Label Removing idea

I was trying to think up an easy way to remove some labels on some old Sam Adams bottles I have and this is what I came up with:

Fill the Bottles with water all the way to the top and cap.

Next fill a bucket with water and some DIF wall paper remover(not the Gel type) according to the instructions on the bottle.

Then put the bottles in to soak for a while.(since they are full and capped they won't float and the DIF can't get into the bottles)

I am thinking the labels will come off really easy because the enzymes in the DIF actually eat glue. Then the bottles can be washed, uncapped and drained, sanitized etc....

Has anyone else ever tried this? I may give it a whirl later on today. I will keep you posted of the results when I do it.

A little hot water and elbow grease has always worked for me.

Buy Sierra Nevada beer. Labels float off in 30 minutes just by soaking in hot water.

water, oxyclean and 2 days.

I just soak the bottles in hot water and maybe a little dish soap or oxy clean (depends on if I want to go and get the oxy clean). Let them soak a while. Come back and rub off the labels. If there is any part of the label left then the bottles go back in for another soak. No need for elbow grease. Though I suppose if I were in a hurry it would be a different story but really I just do this stuff while doing other things as the work itself really doesn't take much time.

I guess maybe I am overthinking things

I just soak them in hot water with dish soap for several hours. Or if I am in the mood I mix up some C-Brite or Bleach with very hot water and soak for 8-12 hours. The labels will just fall off after that. Then I have a hard dish brush to scrub off the remaining glue or you can use a brillo pad. Rinse and you are done.

By soaking I spend only a few minutes cleaning up a 12 pack of bottles.

BTW, Sam Adas labels are the worst. Red Hook's are not much better. I have the toughest time removing Sams labels. Some other brands I have had a much easier time.

Ernie3 said:

I guess maybe I am overthinking things

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yes, especially for sam bottles, they are really easy to float off in just hot water, then if you add a bit of oxyclean you are golden, why waste $.02 on a cap for each bottle and suffer the pain of capping the bottles if you don't need to

ADD: apparently I have a different experience than Jaha, while red hook bottles always seem to give me problems, sam bottles just drop their lables with no trouble at all (red hook bottles I agree are a PITA though)

ATL said:

yes, especially for sam bottles, they are really easy to float off in just hot water, then if you add a bit of oxyclean you are golden, why waste $.02 on a cap for each bottle and suffer the pain of capping the bottles if you don't need to

ADD: apparently I have a different experience than Jaha, while red hook bottles always seem to give me problems, sam bottles just drop their lables with no trouble at all (red hook bottles I agree are a PITA though)

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The neck label and small back label of Sams bottles are easy enough but I find that the large main label always is stubborn coming off. If I give it good soak in C-Brite first then it's usually no big deal but with hot water I generally need to scrape and scrub more. But yes Red Hook's are a pain.

Jaha35 said:

BTW, Sam Adas labels are the worst. Red Hook's are not much better. I have the toughest time removing Sams labels. Some other brands I have had a much easier time.

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I've really never had much problems with Sam Adams bottles. Great Lakes Brewing out of Cleveland labels were killers for me last time I cleaned bottles.

Ernie3 said:

I guess maybe I am overthinking things

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If I didn't know about the oxyclean soak I would disagree that you were overthinking. When I started back brewing one of the biggest pita's for me was getting labels off.

Now I just keep a one gallon pitcher with oxyclean solution set to the side on my kitchen counter. When I drink a bottle with a label I fill it just enough to sink it below the surface of the solution and when I come back in an hour or two the label just floats off. Couldn't be easier and the bottles come out cleansed and with a quick rinse ready for sanitizing.

hot water + sanitizer.
soak over night....
rinse in the morning.
peel the labels, bust out the bottling equiptment

I had some Michelob Mrazen's and Budweiser American Ales. Those labels came off in cold water haha!

Oxy > Bleach. Just threw a 6 pack of Red Hook bottles in hot water and Oxy about 15 min ago and already the labels are peeling off clean. With bleach it was a couple hours at least.

I think that the wallpaper remover might work fine for the type of glue used in wallpapering, but might not affect the glue normally used in bottling. There seems to be a wide variety of label glue used in brewing. Some slide right off, some require soaking and scrubbing.

I fill a large cooler with hot water and oxyclean. Soak for 20 minutes and repeat until all my bottles are done. I use the green franziskanner bottles for cider and those fall off in 5 minutes. The stubborn ones just need to soak longer, but they'll fall off eventually.

Homercidal said:

I think that the wallpaper remover might work fine for the type of glue used in wallpapering, but might not affect the glue normally used in bottling. There seems to be a wide variety of label glue used in brewing. Some slide right off, some require soaking and scrubbing.

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Wallpaper remover will work but it's just massive overkill and takes the same amount of time. If you really want to go an adhesive remover just go to home Depot and by a can of adhesive cleaner. I used to sell that stuff when I was an Industrial Salesman and it works great. It's specifically desgined to remove and adhesives from tapes or other adhesive residues. I used it from time to time and all you did was spray on, wait 30 seconds to a min and then wipe off. Worked great and left no residue. But again it is pricey for the application. I think it was 5-8 bucks a can at bulk pricing. You may pay around 6-12 bucks retail and a 20 min soak and wash down with Brillo or sponge works just as efficiently.

Ok my label removing test is complete. For the past two months I have scrubbed and removed labels for over 100 bottles and I am annoyed I never thought of Oxy.

Up until now my processes were this:

Hot water and detergent soak for 3-6 hours, scrubbed with brillo or brush and dried.
hot water and C-Brite or bleach soak for 4-12 hours, scrubbed with brillo or brush and dried.

Both worked but with considerably more work. Bleach and a 12 hour soak was the better of the two because the labels just peeled off easily and mild scrubbing was enough. With detergent I still had a lot of glue and had to scrub it off hard with Brillo or my brush. Heck with some bottles I even used a metal spatula to scrap it off. The worst was with Red Hook and some Sams bottles where a lot of residue was still on the bottles after drying and needed to be scrubbed again.

Enter Oxy. I ran 6 Red hook bottles in a hot water bath with one scoop of Oxy for 45 minutes. I took a shower and had a smoke then returned to find all 6 labels floating in the basin and next to no glue residue. What residue was left washed off easily with cold water. NO SCRUBBING.

Definitely I can confirm Oxy Clean and a short soak is the best method. Adhesive remover is not needed at all.

Case closed...

It seems as if the OxiClean is the way to go. Which Oxiclean is it that you all use? I believe last time I saw it at the store there were a few different ones to choose from....

I have a 5 lb bucket of unscented powder. It's the original kind that the annoying guy was always screaming about on the infomercials. Billy Mays all in my brain!!!:rockin:

Cool, I am going to pick some up tomorrow. Funny, I just saw Billy May's a few minutes ago selling something else on TV.

Ernie3 said:

Funny, I just saw Billy May's a few minutes ago selling something else on TV.

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It's really not that coincidental considering you can't go 5 minutes without that screaming shill showing up somewhere on TV.

The worst part is how great Oxyclean is. How annoyed can I really be with such a good product.

I actually bought some off brand version of oxyclean. No complaints here.

dontman said:

It's really not that coincidental considering you can't go 5 minutes without that screaming shill showing up somewhere on TV.

The worst part is how great Oxyclean is. How annoyed can I really be with such a good product.

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I was being sarcastic

The best thing about Oxy is how versatile it is. Beyond your bottles it can also clean your brewing equipment and gets out a lot of sediment and other crud and it's easier to work with than say C-Brite. I hate chlorine smell and it is rough on your skin and nose. I was going to switch to PBW until I learned how good Oxy works.

Just make sure you get the kind with no perfumes or dyes in it. Those can leave odors or residue which can affect your beer. Unless you want Pine Fresh Ale I would stick to the plain kind.

Thanks for the tips Jaha

Some labels come off easier than others that's for sure. I do exactly what you said but I don't put any oxy or chemicals in the water. I just let them soak at least a day and longer if possible. After that, some labels just fall off and I wipe down the bottle with a sponge to remove any glue. Others are more stubborn, Sierra Nevada and Newcastle for instance, and for those I pull off what I can and use a chore boy on the rest. Yes it involves some elbow grease but the chore boy does the job pretty fast so you won't wear yourself out too much. Anyway, the exercise is good and will counter the added weight on your belly from drinking all that beer.

Dennis

Fill the Igloo Playmate up with very hot water and 1/4 cup automatic dishwashing liquid, like Sun Light. Stirt it up real good and fill the bottles up with the soapy water and stand them up in the cooler. Fill the water to the top and close the cooler. The bottles fit and the water come right up to the capping lip. Holds 15 bottles easily. Half hour later your labels fall off and the insides are sparkling clean. No elbo grease. Just keep reusing the water and add some boiling water if you have a whole bunch to clean. Just be sure to use rubber gloves...that detergent will tear up your hands.

Soak the bottle a bit and peel off the label as much as you can do easily. Then spray on a bit of Goo-Gone or similar adhesive remover. From there it's really simple, and if you run into any problems, just use a razor blade. You should be able to lightly scrub off any further residue and then wash/sanitize.

Just did two bottles. One Dogfish Head - has matte paper labels, and they come off super easy, just have to scrub the adhesive residue a bit. The other was Hennepin, and the labels are much more commercial and glossy. Took a little longer but there was almost no residue after using the Goo-Gone. In summary, Goo-Gone gets rid of adhesive residue quite well.

I keep a cooler in the corner of my kitchen with an oxy-clean solution in it and just sink my bottles in there after I pour my beer. Every once in a while I take them out of there, rinse them well and store them until I want to rinse and sanitize for use. Mostly I keg so the bottles might be in that cooler for some time, but the labels are off in hours.