Hot Glue bottle wax experiment

Is this cost effective? How many bottles can you wax with a 1lb bag the pellets sold by home brew supply outlets? They're about $12/lb.

Trippel-A said:

Is this cost effective? How many bottles can you wax with a 1lb bag the pellets sold by home brew supply outlets? They're about $12/lb.

Click to expand...

I spent about $10 on enough glue and crayons to do ~100 bottles.

Trippel-A said:

Is this cost effective? How many bottles can you wax with a 1lb bag the pellets sold by home brew supply outlets? They're about $12/lb.

Click to expand...

How many bottles do you get out if this? I bought one and bottled about 30 bottles. Eye-balling it, it looks like I used about half the package

eBay- $15 on 250 bulk crayons of 5 colors.


$3.19 per 25 pack of glue sticks.(Hobby Lobby after 40% off weekly coupon). I use about 4 crayons and 15 glue sticks per 40 bottles.

I think that comes out to about $2.15 per 40 bottles. Just a ballpark frame of reference.

Great thread! Thanks for the idea. I came home after work and got the kids to peal labels off of crayons (was a mix of purple & blue colors). We had a bunch of dollar store mini glue sticks so I used those. Used around 15-17 glue sticks and 6 crayons. I think that they turned out great.

LoloMT7 said:

Great thread! Thanks for the idea. I came home after work and got the kids to peal labels off of crayons (was a mix of purple & blue colors). We had a bunch of dollar store mini glue sticks so I used those. Used around 15-17 glue sticks and 6 crayons. I think that they turned out great.

Click to expand...

Yes! Looks awesome

For those with electric burners, how are you guys doing this?

I have a jetboil camp stove, wonder if the soupcan on top of that might be the best option.

butterpants said:

For those with electric burners, how are you guys doing this?

I have a jetboil camp stove, wonder if the soupcan on top of that might be the best option.

Click to expand...

Or if you look back in the thread some it sounds like some were about to do it on electric burners by heating cooking oil.

LoloMT7 said:

Or if you look back in the thread some it sounds like some were about to do it on electric burners by heating cooking oil.

Click to expand...

Ah interesting idea

I could be wrong as it has been a LONG time sinse i looked at this thread .
But i think some were doing the `double boiler` thing.

What appears to be the best ration of gluestick weight to crayon weight that people have found? I see counts of gluesticks and crayons, but has anyone measured weight?

My math comes out to:


4 glue sticks to one crayons = 0.584 oz : 0.195 oz.

Ah yes.The wonderfull world of homebrewing where you may dare ask,
"So....exactly how much Does a crayon weigh"

Paps said:

Ah yes.The wonderfull world of homebrewing where you may dare ask,
"So....exactly how much Does a crayon weigh"

Click to expand...

Not often does a post on the internet make me actually laugh out load... this one did. Thank you Paps!

sfrisby said:

My math comes out to:


4 glue sticks to one crayons = 0.584 oz : 0.195 oz.

Click to expand...

So this recipe comes out with an easy enough "wax" mixture to peel off the bottle with a rip string and/or open the bottle directly with a bottle opener? How about peeling off afterward. Just concerned of the "glue" strength to the bottle.

In the original post I believe he said he was recommending 12 crayons per 20 glue sticks. This is 3:5, not 1:4. Pretty different. I just wanted to verify people's experience before going out and purchasing anything.

Thanks!

Here is mine; I used 2 crayons : 1 glue stick (10" x .44")

skeezerpleezer said:

Here is mine; I used 2 crayons : 1 glue stick (10" x .44")

Click to expand...

Any issues with the wax cracking or coming lose over time?

Skeezer: those look awesome. The opposite ratio of what I have used with the greater crayon to glue stick ratio must be key. I'll try that next time.

Finsfan: I have 1 bottle left of a bourbon barrel stout that is now over 2 years old and the wax is holding up just fine.

sfrisby said:

Skeezer: those look awesome. The opposite ratio of what I have used with the greater crayon to glue stick ratio must be key. I'll try that next time.

Finsfan: I have 1 bottle left of a bourbon barrel stout that is now over 2 years old and the wax is holding up just fine.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the response. What ratio did you use?

I did 3 glue sticks to 1 crayon, but as stated above, I like the texture of skeezer's and will try his ratio next time.

finsfan said:

Any issues with the wax cracking or coming lose over time?

Click to expand...

I just drank one last weekend, the wax is holding up fine

Bulk Crayons 5 X 50 250ct 10$
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003JT2A5M/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

24 CT 10" x .44" Glue Sticks 6$

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0018N9P22/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

12 Glue Sticks and 25 Crayons = 50 bottles = ~4$

For anyone wanting to try this out, hard to beat that price.

poptarts said:

Bulk Crayons 5 X 50 250ct 10$
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003JT2A5M/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

24 CT 10" x .44" Glue Sticks 6$

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0018N9P22/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

12 Glue Sticks and 25 Crayons = 50 bottles = ~4$

For anyone wanting to try this out, hard to beat that price.

Click to expand...

Really it would cost you $16 - but that lets you wax dip your bottles, provide 2 years worth of red crayons to your kids and stick a whole bunch of stuff together.. well worth the $16

http://beer.samfoust.com/Blog/Post/bottle-wax

My experience with the ingredients I posted above.

Tried this out on a 1 gal batch

Will probably get the wax hotter next time, to get more runs.

Bottled up a ~13% stout that's been in a barrel since Nov of 2012. The light green got dosed with some Ugandan vanilla beans that I have been soaking in vodka for a few months.

Lookin real good fellas

http://www.crayola.com/faq/where-to...-and-individual-single-colorssizes-in-the-us/

Maybe not the cheapest but you can pick 1 color exclusively.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003JT2A5M/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20
These are by far cheaper if you dont want black and white, can mix em to get most other colors

I really like the look of Skeezer's bottles, I'm not sure you need to use all crayons for the wax though, could probably use some candle wax and some candles, but I like the ratio. Plus with the good deals on crayons that others have posted... eh why not

sfrisby..........."Where" in Atlanta are ya' located?

Dunwoody

sfrisby said:

View attachment 217326View attachment 217327View attachment 217328

Click to expand...

Did you get that beer to bottle carb?

Forced carbed and bottled out of the keg.

So after enviously looking at everyone's waxed bottles, I finally decided to give it a try. I had three 750ml bottles of my quad (the rest are corked & caged in 375s) that I experimented with. As usually is the case with things taught on here, I'm now kicking myself for not doing it sooner! I do have a few small batch fruited saison bottles that will get it next. Thanks for this thread!

mcbaumannerb said:

So after enviously looking at everyone's waxed bottles, I finally decided to give it a try. I had three 750ml bottles of my quad (the rest are corked & caged in 375s) that I experimented with. As usually is the case with things taught on here, I'm now kicking myself for not doing it sooner! I do have a few small batch fruited saison bottles that will get it next. Thanks for this thread!

View attachment 217431
View attachment 217432

Click to expand...

What was your ratio?

finsfan said:

What was your ratio?

Click to expand...

Two standard glue sticks per full crayon. Melted much quicker than I was expecting which made it a much easier task than I thought it would be.

mcbaumannerb said:

Two standard glue sticks per full crayon. Melted much quicker than I was expecting which made it a much easier task than I thought it would be.

Click to expand...

awesome! I tried this method once but had trouble getting the glue sticks to melt on my glass top stove. I will just have to use my neighbors gas stove

finsfan said:

awesome! I tried this method once but had trouble getting the glue sticks to melt on my glass top stove. I will just have to use my neighbors gas stove

Click to expand...

I used my side burner on the grill in a soup can and that worked like a charm. Once I added the crayon and smelled the result, I was glad I was outside!