not "food safe" about oxiclean? It's a standard oxygenated cleanser isn't it? From what I understand this type of cleaner is very commonly used to clean food prep items in industrial settings.

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I don't necessarily know that it's not food safe, and I've never heard it used for anything but laundry until now, so it's just my assumption/opinion. I have to admit, that I really don't even know for sure that the cleanser referred to in homebrewing is the same as the Oxiclean you see Billy Blanks selling so enthusiastically on television... I am just very pleased with how well the baking soda/water combo worked!

Well, it's basic active ingredient is sodium percarbonate which I believe is the same as certain beer-specific cleaners. It does have some additional stuff like perfumes and whatnot for laundry so you'd want to rinse it off well but I see no reason why you couldn't feel perfectly safe using it to clean bottles.

"Oxyclean Free" doesn't have the fragerance. That's what I use.

As an update, the muriatic acid soak on the coke bottles did not remove the paint. It did, however, soften it up enought that with a lot of elbow grease and a stainless steel scrubby, they came mostly clean. It was a lot more work than I was hoping for, but I've got a bunch of (mostly) clean 8 oz botttles.

A Dremel on High with a fine to medium wire wheel makes short work of painted on, printed on or screened on labels. You may want to run it lightly over the whole image first and then get to business. It doesn't take more than light pressure really. Comes off ezee pzee.

You can even remove only the parts of the image you want to and keep the rest.

Just did this to a Rogue Dead Guy Ale bottle. Mere minutes. No damage to the glass.

A dust mask. Wear one.

I soak them in hot water, peel label and hit it with some 00 steel wool. Works great for me.

A Dremel and wire brush wheel also works on aluminum bottles, I learned today. It takes a while to do though. The same technique works on paper labels and glue but, damn, it takes forever. Hot water, Simple Green and 00 steel wool is a better option for that.

All of you steel wool people need to try a stainless steel scrubbie. Same results, less scrubbing, 20x the shelf life. Will outlast your steel wool like it's nobody's buisness. And it doesn't rust/stain your countertop/sink/table.

Made the mistake of buying labels at Staples and putting them on my bottles. They stick, VERY WELL!!! Had a hell of a time getting em off. Bought some of this at Wally World:



Sprayed on for about 15 minutes, label slid right off! Smells nice and orangy too!! Did leave a little "greasy" residue on the outside, but took care of that with a little soapy water on the outside of the bottle. Just my 2 cents.

A freakin dremel for paper labels!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

read the rest of the tread and get some OXYCLEAN (or other percloride product)

not to mention people getting out steel wool or something

jeeze

-Ander

First off I like the 5 O shades. I tried the OXY and still had to scrub gue off. So I soak bottels for about 5 min peel label and hit the gue with the steelwool, wipe with a towel and done. :cross: I will look into the steel scrubbie.

I do hear ya on the dremel......!!

I haven't tried this yet, but I bet my bench grinder with a brass wire wheel would make quick work of any label! A lot faster than a dremel too!

Why did I not know about this Oxyclean and hot water idea earlier!?

My favorite bottles are Sierra Nevada bottles as well (they just scream HOME BREW to me) and letting them soak for around 10mins totally got off the labels and I could just use a sponge for the glue.

soak in hot water with bleach works well. New Castle is a Pain to get off!!!

1) Fill bottles with hot tap water.
2) Place in large cooler or plastic tub.
3) Add 1/2 wall paper remover.
4) Fill the container to the rim of the bottles with hot tap water and let soak for 10 minutes.
5) Most labels will peel off easily and others will come off when scrubbed with a scouring pad.

I've not found an easier label to peel then Deschutes (lucky for me it's my favorite beer), with New Belgium coming in a close second. Just soak them in hot water for 15 mins and peel the labels right off. I use a dish sponge to get the rest of the glue off. I can't imagine waiting a whole day to get the labels off!

Another vote for oxyclean free as a label remover. Most labels came off in minutes, with only a few ones needing to stay in the tub overnight (Grolsch Light, Pete's Wicked and Sierra Nevada). A basic kitchen scrub pad to get some resilient areas of adhesive, but no need for elbow grease!

As Revvy suggested, Star San made short work of Stone IPA bottles! Soaked overnight, and the paint rubbed right off with very little effort.

Now I know that most beer labels are on with a water base or pva type adhesive but some of them are petroleum soluable adhesives - this is in fact quite common with wine bottles and where I have most trouble with label removal. Even if you get the paper off, the adhesive still sticks to the glass. The only way I have been able to remove is to soak with WD-40 or paint thinner, this is messy and time intensive. Has anyone got a faster, cleaner way to remove oil soluble ahesive?

Revvy said:

Nope, Starsan Soak overnight to 1 week and a quick rinse...

Impossible to remove Rogue Silkscreen and half of the redstripe bottles I own...methinks either they changed their paint, or different bottler factories use different paint...Half of them soak off after a couple weeks in starsan, and the other half even a 100% starsan won't remove it...nor the rogues.

But stones are a piece of cake, actually to me easier than paper labels with oxyclean.

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Just to clarify regarding the Stone bottles, do you soak in Starsan at a regular dilution ratio, in the concentrate, or somewhere in between?

jeffmeh said:

Just to clarify regarding the Stone bottles, do you soak in Starsan at a regular dilution ratio, in the concentrate, or somewhere in between?

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I answered my own question. We brewed a dunkelweizen today and had a bucket of normal-dilution Starsan made up. After finishing the brewing, I popped a few Stone bottles into the Starsan. After an hour, the ink came right off. Many thanks for the info.

Hardest to get off. Erie Brewing company, railbender ipa.

Amen on the railbender. I tried a 1 week soak in oxy, right now I'm trying boiling them, I'll let you know how it goes.

The boil works great for softening the paper, but it totally ineffective with the residue.

I use the Oxyclean soak for my bottles. I have found that some labels are more of a pain to get off so I move on. Those ones just go back to the redemption center.

I have yet to find a good way to get the ink off Rogue bombers tho. I always have great luck with Stone and Southern Tier bombers by soaking in StarSan but have yet to have any luck with Rogue.

I ended up taking mineral spirits to the railbender bottles after I scraped off the labels to get their adhesive off.

Hot water, my thumbnail, and sometimes a sponge. One day I was working on a stubborn rum bottle (for mead) and my 5 year old wanted to help...he got all 3 labels off the bottle! That was the easiest.

As far as the labels that I put on bottle:
Beer - Permanent Marker on the cap
Mead & Wine - Staples address labels (they come off with hot tap water, thumbnail, and sometimes the scubby part of a sponge), and I tried some labels that came with a wine kit, but that batch is still aging.

Oxi-clean, PBW, & boiling does NOT work for raibender ale bottles...

For normal labels, Oxyclean Free worked fantastic in my bathtub, soaked for a day. All the labels literally fell off and floated to the top. Sierra Nevada bottles left some residue on the bottles, but one easy swipe with a towel removed it.

UPDATE:

For the record, extended soaking in Oxi-Clean does NOT work on railbender bottles. They have been soaking for up to a week now, no dice, I checked them this morning.

Oxyclean seems to work the best for me. I fill a cooler full of hot water from the tap and dump in about 7-8 scoops of Oxyclean. Every label and all the glue has come off in under an hour.