re-using commercial bottles

I'm curious what most people do. The first go-around I soaked all the labels off and scrubbed off the remaining glue. The result is a nice set of bottles, but if felt like I spent hours bent over the tub doing this. Do most of you bother with removing labels? The problem is they start to come off when soaking for sterilization, and then I start thinking of all the paper bits and glue that will be in the sterilization fluid.

You only need to get the labels off once, and a good soak in oxiclean really helps.

-a.

Yes remove all labels first, it is a one time deal.

FSBrewer said:

Do most of you bother with removing labels?

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Nope...unless they are easy to remove like Troegs & SN. I have some that have gone through several rotations and still look brand new (Blue Pt. Toasted Lager comes to mind).

Most of my bottle labels fall off when soaking overnight in a sodium percarbonate solution. Some don't, like coopers, I just leave them on. It's not a big deal getting the labels off unless sanatising them in the oven. It helps me know what beer is what as I don't make my own labels up or mark the caps with a sharpie. All my bottles are different shapes or have the breweries lable on them for identification.

I just filled a big bin with sudsy water, filled it with bottles and left it outside for a few days (lazyness and overkill) then the labels just fell off, most including the glue... For those who had a glue residue left I gave them a quick scrub in hot water with plenty of wash up liquid. Took no time at all per bottle but it does add up a bit..

The long soak also helps losen up anything on the inside of the bottles if they weren't rinsed before you got the...

paul_h said:

Most of my bottle labels fall off when soaking overnight in a sodium percarbonate solution....

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Thats what I do. Bottles like SN, Pacifico, Guinness Exta Strout etc all just slide right off as I bring them out of the solution. Carta Blanka has a foil covered label that waterproofs the glue so they need to sit for 2-3 days before they come off easy. I guess if you are in the market for bottles try and get beer that has easy labels. Guinness Draught bottles are by far the easyest bottles to fix up. The label is just wraped plastic/no glue so a pair of needle nose pliers ripps em right off and the widget pulls out easy with them too.