Best bottles to (re)use in bottling (tips and hopefully suggestions).

[BostonRogue]

Hello All,

I searched the threads and hadn't found exactly what I was looking for, so I thought it appropriate to start a new thread.

I live in Boston and have been brewing for a few years. As I live in an apartment, and am a young twenty-something year old, I have been strictly bottling my beer. I have been removing the labels, as it is mandated by my SWMBO.

I have saved bottles from a variety of local brewers (I'm spoiled in Boston), and have noted what bottle labels are more easily removed than others.

First the technique;
-Fill the bottles with hot water.
-Put them in brew pot (not stacking, although I bet you could if the walls are high enough)
-Put in a bit of dish detergent (not that much, enough for a quarter load).
-Fill pot with hot water.
-Let 'em soak for 20 minutes.
-Remove labels (and so easily!)
-Wash glue residue with a sponge.

This works really well with the following brewery bottles;
-Sam Adams 12oz (my favorite as they literally fall off).
-Dogfish Head 12oz (no neck label, so half the time)
-Harpoon 12oz (they must use a different glue)

I'd love any suggestions on the larger sized bottles. These ones I like to give as gifts but virtually every bottle larger than 12oz has a thicker glue or is just a pain in the butt. The best one so far seems to be BBC, but they use a thicker glue and I need to take the backside of a knife to scrape it off.

Anyone have any additions (particularly regarding the larger sized bottles)?

Sláinte,

Rogue

 

[Hex23]

I have found in general that European import labels seem easier to remove. I will also say stay away from Great Lakes brewery bottles. They are good drinking but hell to remove labels from.

 

[blawjr]

I just throw how ever many bottles I can fit into my sink full of hot water with about a 1/4 cup of oxyclean. Give it a few hours and voila!

*Sierra Nevada bottles are kind of a pain though.

 

[jiggs_casey]

I use my mash tun (a.k.a. big blue rectangle igloo cooler) to soak new bottles in overnight (24 hours) with a shaker full of oxyclean to remove labels. Works every time! Well, with the exception of the Fox's Pear Cider lables. Stupid laminates...

Also doesn't work on painted on lables...

 

[amingo]

i fill my brew kettle with oxyclean and warm water and keep it in a corner of my kitchen. i submerge bottles in it as i finish them. labels are floating around 30 minutes later and the glue wipes off with a finger under warm water. sierra nevada bottles come off easily but some 22 oz bottles use a plastic coating that need a slight extra scrub.

 

[suicidal]

This thread has a lot of good info on label removal.