Removing bottle labels

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fozzie14

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I'll be using my empty Sam Adams, etc. bottles for my first batch, and I'd like to remove the labels. Is there a preferred method for removing the labels and scrubbing the outside of the bottles without contaminating them, or should this not be a concern?
 
No concern. You will remove the labels, then clean the inside. When you are ready to bottle, take your recently cleaned bottles, sanitize and fill. (If you remove the labels on bottling day, just remove the label, rinse clean, sanitize and fill.)

I would recommend removing the labels and bottling on different days. You never know how long it will take to remove the labels.
 
Soak the bottles in a tub full of hot water and Oxyclean Free or PBW for an hour or so. The labels will pretty much float off and all that's left is a wipe with a sponge to get rid of any residual glue. Rinse them well with hot water and let the bottles drain and store them where they won't fill with dust. When you're ready to bottle you only need to rinse with StarSan to sanitize.
 
Mix oxi-clean and water per the directions on the oxi-clean package and soak for 20 minutes or so. Even Sam Adams labels will slide off.
 
I agree with the last two. Also, B-brite works well. Some labels can really be a b*tch and need to be soaked longer. If required, I use the green scotch brite to get some of the tough glues off.
 
As long as you stay away from the plastic labels you will be good to go with hot water and oxi clean, works really well, plastic labels requires more elbow grease
 
99% of the time a 20 minute soak in hot water is all you need. Then take a sponge with a scrubber on it to get the residual glue. Comes right off. Every once in a while there are labels that just wont come off and I don't mess with it.
 
Flee15 said:
99% of the time a 20 minute soak in hot water is all you need. Then take a sponge with a scrubber on it to get the residual glue. Comes right off. Every once in a while there are labels that just wont come off and I don't mess with it.
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Yep, I just used some warm water and oxi clean. All the New Glarus, Sam Adams and Schlafly labels came right off. The only bottles I had trouble with was Dos Equis, which I had to scrape off with my finger nails after 20 minutes in the water (lucky for me I only had one bottle which I took with me as I left a Mexican restaurant on V Day). Also my brother gave me bottles from this beer he got in Missouri called Crown Valley Brewing. I had to soak them for an entire day to get the labels and glue off. I wouldn't have bothered, but this was first batch and I would have been short without them...
 
salb29 said:
As long as you stay away from the plastic labels you will be good to go with hot water and oxi clean, works really well, plastic labels requires more elbow grease
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Plastic labels peel right off if you heat the bottles in an oven to 200+ degrees (use oven mitt)
 
A hot water soak and a scrub pad worked like a charm for me (Sam Adam's bottles too)
 
Beergazzi said:
Plastic labels peel right off if you heat the bottles in an oven to 200+ degrees (use oven mitt)
Click to expand...

Don't really want to put bottles in oven lol so I just stay away from those
 
I use oxy clean to soak off my labels. But then I use pbw to clean them. Just seems like I get rid of the oxy clean residue that seems to settle on the bottles.
 
Yep, oxy soak. I hadn't bottled since my first batch and wanted to try again. (If I keg we drink it all in 1 or 2 sittings.) I read lots of articles and threads that said lots of different things. I went with the oxy. Super easy. Fill the tub with warm water and a few scoops of oxy (I used 4... Maybe overkill, maybe not). I just let them sit during the day while I was out. When I came back some of the labels were floating but most weren't. But I quickly discover that I could peel the others off pretty easily with minimal residue. I used a sponge to get off the little bit of residue that was left and it came right off. Saranac and highlands brewing (NC) were the easiest. I also like that the oxy cleans the inside. I rinsed well and set the bottles upside down in my dishwasher. When I was ready to bottle, I sat up everything next to my dishwasher, including a bucket with star-san solution. Submerge a few bottles in the bucket, pull one out, dump it and bottle. I did 6 at a time (easy to manage in the bucket). The whole process including scrubbing and rinsing bottles took about an hour and a half. Much easier than the first time I bottled.
 
Also, I guess since I went straight from the tub to rinse, I didn't get any off the dreaded oxy residue that some people mention
 
Oxy clean all the way. If you have a Jet water cleaner it's so easy to rinse all evidence of oxy clean residue.
Slainte
 
what i did was i took my bottling bucket and used bleach and soaked the bottles just for 5mins and some labels came right off... if you have an S.O.S. pad or some type of brush to wipe off the remaining glue.. this worked well for me
 
mvcorliss said:
Soak the bottles in a tub full of hot water and Oxyclean Free or PBW for an hour or so. The labels will pretty much float off and all that's left is a wipe with a sponge to get rid of any residual glue. Rinse them well with hot water and let the bottles drain and store them where they won't fill with dust. When you're ready to bottle you only need to rinse with StarSan to sanitize.
Click to expand...

This is exactly what I do and it works great.
 
If you have an automatic dishwasher that works too. Just put the bottles in, be sure the temp is set at the highest setting, and put some oxyclean in the soap dispensing area. I did this 2 days ago and most of the lables had fallen off in the dishwasher. Just be sure to stop the machine before it goes into the dry cycle as the labels come off much easier wet. Then use a Mr. Clean magic eraser sponge to get off any residual glue. Quick and easy! (Just remember when you are done to clean the fallen off labels out of the bottom of the diswasher so you don't clog the drain.)
 
Love the oxyclean... labels fall rite off, I like to dry my labels and then use for decor around the brew area.


Matt
 
I use my orange homer cheapo bucket with enough PBW (1.5oz per gallon) to fill & just cover 12 bottles. Sam Adams & paulaner will soak off in an hour or a bit less. I still have some Paulaner bottles from when they had embossed bearded monks around the shoulder of the bottles. Franziskaner labels come off easy too. I use a dobie (trade name),a heavy nylon mesh covered light yellow sponge to scrub off the outside of the bottles. The glue is dissolved or very soft at that point. Then a bottle brush on the inside. Rinse & onto the bottle tree to dry before storage in covered craft 12 pack boxes,or case boxes when I can get them.
 
Flee15 said:
99% of the time a 20 minute soak in hot water is all you need. Then take a sponge with a scrubber on it to get the residual glue. Comes right off. Every once in a while there are labels that just wont come off and I don't mess with it.
Click to expand...

This. I used to use oxy clean free, but one time when I went to start to soak my bottles I realized I was out of oxy clean. So I just decided to see if hot water alone would work and viola, it was no different in a soak with plain old hot water...
 
Thank you all for your suggestions. Since I didn't have any of the products metntioned, I tried MattSFT's simple solution, and it worked great. I soaked the Sam Adams bottles in hot water for about an hour. With a little fingernail scraping, the labels came off easily, and a scrubby sided sponge took off the glue.
 
I typically just soak the bottles in hot soapy water for about an hour or two then grab a butter knife and use the back to scrape the labels off with. Sierra Nevada bottles are the hardest for me and I want to say new Belgium were easy. The best was a local brewery. Those just floated away during the soak. I love that!
 
The oxy soak is a good tried-and-true method for removing labels. For whatever reason, Vinnie at Russian River uses some sort of NASA-developed super adhesive on his bottles because nothing short of a razor blade scraper and acetone have ever worked for me on Pliny bottles. Followed by a soap scrub with a green scrubby.

At 500ml (about 17oz) they are right in between 12oz and 22oz bottles, and for me, the perfect size. When I get 5 or 6, I'll do them in a batch, and it takes about 45 minutes of elbow grease to get it all. Pain in the ass!

I don't know what anyone means by "plastic" labels, but if they mean the slightly metallic-backed labels used by Jamil Zainasheff at Heretic (for example), I find they peel right off if I fill the bottles with hot-hot water from my tap. No fuss and no residue, though there is usually a straight line of sticky right where the last part of the label comes off, that removes easily with a 2 second soap scrub with the green scrubby.
 
MY favorites to delabel are Sam Adams and New Belgium. I was delablelling some bottles for a SWMBO craft project the other day, and let the oxyclean soak for nearly an hour. Most of the labels were just floating in the sink!
 
Maine brewing co. uses the same kind of NASA glue, and of course has the perfect 16.9oz bottle. I will usually dry peel the label off (with difficulty) then run through dishwasher on super hot x2 and still takes some serious elbow grease with a magic eraser to get the glue off. It's a great bottle though so worth the time.
 
1. Fill sink with hot water 2. Add some oxygen based cleaner (PBW is my choice) 3. Soak bottles for a few hours 4 . Peel labels off. Most label should come right off. I also have a old toothbrush to scrub off any residual glue and your bottles will be looking sharp and label free.
 
I've used ammonia and hot water for the New Glarus bottles that I've settled on, and that works fairly well, but I'll try the Oxy soon.

The Darkhorse bottles are a similar size, and while the ammonia softened the paper, it didn't melt the glue. After scraping, the only thing that I had that worked to get it all off was lacquer thinner. Tough stuff!

Scottie
 
For removing ANY labels I suggest using nail polish remover or hairspray. Each glue will remove after this methods. I used it plenty times and know this techniques from my amazing grandma ;)
 
I soaked my Sam Adams bottles for 20 minutes in warm water and baking soda. The labels were floating after 20 minutes, and the glue wiped right off with a rag.

I'm not sure how much the baking soda made a difference, but I'd prefer using that over anything with chemicals. Just a personal preference!


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew
 
tom87h said:
For removing ANY labels I suggest using nail polish remover or hairspray. Each glue will remove after this methods. I used it plenty times and know this techniques from my amazing grandma ;)
Click to expand...

I gonna try this. Oxiclean just dosn't cut it on a lot of bottles in the UK. In the paper labels are suck on with cerment it seems.
 
My wife does some craft stuff with labels so she likes to get them off cleanly. She heats up water and the with a funnel fills the bottles to jsut above the top of the label and lets them sit for about 20 minutes. Most labels come right off, some she uses a razor blade on. Any residual glue you can just scrub off real quick. Or if you live in So Cal just come get them from my house because I don't need any more damn bottles lol.
 
I'd swear some of these labels are stuck on with Gorilla Glue! Definitely need something to get those off easier. I have 4 cases worth of Sam Adams bottles weded out of my stash somebody can have if they come & get them. I have a lot of plain bottles to de-label I wanna use.
 

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