Removing labels from bottles

So I have a butt load of commercial beer bottles. I just cleaned out 45 of them with boiling water and a SMALL amount of bleach. The person who gave them to me does not rinse their bottles out so I wanted to loosen any mold and crap in side them. I was hoping the boiling water would loosen the labels.... well... it didnt.

Any ideas? I dont really want to scrape labels and glue off of over 70 bottles unless I have to.

Also, yes I rinsed them well after because of the bleach

Oxyclean and hot water overnight will get most of them off. They just fall off. The rest will fall off in a couple days. You will need to rinse thoroughly, and if a scale develops from the oxyclean a soak in a weak acid, such as lemon juice, vinegar or starsan in water will get that off.

Revvy said:

Oxyclean and hot water overnight will get most of them off. They just fall off. The rest will fall off in a couple days. You will need to rinse thoroughly, and if a scale develops from the oxyclean a soak in a weak acid, such as lemon juice, vinegar or starsan in water will get that off.

Click to expand...

Revvy, You are my beer god.

Seriously man, you answer ALL the questions I ask, which have all been answered 1000 times before!

Thanks again man.

Revvy said:

Oxyclean and hot water overnight will get most of them off. They just fall off. The rest will fall off in a couple days. You will need to rinse thoroughly, and if a scale develops from the oxyclean a soak in a weak acid, such as lemon juice, vinegar or starsan in water will get that off.

Click to expand...

yep.. I have given up on trying to fight the oxy scale with a brush.. overnight soak in oxy,,,rinse and a few hour soak in starsan..rinse and store.

I honestly have never gotten the oxyclean scale. I use half of a scoop and HOT HOT HOT water. The labels really do just fall off. Well 90% of them, the Dos Equis and other foil type labels come off with light scrubbing.

I've seen the scale build up on the stainless kitchen sink from time to time, but never on my bottles. My bottles look better after I clean them then when I bought them full of beer in the store.

Revvy said:

Oxyclean and hot water overnight will get most of them off. They just fall off. The rest will fall off in a couple days. You will need to rinse thoroughly, and if a scale develops from the oxyclean a soak in a weak acid, such as lemon juice, vinegar or starsan in water will get that off.

Click to expand...

+1 to Revvy. I add a splash of bleach to the oxyclean water too.

Revvy said:

Oxyclean and hot water overnight will get most of them off. They just fall off. The rest will fall off in a couple days. You will need to rinse thoroughly, and if a scale develops from the oxyclean a soak in a weak acid, such as lemon juice, vinegar or starsan in water will get that off.

Click to expand...

what he said. doesnt even need to be hot water. I've used Oxyclean in cold water with the same great results

I don't bother taking labels off. The beer goes on the inside so that's the part I clean.

I have used Oxiclean in hot water but I don't let them sit overnight. I let them sit 10 minutes or until the label is easy to peel off. I peel the labels off so the Oxiclean and water can get at the glue. Some bottle clean easier than other but most of the time the glue will wipe off without scrubbing after soaking for 15-20 minutes. I try to stick to New Glarus bottles because they are so easy to clean. The labels come off after soaking for 5 minutes and the glue wipes off after another 10. I put 13 in a bucket at a time and by the time I have them all filled with water the labels of the first ones I put in will practically fall off. By the time I have all the labels peeled off I can wipe the glue off of the first ones I peeled the labels off of. Of course I only save the bottles that have been rinsed out good. My wife and I drink enough that I don't need to deal with caked on gunk in bottles.

I don't peel my labels off. I like the memory of looking at them and remembering the goodness that was previously inside.

However, just like everyone else said, oxy and hot water.

Since no one mentioned it here yet. A strong 2x solution of Starsan will get most painted labels off in 24hrs. (I have had to use a bench grinder's wire wheel on one or two.)

I remove the labels only after the bottles are full of homebrew. The reason I wait until they are full of beer is no that no glue, paper or bleach gets inside my bottles. Then I put them in a 5 gallon bucket with cold water and a small amount of beach (strong swimming pool strength). I used to do it in the sink, but the bucket can be kept out of sight of SWMBO and cuts down but does not entirely eliminate the amount of bitching I have to endure. Overnight, or even after a few hours the labels fall right off and you can quickly wipe off the residual glue, if any, with a sponge. Leave it in for a few days and you don't even need to do that. I don't keep oxyclean in the house but I always have bleach (I sanitize with iodophor).

Another suggestion for oxyclean hear. Most of what I've drank comes off in 30 minutes and then it's just wiping the adhesive off with a paper towel. Some just plane suck to get off. Florida's best (Cigar City) are a huge pain in the ass to get off, even over night doesn't help much. In 30 minutes the plastic that covers the label comes off, then no amount of soaking will make the paper under it and the adhesive seperate and I usually resort to using gluegon and spending 10 minutes scouring the bottle.

+1 for Oxyclean Free and hot water. I usually collect both beer and wine bottles until a brew day. I set them in a laundry tub with a scoop of Oxyclean and then run the outflow from my CFC into it. By the time I have all of my equipment cleaned for storage most of the labels are ready to come off.

ChuckO said:

I set them in a laundry tub with a scoop of Oxyclean and then run the outflow from my CFC into it. By the time I have all of my equipment cleaned for storage most of the labels are ready to come off.

Click to expand...

Great idea!

Oxyclean did the deed. Worked like a charm. ONly about 20 minutes and the lables were falling off or floating.

I used a whole scoop in a 5 gal bucket. I just rinsed the crap out of them to be safe.

5 Gal. Bucket with bottles in it. HOT HOT HOT water in bucket until it cools to the touch. no oxy, no bleach, labels fall off. light scrub. did 100 bottles in 30 min.

p.s. SA bottles are the easiest to clean

+1 to just hot water, I just did 20 today in the hottest water my sink would pour out of the tap, let them sit for 15 minutes and they just slid right off, glue and all.

I'll have to try the oxyclean trick. With hot water, most come off ok but I'll be trying oxyclean next time to see if it makes things even easier. If the U.S. bottlers could use the same glue used by the Germans and Belgians, it would make things so much easier. Their labels fall off in like 5 minutes of hot water and sometimes don't even leave glue marks or residue. Thanks, Revvy!

Gotta throw mine in here... I use baking soda and water. Works like a charm!