Label Removal Thread

[SCARYLARRY]

First off I like the 5 O shades. I tried the OXY and still had to scrub gue off. So I soak bottels for about 5 min peel label and hit the gue with the steelwool, wipe with a towel and done. :cross: I will look into the steel scrubbie.

I do hear ya on the dremel......!!

 

[JBooze]

I haven't tried this yet, but I bet my bench grinder with a brass wire wheel would make quick work of any label! A lot faster than a dremel too!

 

[drinkabeergle]

Why did I not know about this Oxyclean and hot water idea earlier!?

My favorite bottles are Sierra Nevada bottles as well (they just scream HOME BREW to me) and letting them soak for around 10mins totally got off the labels and I could just use a sponge for the glue.

 

[EcuPirate07]

soak in hot water with bleach works well. New Castle is a Pain to get off!!!

 

[Slim]

1) Fill bottles with hot tap water.
2) Place in large cooler or plastic tub.
3) Add 1/2 wall paper remover.
4) Fill the container to the rim of the bottles with hot tap water and let soak for 10 minutes.
5) Most labels will peel off easily and others will come off when scrubbed with a scouring pad.

 

[nullpointer]

I've not found an easier label to peel then Deschutes (lucky for me it's my favorite beer), with New Belgium coming in a close second. Just soak them in hot water for 15 mins and peel the labels right off. I use a dish sponge to get the rest of the glue off. I can't imagine waiting a whole day to get the labels off!

 

[JAG410]

Another vote for oxyclean free as a label remover. Most labels came off in minutes, with only a few ones needing to stay in the tub overnight (Grolsch Light, Pete's Wicked and Sierra Nevada). A basic kitchen scrub pad to get some resilient areas of adhesive, but no need for elbow grease!

As Revvy suggested, Star San made short work of Stone IPA bottles! Soaked overnight, and the paint rubbed right off with very little effort.

 

[giligson]

Now I know that most beer labels are on with a water base or pva type adhesive but some of them are petroleum soluable adhesives - this is in fact quite common with wine bottles and where I have most trouble with label removal. Even if you get the paper off, the adhesive still sticks to the glass. The only way I have been able to remove is to soak with WD-40 or paint thinner, this is messy and time intensive. Has anyone got a faster, cleaner way to remove oil soluble ahesive?

 

[jeffmeh]

Nope, Starsan Soak overnight to 1 week and a quick rinse...

Impossible to remove Rogue Silkscreen and half of the redstripe bottles I own...methinks either they changed their paint, or different bottler factories use different paint...Half of them soak off after a couple weeks in starsan, and the other half even a 100% starsan won't remove it...nor the rogues.

But stones are a piece of cake, actually to me easier than paper labels with oxyclean.

Just to clarify regarding the Stone bottles, do you soak in Starsan at a regular dilution ratio, in the concentrate, or somewhere in between?

 

[jeffmeh]

Just to clarify regarding the Stone bottles, do you soak in Starsan at a regular dilution ratio, in the concentrate, or somewhere in between?

I answered my own question. We brewed a dunkelweizen today and had a bucket of normal-dilution Starsan made up. After finishing the brewing, I popped a few Stone bottles into the Starsan. After an hour, the ink came right off. Many thanks for the info.

 

[berwick12]

Hardest to get off. Erie Brewing company, railbender ipa.

 

[zac]

Amen on the railbender. I tried a 1 week soak in oxy, right now I'm trying boiling them, I'll let you know how it goes.

 

[zac]

The boil works great for softening the paper, but it totally ineffective with the residue.

 

[mr_goodwrench]

I use the Oxyclean soak for my bottles. I have found that some labels are more of a pain to get off so I move on. Those ones just go back to the redemption center.

I have yet to find a good way to get the ink off Rogue bombers tho. I always have great luck with Stone and Southern Tier bombers by soaking in StarSan but have yet to have any luck with Rogue.

 

[berwick12]

I ended up taking mineral spirits to the railbender bottles after I scraped off the labels to get their adhesive off.

 

[viking]

Hot water, my thumbnail, and sometimes a sponge. One day I was working on a stubborn rum bottle (for mead) and my 5 year old wanted to help...he got all 3 labels off the bottle! That was the easiest.

As far as the labels that I put on bottle:
Beer - Permanent Marker on the cap
Mead & Wine - Staples address labels (they come off with hot tap water, thumbnail, and sometimes the scubby part of a sponge), and I tried some labels that came with a wine kit, but that batch is still aging.

 

[zac]

Oxi-clean, PBW, & boiling does NOT work for raibender ale bottles...

 

[KYB]

For normal labels, Oxyclean Free worked fantastic in my bathtub, soaked for a day. All the labels literally fell off and floated to the top. Sierra Nevada bottles left some residue on the bottles, but one easy swipe with a towel removed it.

 

[zac]

UPDATE:

For the record, extended soaking in Oxi-Clean does NOT work on railbender bottles. They have been soaking for up to a week now, no dice, I checked them this morning.

 

[ConorE728]

Oxyclean seems to work the best for me. I fill a cooler full of hot water from the tap and dump in about 7-8 scoops of Oxyclean. Every label and all the glue has come off in under an hour.

 

[Beard]

+1 on oxyclean. But I use 1/4 of a scoop for a 45 L cooler not a whole scoop or multiple scoops. Everything comes of in 12 to 24 hours.

 

[nsheehan516]

+1 for oxyclean with warm water, wait a day!

 

[homebeerbrewer]

I soak mine in hot water - usually until the water cools - and scrape the label off with a razor blade. Once I have most of the glue off, I use mineral spirits and a paper towel to get the rest off. I then wash the bottle with dish detergent before going through the dishwasher to sanitize.

 

[user 40839]

God I love you guys.

My douchey brewing partner dropped three cases of bottles on my doorstep this past weekend, which stank to high heaven. I tried running a case through the dishwasher, all that seemed to do was annoy the labels - neck labels were torn, the main labels were discoloured and scraped up, but still very much on there.

Then I read about the Oxiclean method. Given we have a Costco sized box of it in the laundry room, I tossed two scoops into a sinkful of HOT water, and was able to submerge a case of bottles at a time.

Three hours in there, the labels came right off without a problem. Wiped away any remaining glue with a sponge, and they went straight into the dishwasher to be rinsed, while another batch went into the sink. (Since I work from home, all this was done and dusted before SWMBO got home).

HUGE thanks, lads!

Oh, and based on (short) experience, best bottles in terms of label removal seemed to be the ones from the Kona Brewing Company - came off without a trace of glue on the bottle, and they're excellent bottles to boot. No etchings, name molded onto the glass, etc. (And the stuff that came in them originally wasn't bad either)

 

[wscott823]

Ammonia solution (1/2c per gal water) overnight. My best results are with Magic Hat, the labels literally fall off. Second fav are Guinness draft bottles, razor and needle pliers.

 

[OnlineLabels.com]

Hello fellow beer lovers,

Here is a video I made a couple of weeks ago that will help you remove labels from wine or beer bottle labels.



Thanks,

Matt Hamilton

 

[Ciderbarrel]

5 gallon pail filled with HOT water and some baking soda soaked for a few hours does an amazing job!!

I second that.

I did just that and filled the bucket with hot water and left it over night. I woke up with all the labels floating in the bucket and what glue didn't come off, came off easily w/ a sponge.

They were Woodchuck cider bottles, FYI.

EDIT: Check that. I loaded up some more bottles for overnight and I went back to the sink just now and in about 30 mins the labels were off. I have NO idea how much baking soda I used. Think Homer Simpson w/ lighter fluid. I just kept squirting and squirting the plastic bottle.

 

[cappy]

I've had no problem with hot water and soap. Usually save some up and throw them in the dish water after the dishes are done. Schlafly labels fall off easily.

 

[jclavel]

Yesterday I began cleaning bottle for the brown ale that I intend to boil next week.

All I did was fill all of the bottles with hot water, then place them in a cooler, and filled the cooler with hot water and Oxy clean. After about 20 minutes of soaking, all of the labels were floating on the surface of the water.

It was like magic. I just rinsed the bottles, and now they are ready for sanitizing.:rockin: Nice!

These were Sam Adams bottles too.

 

[dummkauf]

I've managed to de-label almost all of my bottles, including Sam Adams, with warm water and an ice scraper. I just soak them in hot water in my sink, no soap, for about 20 min, then pick them up, the label peels off in one piece easily and goes into the garbage, and then take an ice scraper and easily scratch off the remaining glue. I then stick them all in the dish washer for a good cleaning before get put in the closet.

However, I don't know what the boys at Dark Horse Brewing Company are using to glue their labels to the Crooked Tree IPA, but I swear they mixed super glue with rubber cement. My usual trick got the labels off, but not the glue, my ice scraper just pushed the **** around, but didn't take anything off. I then tried soaking the bottle in rubbing alcohol, that didn't do it, finally resorted to "goo gone". Sprayed that on it in the sink, left for 5 min, and the glue wiped right off with a paper towel

Just thought I'd throw my $0.02 in since I'm about 2 weeks away from bottling my first batch and I've been diligently emptying bottles for the batch and have been de-labeling like crazy the last few weeks