Removing Bottle Labels

What is the best way to remove bottle labels?

I've heard two different ways and I want to make sure they are good.

Adding Bleach to water and letting them soak for two days or adding Oxy Clean to water and letter them soak for 45 minutes.

Would either of these ways work? I just don't feel too good about letting them sit in bleach though but if it works, it works.

I'm an Oxyclean user myself. I fill my utility sink with hot water and Oxy and let it sit overnight. I only takes a couple hours but I usually do it at night and get back to them the next day.

For more information, scroll to the bottom of this page to the similar thread links.

Oxiclean, PBW or the generic Sun brand oxygen cleaner all work well for this. The sun brand is the cheapest and works just as well as the others.

Excellent, looks like I'll be picking up some Oxiclean tomorrow. I didn't want to use bleach because I didn't want any of the smell staying on the bottles. If Oxiclean works I'm going with that.

Thanks for the help!

I've had success with Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda. Soak for 30 minutes. Some labels fall right off, others need a bit of scrubbing.

I usually soak my bottles 30 mins or so, peel the labels off and scrub off the goo with a green scrubbie thing, usually works pretty well, though some bottles need an extended soak

Easiest way I have found is the oxyclean soak and the labels peel or fall right off. The residual glue ( some of the wineries must use super glue) is easy to get off with a wet cloth and some cameo cleanser ( I am sure zud or bar keepers friend will work as well) I like the scotch brite ( green scratchy pad ) also but the goo gunks em up and they don't last long.

Mista_Sparkle said:

I usually soak my bottles 30 mins or so, peel the labels off and scrub off the goo with a green scrubbie thing, usually works pretty well, though some bottles need an extended soak

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Exactly how I do it. Works great. Sam Adams labels come off very easily.

UnderDogs said:

Excellent, looks like I'll be picking up some Oxiclean tomorrow. I didn't want to use bleach because I didn't want any of the smell staying on the bottles. If Oxiclean works I'm going with that.

Thanks for the help!

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Be sure you get Oxiclean FREE. The other Oxiclean has perfumes in it

Heat is the trick. I rinse after emptying and leave the ones I might want to reuse in a paper bag near my recycling. When the bag is full I put them in a sink full of very hot PBW (the PBW might help get some labels off but it is really there for the cleaning) and soak for about 10 minutes. At this point most of the labels come off easily, if they don't I just throw the bottle in the regular recycling and don't waste the effort. However, if you really need 50 bottles tomorrow or something, maybe you have to put in the elbow grease to get the hard ones too. Green scrubbies work well.

For Sierra Nevada and Guinness bottles, the dishwasher does a great job of taking off labels quick. Just turn off the dry cycle.

After reading all the positive reviews about Oxiclean free I'm definitely going to be buying a tub or 2 of it. Seems to be one of the most versatile cleaners for anyone's brew kitchen.

I know this is an old thread, but just wanted to post another thumps-up for Oxyclean Free. A couple weeks ago I took the labels off a couple 12-packs using hot water and a piece of Scotch-Brite. It does the job if you use as hot of water as you can get out of the tap and soak for 15-30 minutes, pealing the labels off while the water is still hot.

I decided to try using some Oxyclean Free to take the labels off some more bottles tonight. It makes a HUGE difference. The labels I had found easiest to take off with just hot water simply floated way in the Oxyclean. I decided to try it on some bottles with labels that had been near impossible to get off. It still took some work a little use of the Scotch-Brite, but it took so much less time. I'll be using it in the future to make my life a little easier.

Hot water with PBW in a round plastic tub from Home Depot made it real easy to get the labels off of the Sam Adams and magic hat bottles I had in about half an hour


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30 min in hot water has always worked for me.

2 weeks in cold OxyClean No burnt fingers. LOL

WD 40 can be pretty effective in removing stubborn sticky residue!


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