delabeling bottles

[lawlslawls]

I wasn't able to find any live threads on the best bottles for delabeling, so I thought I would share my recent experiences with delabeling bottles

best bottles for delabeling, sorted by easiest to most difficult:
Easiest (very little work):
Guinness Draught is by far the easiest I've encountered so far. there's no glue on the bottle, just a big plastic label that's wrapped around. you can just peel the label off with your fingers.
Easier (little work):
Guinness Black Lager
Dogfish Head bottles
Newcastle (these are clear though, so bleh )
Olde Speckled Hen
Sam Adams labels
I've noticed that if a bottle has a nice thick paper label on it, a la dogfish head labels, those are easier to peel off than the thinner , more glossy papers that you might find on a Shiner Bock, for example

Average (moderate work):
Shiner labels
Sierra Nevada labels
Anchor labels
Publix Malta (twist off, 7oz)
Goya Cola Champagne (twist off, clear)
the more work intensive bottles tend to have a lot of glue affixing the label to the bottle

Hard (a lot of work/maybe not a great choice):
Heineken
D&G Cola Champagne
these have a lot of sticky glue that takes a great deal of soaking in PBW and scrubbing with steel wool

 

[ChelisHubby]

Soak those bad boys in PBW overbite and they come off with very little work. My favorites are pacific bottles.

 

[mrgrimm101]

I typically let bottles soak in a tub or sink with a big scoop of oxyclean free. A lot of labels will slide right off if you let them sit and soak for a few hours. IMO, the kraft paper labels are the easiest..Anchor, Lagunitas, and Dogfish Head have these kinds of labels. The top 3 are local breweries for me here in Michigan..I'm pretty sure they have a wide distribution.

Bell's
Founders
Arcadia
Sierra Nevada
Anchor
Lagunitas
Dogfish Head
New Belgium
Sam Adams
3 Floyds
Hoegaarden (11oz bottles though)


They're not all so easy. When breweires use a lot of glue, or a plasticy label that gels up in water - not worth it! I give up on saving bottles from these Michigan breweries
Dark Horse
Short's
OddSide

 

[EVILsteve]

I soak and the stubborn ones go into the dishwasher. 60% of the time it works evertime.

 

[bobeer]

I fill up my sink with hot water. As hot as the tap will go and add some soap. Let them sit for about 30 minutes. Then I take a small paint scraper and scrape the labels into the trash can. After the label is off I then use a brillo pad that has oxyclean on it to scrub off the glue and whatever parts of the label that are still there off. I then dunk the newly cleaned bottle into water to get off all the oxyclean and sit to dry.

Boom done. Can probably do a 24 pack in an hour.

 

[soccerdad]

If you ever drink Warsteiner, their bottle is great - run it through the dishwasher and the label is gone. You just have to fish it out the bottom of the DW. It's also very tasty for a Fizzy Yellow beer. Those Deutchlanders know them some beer .. and some fussball.

 

[m00ps]

Yeah dude, PBW all the way. Changed my life.

I use a concentration of 0.75oz per gal and just dunk the bottles in. I'll never use hot water again. With PBW very minimal scrubbing, most labels slide right off the bottle when you take them out. All but 1% of bottle labels come right off. Whats funny is some of the brands that dont, talk about their inherently green their whole brewing process is and sustainability and stuff...then why cant this industrial grade cleaner get the damn labels of your bottles? What kind of "all-natural" glue are you using for you soy-based ink labels?

 

[kh54s10]

I am glad I am past that point.

After I got enough for my average stock, I would soak aquired bottles in oxyclean. If the labels were still difficult they went into the recycling bin.

Now I have kegs so I am paring down my supply. The first to go are the Sam Adams bottles because of the molded in signature.

 

[TheOrlandoGuy]

If you'd like some nice 16 oz. bottles, Weihenstephaner is by far the easiest label to remove. Soak overnight in B-brite (or oxi-clean) and they literally fall off.

 

[NickTheGreat]

I keg, but my favorites were Sam Adams and New Belgium. I did the hot water and oxyclean method. In the bathtub.

I cleaned that drain out recently . . . kinda disgusting :cross:

 

[jahdub]

I use a hot water bath with a few tablespoons of baking soda and most of my labels just fall right off after an hour soak. Then I rinse / wipe them off with a scotchbrite pad and they're good to go. My favorite bottles are founders, the labels and glue come off with no rubbing required. Most others takes a few seconds of wiping, after the label has fallen off.

 

[cooldood]

By far the EASIEST Corona

No label to remove. I use these exclusively now. Yes I know light kills beer but I keep mine in solid boxes so no light at all

And I can enjoy the beauty of my beer through the clear glass

 

[TheCrackpot]

Green Flash is the easiest I've found.

Bell's is a close second.

Worst by far: Rogue

 

[doublehaul]

I'll have to try oxyclean. I just give them a hot soak, peal what I can by hand, and then what's left comes right off with steel wool. If they're too difficult, I toss 'em. If you let them cool too much it is a bee-atch though.

 

[MaxStout]

I went through a sixer of Cane & Ebel (Two Brothers) a while back. I couldn't figure out why the labels wouldn't budge after soaking overnight in Sun oxy cleaner. When I picked at one I realized the label was plastic--like a damn bumper sticker on the bottle. I filled the bottle with the hottest water from the faucet and waited a few minutes. When the bottle got nice and hot, that label softened and peeled right off, adhesive and all.

 

[agrazela]

Ballast Point labels come off super easy. Almost as easy as it is for me to drink a f^ck-ton of Ballast Point beer.

 

[UpstateMike]

By far the EASIEST Corona

No label to remove. I use these exclusively now. Yes I know light kills beer but I keep mine in solid boxes so no light at all

And I can enjoy the beauty of my beer through the clear glass

I was going to use Corona as an example of the most difficult. I guess that is because I took the time to remove the paint.

A bottle of CLR diluted in water seemed to do the trick. But prior to soaking the bottles, I filled them with plain tap water and capped them, so no CLR would get into the bottles. I would put the bottles in a 5 gallon pail, dump the CLR in, then fill the bucket with water until all the markings were covered. Then after a coup,e days I would pull a bottle out, scrub it down with steel wool, and rinse. If it wasn t clean enough, back in the bucket it would go.

 

[ForTheLoveOfBrew]

I drink a lot of ninkasi because i live in a small town and thats about the best we get here on a regular basis. the bottles are a biatch to delabel. that is untill i started using oxiclean. soaked overnight and went to pick up the first bottle label fell off.

 

[cooldood]

Why remove the paint from Corona bottles?
Just leave it on, it wont hurt anything.

 

[kh54s10]

By far the EASIEST Corona

No label to remove. I use these exclusively now. Yes I know light kills beer but I keep mine in solid boxes so no light at all

And I can enjoy the beauty of my beer through the clear glass

Why remove the paint from Corona bottles?
Just leave it on, it wont hurt anything.

Where do you get the Corona bottles? I couldn't imagine drinking 50+ of them to get enough for a batch!!!!!

I also would not want my good beers dressed up like a whore.....

 

[GHBWNY]

Southern Tier --- great beer, stubborn labels. You can't soak them off. Hot water, Oxyclean, PBW, nuclear explosion --- forget it. They are held on by some super space age plastic-y adhesive that is resistent to anything and everything. So much so that I've asked my bottle buds to stop bringing them to me.

Otherwise, a half hour in hot water and Oxyclean does it.

 

[chowsky]

I used to keep a quart plastic jug with top cut off and filled with cleaning solution. When I emptied a labeled bottle, I would fill with water and set in the jug to soak. Finish up with a single edge razor paint scraper. As a side note, I only kept standard height long necks as the oddball short bottles make me have to adjust my bench capper during bottling process.

 

[Mwhy71]

I use a hot water bath with a few tablespoons of baking soda and most of my labels just fall right off after an hour soak. Then I rinse / wipe them off with a scotchbrite pad and they're good to go. My favorite bottles are founders, the labels and glue come off with no rubbing required. Most others takes a few seconds of wiping, after the label has fallen off.

+1 for baking soda, my scientist friend suggested this. He said "simple science", not sure what the science is, but it works like a charm and cheaper than oxyclean and pbw.

 

[Black Island Brewer]

I have a good supply of bottles, but lose enough through competitions and giving beer away and not getting the bottles back that I need to delabel a couple times a year. I'm with the poster who said if it doesn't come off easy, into the bin it goes. I have a plastic tote I collect and store the labeled empties in, and when I need a new batch, I fill it with hot tap water and a few scoops of unscented Oxyclean, and let it sit overnight. Once in a while I have to rub off some water based glue, but if it has one of those damn plastic labels, or rubber cement style glue, I dump it. Not worth my time.

A jet bottle washer is essential - I worry about the inside more than the outside.

Plain brown long neck bottles, no decals, no embossing, etc, or into the bin it goes, so ANY bottle I have can go into competition.

I've build plywood boxes to store my clean empties upside down, as the cardboard falls apart after a few uses.

And if you want to remove the printed-on labels like Stone or Rogue, 1 oz of star-san in 2 gallons of water will dissolve it in a day to a week.

 

[UpstateMike]

Where do you get the Corona bottles? I couldn't imagine drinking 50+ of them to get enough for a batch!!!!!

I also would not want my good beers dressed up like a whore.....

I live in a college town, and I am very good friends with the people at the recycling center. They let me have pretty much whatever I want for bottles at $0.05 each.

Main problem that I have with Corona bottles is the capping. Can't use a wing capper, it crushed the neck. But with my bench capper, they are great.

 

[MaxStout]

One thing about bottles: I only save 2 kinds, 12 oz long necks and 12 oz. stubbies (like Sierra Nevada, etc.). When I bottle a batch I use all of one kind or the other. I now have 200+ of each flavor of bottles. I used to collect all sorts of sizes and shapes, but after switching to a bench capper I got tired of moving the height setting up and down for each oddball size I encountered when bottling. Minor issue in the grand scheme of things, but it's nice to bottle with only one kind. Set the capper height, then rock 'n roll.

When I drink beer from other kinds I just recycle those bottles. Not worth the hassle of messing with them.

 

[Jsamp]

Sierra Nevada are my favorite bottles. The labels come of easy and what residue remains usually comes of easily also. I've been switching out my longnecks for these bottles. For some reason I just like the short ones better.

 

[MDExile]

I have found that washing soda (sodium carbonate) easily dissolves most label glue.

I used to make my own dishwasher detergent right after they removed the phosphates from dishwasher detergent and had not created a formula without phosphates that worked. Washing soda was one of the ingredients.

Washing soda is an alkaline which reacts in solution with the label glue. Create a solution, soak the bottle for about a half an hour and most slide right off. Any remaining glue comes off with a Scotch-brite.

I concur that Sam Adams, New Belgium are some of the easiest labels to remove.

RE: Corona bottles - A friend of my son's was away at college when it came time to bottle "his" beer. We used a Corona bottle to video the process. We bottled a stout. Strangest thing we've ever done. Stout in a clear bottle just looks unnatural.

 

[Damanbro]

Soak in hot water for an hour and scrape off with a butter knife.

 

[UpstateMike]

Sometimes I have found that the label comes off easy, but the gummy adhesive that is left behind is a pain to get rid of. Thistly Cross Cider bottles are a good example.

I found that the best way to remove stubborn adhesive is with WD-40. Spray the outside, and the gum dissolves and wipes off. Then use a liquid soap on the bottle to remove the WD-40 residue. After that, I let the bottle soak in oxyclean and wash completely.

 

[Pershey]

for the shiny labels i fill them with the hottest water i can find, it melts the glue from the inside and the labels peel right off.

 

[cooldood]

Maine has a bottle bill so we have redemption centers and I have a friend that owns one.

I get my bottles for cents a piece

 

[Black Island Brewer]

Maine has a bottle bill so we have redemption centers and I have a friend that owns one.

I get my bottles for cents a piece

Washington has no such law. I get mine for free.

 

[cooldood]

Nice but I don't have to walk the ditches for them

 

[wildactbrewer]

I use mainly Sam Adams bottles. I'm not too picky about getting the labels off unless I'm gifting them to other people. However, I did notice that after about 20 mins in Star-San the labels seemed to just liquify and brush off. Not sure why...the acidity of the Star-San maybe?

 

[lawlslawls]

Maine has a bottle bill so we have redemption centers and I have a friend that owns one.

I get my bottles for cents a piece

What exactly is a bottle bill? I don't think we have such a thing in Florida.

 

[oogaboogachiefwalkingdeer]

Bass and Warsteiner are pretty easy.

 

[mmason]

New glarus come off really easy as do three floyds and Sam Adams, shorts are the worst!

 

[mrgrimm101]

New glarus come off really easy as do three floyds and Sam Adams, shorts are the worst!

Shorts are the worst lol. And Dark Horse.

New Glarus is super easy..they use the kraft paper that is super easy to remove, just like Lagunitas, Anchor, and Dogfish Head. 3 Floyds is really easy too..they are kind of like a foil paper, but they come off with a quick soak.

I really wish that New Glarus distributed here in Michigan..I've only had a couple of their brews and they are fantastic!

 

[mmason]

Me too, I always make sure I grab some new glarus when I'm in Wisconsin