Label Removal Thread

Hot water, and dish soap in the bathtub. Fill the tub enough to cover the bottles laying down. Fill the bottles with hot water (so they dont float), come back in an hour, labels peel right off, take a finger nale scrubber to the adhesive, comes right off (unless its a Breckinridge bottle... they're adhesive is a b**** to get off).

Like many have said I fill the bottles with hot tap water and then the sink they are in. I wait about 30 minutes and then use a plastic food scraper and a scotch brite green scour pad to remove the label and then the glue.

I've always had trouble with taking labels off of Rogue bottles. I don't know what they use, but I've soaked the bottles for two days and the label still stuck. I ended up scraping as much as I could with a putty knife, then taking the adhesive off with alcohol. I would have used acetone, but I didn't have any handy.

I always soak bottles in hot water with baking soda. Works very well

I have good luck with Goose Island and Bell's bottles. 5-10 minutes soaking in warm water and the label comes right off, and a little scrub with a sponge takes off the remaining adhesive.

Sun cleaner (Oxiclean knock-off) from Wally World. Dissolve a tablespoon in a couple gallons of water in a bucket and soak the bottles overnight. Next morning, most of the labels will have fallen off. A quick rinse and drip-dry on a bottle tree and they are ready to go.

I have found that most European bottles will lose their labels much faster. It's funny how a few U.S. brewers see the need to adhere the damn things with industrial-strength adhesive. Maybe they don't want them coming off when the bottles are in a cooler full of ice.

soak the bottles in the kitchen sink in hot soapy water (i just use whatever dish soap i have handy) Let the bottles soak for the time that it takes me to leisurely enjoy two beers. Then i go back and peel the labels. Any residue left over I go after with a metal dish scrubby - the thing is a champ. Takes about 30 seconds of work per bottle.

Bells and New Glarus are the only bottles I save because they both remove pretty easily.

i also use the hot water soak for an hour or so with a little dishwasher liquid. they peel mostly off, then i use a brillo/SOS steel wool pad for the glue. easy peasy. every once in a while you will run into a brand that just doesn't want to come off easy, i toss those and try the next brand 6 pack.

Started reading this thread... got through the first couple of pages... couldn't read all of them.

Removing lables is extremely easy if you have a dish washer. Put the bottles in the dishwasher and run it. When the cycle completes and the drying phase begins, take the bottles out and simply remove any labels that are still on the bottles. You may need to run water over the bottle and rub the excess glue from it, but the labels absolutely do come off this way. I've been doing it for 10 years.

The only labels that won't come off this way are the plastic labels like Heineken.

You'll probably need to clean some of the labels out of the dish washer afterward though. Has never been an issue for me.

Bells bottles need a quick soak in hot water. Two Brothers bottles go directly in to the recycle bin. They use a laminated label that takes adhiesive remover to clean the glass. After taking a tour of their brewery I understand why, they label the bottles first then sanitize and fill. The paper labels must be glued on after the bottles are filled.

neild5 said:

Bells bottles need a quick soak in hot water. Two Brothers bottles go directly in to the recycle bin. They use a laminated label that takes adhiesive remover to clean the glass. After taking a tour of their brewery I understand why, they label the bottles first then sanitize and fill. The paper labels must be glued on after the bottles are filled.

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The Two Brothers labels are vinyl, and are more like bumper stickers. No soaking in water is going to budge them. However, if you warm up the bottle (run some hot water over it), the label is soft and easy to remove. Grab it by the corner and it peels straight off without leaving residue. I've done a bunch of them that way and never a problem.

I am going to use Smirnoff bottles for my cider. Don't know if you get them in the States? These bottles are clear glass with a mostly clear plastic label. If they are anything like the other bottles mentioned on a previous posting in this thread (with plastic labels) they are easy to strip. Just use a heat gun on low or a hair dryer on high to warm up the glue under the label. With the clear labels you can see the glue start to bubble. The label peals off easily once heated. Be careful not to over heat. Glue residue left behind can easily be wiped of with olive oil and a paper towel.

I normally soak bottles in a used PBW solution in a 5 gallon bucket at room temp. I recently put some Deschutes (Bend, OR) bottles and an Elysian (Seattle) bottle in at the same time. The Deschutes labels fell right off while the Elysian label was like new.

Been playing around with different label removing techniques for the last year. Easiest I've found is Easy Clean from LD Carlson. Haven't found a label yet it won't budge. Some, like German labels, come right off. Toughest for me is Great Lakes Breweries labels. A half to full day soak and they wipe right off.

Oxyclean works like a charm for me. I've also heard that using ammonia works well but I personally cant stand the smell of it and would not want it anywhere near my brewing equipment.

I just use bleach solution (warm water) for that first clean. After a couple hours marinating, labels slide right off. Works perfectly, kills all the nasty stuff, and couldn't be cheaper. Why spend more?

To remove commercial labels I take all my empties and soak them in a plastic tub full of PBW and hot water mixed 1oz PBW - 1 or 2 gallons water. Let them sit in the solution for a while and the labels fall right off, plus you end up cleaning the inside of the bottle (great for bottles that have some dried beer in the bottom). I then go over the bottle with a soapy sponge to remove any remaining glue residue, rinse inside and out, dry.

I found Sierra Nevada labels very difficult to remove, but this solution takes them off with ease.

When I apply my labels to my beers I dip a paper towel in some milk and lightly coat the back of my label then press on to the bottle. The milk dries and sticks the label to the bottle, and clean up is easy. Just rinse under water and label comes right off!

What methods flopped?
I started brewing by soaking empties in a sink full of hot water, this worked but the water cooled too quickly. I then tried filling a bathtub full of hot water and running the shower on hot also, this worked better but wasted a lot of water. I tried using a product called Goo Gone which works really well for anything less than a 6-pack, but is hard to wash completely off. I have learned a trick to Goo Gone though.

What methods worked best for you?
I think the most effective method I have found is to soak bottles in a warm-hot PBW solution and let them sit until the solution cools. I then use some sort of 'scraper', be it a straight razor, paint scraper or even a butter knife; Something metal with a fairly sharp edge on it. Very lightly I scrape on the glass where the glue/label is and most of it comes off with little effort. Make sure there is some fine mesh screen in the drain, you don't want label confetti to get into your drain.

Goo Gone Trick?
I use the Goo Gone trick to finish stubborn bottles where the label comes off, but there is glue residue. When there is no paper left all you need is 1 drop of Goo Gone. Massage this drop into the glue residue with your fingers. The glue will start to ball up and fall off. When the Goo Gone seems to stop working rinse under warm water with some dish soap. If you still feel rough glue spots use 1 more drop Goo Gone on your finger and start massaging the bottle again. Rinse, repeat. When I use Goo Gone I try to avoid letting it get near the neck of the bottle.

What commercial bottles are the easiest/hardest to clean?
Easiest
Easiest Bottles are hard to remember... Sam Adams aren't too difficult, although I know I have come across bottles easier than Sam, where the labels willingly fling themselves off the bottle and into a neat stack by the drain; I just cant remember which. Sierra Nevada comes to mind, I think those labels were fairly easy to remove. The only thing I don't like about Sam Adams for home brew is the signature scibbled across the neck.
Hardest
By far the hardest labels I have tried to remove come from either 'Organic' or 'Gluten Free' beers. You know those earthy/crunchy beers that use 100% recycled materials, are gluten free, or are vehemently 'organic'. For some reason these beers seem to use industrial strength adhesive on their labels. They require the most work to get off IMHO.

How do you prefer to adhere your homebrew labels?
Laser Printer, Whole Milk, Paintbrush

• Color Laser Printer: You need to use a commercial laser printer instead of a home-based inkjet because laser printer ink is water resistant. Inkjet printed images will run from condensation even. Laser printed images are colorfast in water. Go to Fedex or any print shop and request full color LaserJet print (on glossy paper for quality).
  • Design a rectangle/oval label for a single bottle in Photoshop or Gimp.
  • Print a single test page on your home printer, cut out and apply to test bottle to make sure you like the layout.
  • If you like the design on the test bottle, tile the design and take the file to Fedex. Be sure to plan for the amount of tiled pages you need to print, I like to make extras. Assume 8 labels per page, 5 gallon batch means 56 labels. 56/8 is 7 sheets. I would print at least 1 extra sheet, so ask Fedex to print 8 sheets of 8 labels (64 labels to account for errors) on Color Laserjet.
  • Use 'print to scale' and 8.5"x11" to ensure a scale print and tile your label to get the most prints per sheet. Consider filling in empty space with either a back label or a neck label. (Make sure to account for curvature on the neck).
    • Take printed labels home, line up all the sheets, clamp together and cut out each individual label.
• Whole Milk: Whole milk has a higher percentage of fats or proteins that have better adhesive properties than 1% or skim. You need these proteins to provide the 'glue'. Go with whole. Please note that this is NOT water-safe.
  • Fill a shallow saucer with whole milk, coat each cut out label in the milk and apply to a clean and filled bottle. Hold label steady for 4-5 seconds. Label shouldn't move due to surface tension or capillary action. Once dry the proteins act as a glue.
• Paintbrush: Used to spread the milk on the label and bottle. Bristles apply even pressure to ensure a thin coat of milk between the label and the bottle.

The nice thing about these labels is that they will rinse right off in warm water and leave no residue. This allows you to reuse already cleaned bottles. There are negatives however. Although these labels will stay put in warmer temperatures for bottle conditioning and colder temps like refrigeration, you should expect the labels to saturate and start falling off if you throw them in a cooler full of ice water. Anything WET will cause these labels to delaminate and peel off the bottle.

For the bottles where the glue remains after soaking, paint over the glue with a good coating of cooking oil and leave for a few hours. The glue will become gooey and can easily be removed with a plastic scraper and very little/no work. Then just clean off with hot soapy water and you are done.

My preferred method: hot water in and around the bottle in the tub.

I read somewhere (maybe here) about baking soda. Its all I use now. I had the hardest time getting labels off of Dead Guy Ale, to the point that I just threw the bottles away. Now I soak them in water with a little baking soda overnight and the labels literally fall right off when I pick them up.

Takes me about 30 sec's to remove a label with Brillow pad and a little warm water.

I had a really hard time getting the front, and especially neck labels off of Hoegaarden bottles. The back label falls right off after running through a dishwasher set to sanitize, but the front will come off with a lot of residue on a good day, and the neck label requires hard labor with a razorblade.

Jamician red stripe lables are put on by the devil himself

I've said this once before, but anyone who hasn't tried oxyclean should probably do that. Even tough labels fall right off after a soak. Baking soda works pretty well, but its not as effective as oxyclean.

ThorGodOfThunder said:

I've said this once before, but anyone who hasn't tried oxyclean should probably do that. Even tough labels fall right off after a soak. Baking soda works pretty well, but its not as effective as oxyclean.

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I just fill the laundry tub up with warm water, add 1/2 cup of oxyclean and add the bottles, the next morning, the labels are on the bottom of the sink and I just wipe off the residue on the bottle.

Plastic labels, not so much, they get tossed.

I used my Exacto knife to start peeling up the edge of the plastic stick-ons. They peel right off, but the glue,...not so much. And the labels mentioned, along with the likes of Great Lakes & others that use comp labels are hell spawn! Gotta find something other than PBW or Oxyclean to remove them easily.
I also want to save some other labels & dry'em out to mount them in a poster frame, so I don't have bottles all over. But Idk what to use in that case to soak'em off intact???

+1 for oxiclean...1 scoop per gallon hot water soaks all paper labes right off. easily.
plastic type labels are a nightmare to remove for sure (Community for example). I usually toss those

For applying labels, I've had good luck with a regular old 50 cent kid's craft glue stick. The milk option can be a bit quicker, but messy, and I haven't had good success with the labels staying. Maybe I'm not doing the milk option right, but the glue stick holds well and washes easy, and its cheap. My labels are only the size of the neck labels though, so it helps that i only have to make one or two passes at them. Full size labels might be more tedious.

Can't beat oxyclean for this job...

Well, I've done some research, & found some very creative ways to remove labels. Many different methods are needed, depending on label material & whether water or oil-based adhesives used. I kept searching & reading, till I came to this page; http://labology.org.uk/ I never knew the hoppy of collecting beer labels, very old or very new, was a serious endeavor! I contacted them for their advice on this matter of removing them intact, whether printed or foil, or some combo of both.
Anyway, they also have galleries of old labels listed alphabetically for your viewing pleasure. Costs $ to join per year though. *dammit, I got that bs windows error call me to fix it thing again. Let's try this list again...
http://patrickbarry.com/blog/how-to-remove-beer-labels-intact-from-bottles
http://www.ratebeer.com/Beer-News/Article-444.htm
http://www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com/2014/02/a-super-simple-way-to-remove-labels-from-glass-bottles.html- This one seems interesting in that it looks easy enough fo most printed labels. Uses washing soda.
http://drinkfocus.com/beer/beer-labels/
http://www.popularmechanics.com/home/how-to/a3085/how-to-remove-a-bottle-label/-This one is interesting, as he gives each method & his results from testing said method.
Many of these have already been discussed, but some give pro's & con's of each. Or maybe amounts of whatever is used.

Need some bottles for tomorrow... bottling day. Grabbed a Guinness yesterday while out and decided to do the hard part at lunch today... drink it. The label on a 22oz Guinness couldn't be any easier. The label comes off easily with your fingers and the sticky part is just as easy under cold water with a brillo pad. The whole process took only 30 minutes... 2 minutes to remove the label and 28 minutes to drink the contents.

That seems to be the case with many European beers. Soak in warm water a while and the label lifts right off.

I've had good luck getting the remaining glue layer off bottles using a Dobie pad.

So is ammonia bad to use? The bottles will be going through the dish washer after with no soap, then star San before bottling.

ncredneck said:

Jamician red stripe lables are put on by the devil himself

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It's not the labels but the glue underneath that seems a whole nother level of sticky... Any ideas on how to remove this stuff?

Man, all I've ever used is oxyclean and cold water from the garden hose. Soak for 24-48 hours. Use a scotch brite sponge on the tough labels of any glue residue. Works like a charm!!!

ncredneck said:

Jamician red stripe lables are put on by the devil himself

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RS must have changed since you posted this almost a year ago. The new stickers peel right off.

enokidaki said:

It's not the labels but the glue underneath that seems a whole nother level of sticky... Any ideas on how to remove this stuff?

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I haven't tried a Star-San soak yet, but I do know the powdered cleaners (that are also sanitizers, they just can't legally label them that way) like One Step seem to be the best at removing labels & softening up any residual glue.

Two tablespoons of powdered lye in 5 gallon bucket. Get the lye from soap making supply places. No longer available in stores for some years now due to some sort of misuse. Takes off even stubborn labels in an overnight soak.

I want to thank the person who said to use Baking Soda and hot water soak over night! this works Great.
The hardest labels seem to be the Plastic labels, but I peel them off and re soak, the glue slides right off after that.

Did an oxyclean soak on goose island IPA bottles and the ink came off leaving a perfect plain white sticker! The oxyclean did nothing to the glue or label. It was unreal.