Using milk to stick on labels?

How do you use milk to stick on the labels? I am new to this forum and brewing
so I hope this question is not crazy. Can I print out labels on my laser printer on plain paper and then stick them on the bottles? Would the label start to smell like sour milk after a while? Thanks, Katie

I've done it - you just brush a very thin film of milk on the back of the label. I used a paper tower to just barely get it damp. It works fine, and it doesn't stink

I just put some milk in a saucer and dunked the labels in it. Stick them to the bottle, then smooth it out with a towel to wipe off the excess and remove bubbles. Took me less than 10 minutes to do 50 bottles.

does milk have any advantage to glue sticks or the pre-glued label making paper? i have tried the label paper and found it inconvenient, as the labels soon unadhered themselves. hey-ooooh

I've never put labels on any bottles, but I would guess that the way it works is the milk solids adhere the label to the glass, but would loosen once it's wet again. If I'm wrong, well, it's because it's just a guess!

I used Office depot brand Bumper Stickers for my last labels. They worked really well, but are a little pricey

Wheat King said:

does milk have any advantage to glue sticks or the pre-glued label making paper? i have tried the label paper and found it inconvenient, as the labels soon unadhered themselves. hey-ooooh

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Label paper either comes off too easily or too hard... Milk or glue sticks both rinse off easily with warm water. For me, the advantage of milk over glue sticks is that it's quicker and less mess. It takes a second to dunk a label in milk and slap it on, vs 5 seconds to trace around the edges with a glue stick (not to mention having to deal with glue getting on the surface below the label and making a general mess of things). If you could find some sort of water soluble spray adhesive, then that would really be ideal...

Milk labels are actually pretty impressive when I've used them. You couldn't peel them off if you wanted to, until you run them under hot water for 15 seconds, then they come off on their own. They deal with bottle sweat pretty well too, although if the bottle gets sweaty and sits for a long time you could probably peel them off (but they don't fall off on their own from sweat).

debtman7 said:

If you could find some sort of water soluble spray adhesive, then that would really be ideal...

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someone should try using the new spray ky.

bummerkit said:

someone should try using the new spray ky.

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I have, but not on my labels

debtman7 said:

I have, but not on my labels

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You sprayed some in your mouth, too???

bobbyc said:

You sprayed some in your mouth, too???

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I was serious though. its water soluble and it gets sticky when it dries.

Seems like it might work... might be a kind of expensive option. I usually buy KY in the family size to save money, though, so it might not be too bad.

Getting back to serious... what kind of milk? Does skim work? 2%? Whole? Chocolate? Egg Nog? Does it matter?

I was thinking of getting a cheap little spray bottle and using that to apply the milk. I'm definately going to try this next time I need to label bottles.

bobbyc said:

Seems like it might work... might be a kind of expensive option. I usually buy KY in the family size to save money, though, so it might not be too bad.

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I hear ya, I find the Sam's Club 5 gallon pump top to be the most economical.

bobbyc said:

Getting back to serious... what kind of milk? Does skim work? 2%? Whole? Chocolate? Egg Nog? Does it matter?

I was thinking of getting a cheap little spray bottle and using that to apply the milk. I'm definately going to try this next time I need to label bottles.

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I used 2%. I suspect any kind would work, it's the proteins in the milk that bind so fat content shouldn't make a difference. It only takes a few tbsp to do 50 bottles so I just use what's on hand. A spray bottle would probably work, but I've had no problems just dunking the entire label into the milk which is probably quicker and less overspray. I'm also using lables printed on a thermal wax printer though, so I'm not worried about running or anything, with other types of ink you might have to worry more about not getting the front wet.

I just put on some labels with whole milk because it is what I had on hand. Worked just as advertized.

I just learned a new trick at 59 years old!

If you get a sponge that is slightly larger than your label and saturate it with milk, all you would have to do is press the label down on the sponge, and voila! an evenly moistened label, ready to apply.

incredible! this works amazingly well! forget label paper or glue!!!

cheapest trick i have ever learned

I have been using the dunking method and I have noticed that the paper tends to wrinkle and doesn't lay flat. I suspect too much milk. Next time I will try the sponge method. I bet that would solve this problem.

Just use watered down pva. It's dead cheap, works well and is easy to remove.

Sponge method didn't solve my wrinkle problem. Maybe I need a different kind of paper. Anyone have any ideas?

Just use watered down pva

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And what is pva?

http://www.edirectory.co.uk/pf/pages/mia.asp?recordid=4972369&cid=880&afid=88888
A water proof adhesive used for all sort.

Prowler 13 said:

And what is pva?

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Polyvinyl acetate, it's the cheap white glue that dries clear. Could be potentially problematic when coming to remove the labels though, unless you use a really small amount.

I tried the milk trick, and woah, its works perfectly! label is solidly stuck on. I used a really small amount with a paintbrush so the paper wouldn't wrinkle, but the milk did seep and smudge the ink around the edges of a tiny bit, ahhh damn inkjet

Hey using Milk as an adhesive is a great idea.

You can also use make Milk (Casein) as the base for paint.

I used the glue stick this last time. I think that worked very well for me.

Milk trick worked for me. I used skim, so fat content seems to be irrelevant.

For use with the milk, what guys are you using as label stock?

I've used plain A4 paper because I'm cheap *^_^* and I printed with an inkjet printer as well so I've had to be really careful when applying the milk, I just used a very small amount spread all over and it works fine, plus i used a scalpel to cut each label so there isn't a rough edge that will absorb the milk more easily.

The paper seems now to have gone slightly fuzzy, it's quite a cool effect actually, looks a bit rustic. Hasn't affected the printing one bit though, that's still crystal clear.

I water the PVA down maybe 4-1 works well.

I then seal the label with Hair spray.

orfy said:

I then seal the label with Hair spray.

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Ah! Hairspray! Why oh why didn't I think of that before, I use it to fix my charcoal and pastel sketches. Thank you oso oso much for reminding me

I spray my labels with a clear enamel that I got for a buck before I cut them out and stick them on, that seems to work pretty well for me too. I'm going to be trying the milk trick today, I'll let you know how it goes with soy.

Matt

One thing I just learned about using milk as an adhesive: It doesn't work on new PET bottles. All the labels were sticking real well last night when they were still a little damp but this morning they had all fallen off. The bottle must be too smooth for it to work. I don't normally label but these were a Christmas present for my old man. Lol, I like the simple look anyways!

debtman7 said:

If you could find some sort of water soluble spray adhesive, then that would really be ideal...

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Have you tried milk, in either a garden spray, or one of the small sprey bottles from the drug-store (the ones that are ment to take small ammounts of cosmentics on vacation in)?

This thread's over two years old. I think he's figured it out by now.

eddie said:

This thread's over two years old. I think he's figured it out by now.

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haha...good point.

Thanks for bumping the thread anyway, I was wondering exactly how to use milk to stick on the labels.

Will breast milk work?

JBooze said:

Will breast milk work?

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Hey, you've got a natural spray bottle right there (eeeew)

But back on topic, the milk idea is great. I don't care if the bottles I drink are labeled. However if I'm giving some to a buddy then I just take them out of my conditioning cabinet, milk up some labels and slap 'em on. I like the extra pizzaz ^_^

So last week I labeled a bunch of bottles using the milk method and this weekend SWMBO went out into the garage and complained that something must have died in there. I found the culprit, my beer labels done with milk. It was bad to the point where I removed them all and had to air out the garage for the better part of the day. Anyone else ever have this happen? I think I may have used too much milk or something.

I stuck a few on with milk and never had any smell issues, could you have spilled milk in the box you had the beers in or something like that?

Also anyone find what paper to use with an inkjet printer so the ink doesn't bleed?

If you're dead set on using milk, some rehydrated skim milk powder would probably work well... it would definitely be more sterile than fresh milk, pasteurized or no.

This stuff looks interesting...

Self-adhesive Inkjet Paper, Durable Waterproof Paper