applying my first labels to bottles

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jacobmarley

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What's the best type of printer and paper to use? And what is the best way to apply the label to the bottle? Any advice is greatly appreciated.!
 
my LHBS sells sheets of special label paper. I don't know the brand but you just do it like regular computer paper and then sponge some water on the back to wet the glue and slap 'em on.

I'm sure any type of label paper will work fine.
 
bcryan said:
don't label. just drink. or keg your beer. just what i think
Click to expand...

If you want to put your beer into competitions, then it needs to have a label on it. But, if he is not entering them into competitions, there are easier cheaper ways to tell your beers apart. I put a letter on the top of the cap.
 
I forget who it was that taught me this, but print em out on regular paper and use milk, yes milk as a glue. I was skeptical at first too, but it works pretty good!
 
I've done what NyPD did and it works great ! No special paper or anything. Just wet the labels with milk. Works amazing! Try it.

NRS
 
Maybe a hanging tag would be better

Revvy said:
I don't label unless I'm giving bottles away as gifts, then I don't use traditional labels, I bottle hanging tags. I designed the template and it is freely available online. Thanks to Morotorium

After looking all day for hanging tags templates for bottles, I made up one of my own as a MS word Document.

Bottle%20tags.jpg


Each tag is approx 2 inches wide, and the text area after the fold is about 5 inches.


I don't like to glue labels on, especially since I spend so much time removing them (Although some folks swear by milk as label glue). So I like the idea of a hanging tag that slips over the neck of the bottle and hangs there. I printed it out on thick photopaper. All you need to do is cut them out, cut out the hole for the neck (or just make 2 slits at the cross) and fold it downword.

You just basically need to stick a graphic in each space, and add your own text to the text blocks...Or move stuff around and add your own text boxes wherever you want it.

Here's the links from MoRoToRiUm
Sample

Template

When I bottle I just write on the bottlecap with a sharpie a letter code for the name of the beer I brewed. For Example, Old Bog Road (my brown ale) is simply OBR...If I have multiple batches of the same beer going at the same time, I will add a letter code as well.



:mug:
Click to expand...
 
I got some label paper from my LHBS that you print on,cut out & moisten to apply. It comes in a couple of "base" colors. It's 8.5"x11" sheets,18 sheets per pack for $5.50. It says its laser safe & easily removed.
 
I use "presentation" paper, the inkjet ink doesn't soak thru as much, then spray with clear krylon before cutting to size. I use a simple Glue stick - I tried the 'milk method' but was disappointed.
 
I greatly dislike scrubbing labels off bottles, so I simply use a foil star (like you'd get on your homework in grade school if you did well) on the cap. I keep a "legend" on my magnetic whiteboard so I know what's what.

If I'm taking my brew somewhere else, I'll write down what's in the case. If it's a mixed case, I'll apply appropriate stars to a piece of paper, label what they are, and toss it in the case.

You can get a zillion of them for next to nothing pretty much anywhere office supplies are sold.

I do like Revvy's neck hanger idea.
 
I've been using Avery's 3/4 inch diameter printable labels ->here<-

Print your info on the sticker, slap one on the cap of each brew, no bottle harvesting / label peeling afterward..
 
I use standard paper, laser printer, and milk for adhesive. Works great. Labels come off super easy for re-use. May be an issue if you plan to have them in a cooler with lots of water, but otherwise, easy and cheap solution.
 
The last thing I want to do is soak of labels AGAIN! So I use clear circular labels (Avery 5248) on the bottle caps. Print the name and a little logo and you are good to go. A mixed case is real easy to tell apart and NO label soaking.
 
For beer that I'm giving away to people, I use labels that I print on my home printer with regular paper. Its not water proof and will run if it gets wet. I adhere them with a glue stick - easy to get on, easy to get off.
 
NyPDFustercluck said:
I forget who it was that taught me this, but print em out on regular paper and use milk, yes milk as a glue. I was skeptical at first too, but it works pretty good!
Click to expand...

I just did this for the first time and I was surpised at how easy it was and how well it worked. I created a label using the http://www.says-it.com/seal/ site (can take 30 seconds or you can spend days on it).

Print it out on a laser printer (not ink jet as the colors will bleed). I printed I think 8 labels per page. If you don't have access to a color laser, you can print them on an ink jet and take it to staples/office depot/kinkos and copy a few pages. At 8 labels per page for a 5 gallon batch you need 7 pages.

I used a bbq brush and a small bowl of milk - paint the back of the label and press it on the bottle - a 5 gallon batch took about 10 minutes once I had the cut labels.
 
I *love* the idea of branding each brew I make. This was one of the first things I started thinking about once my first batch was in primary. What will I name it? What kind of label and logo can I create?

This, of course, was closely followed by the realization that the labels would soon after be no more.

My issues are as follows: I don't want to spend any more money than I have to on my homebrew (labels, printer paper/ink/adhesive, all extra overhead), and I don't want to have to soak the labels off (it's extra work I don't want).

This sucks, because I really do love the idea of labeling my brew. What we're doing at the moment is simply using a sharpie to write the initials of our beer on the cap. Quick, easy, free.

I *am* thinking about creating a label for each beer style I make, then printing only one out, putting it on only one bottle, and saving one beer from each batch. :rockin: I'm probably too lazy for even that.

EDIT: I do like the hang tag idea though. Might do that if i ever give beer away.
 
I print out on standard printer paper and glue them to the bottles with rubber cement. It is water proof, but the label easily peels off clean and any trace glue left on the bottle just rubs off into a snot ball.. My only issue is with water (like from a cooler) making the ink run... like really badly. I will prolly spray the labels with a clear coat next time (I usually keg, but for some brews a bottle is better).
 
Thanks all! I really like the bottle hanging tag. Ill experiment and see what works best for me. Not entering them into competions, there aren't many around here. I just want to have nice labels for when I give them to friends to try.
 
The website grogtag.com has very reasonable prices on vinyl labels that are supposedly reusable and easy to peel off. You can use their premade designs or upload your own. If these really are reusable, then the two issues that have kept me from doing labels(spending money on labels to only use once and having to peel/wash labels off)are both taken care of. Haven't used them yet, but I plan on ordering some soon to give them a try. I know labels aren't necessary, but it's just something cool to do. Makes it seem more "official". I think I am going to just design one basic label for all my beers, then differentiate between different beers with the little circular stickers(Avery) on the caps.

*also, in regards to needing labels for competitions - most comps that I have seen actually require that your beer not be labeled (other than their printable labels that give your entry number and style category and whatnot)
 
AdamWiz said:
The website grogtag.com has very reasonable prices on vinyl labels that are supposedly reusable and easy to peel off. You can use their premade designs or upload your own. If these really are reusable, then the two issues that have kept me from doing labels(spending money on labels to only use once and having to peel/wash labels off)are both taken care of.
Click to expand...

Those sound really cool. Please let us know how they work if you do end up buying them. That's a good idea too, making a basic label for all the beer, although it does sort of defeat the purpose. Still, a good idea to be able to reuse the labels.

I was telling my brother the other day that if there were reusable labels that had a kind of "dry erase marker" section to them (that you could use to change the name every time you changed beers), I'd be all over it.

You could design a general label, like you were saying, and then just leave the middle blank and write in the beer name when you use them. Then just erase the beer name and reuse the label for the next batch, and so on.

A man can dream. :mug:
 
What I started doing was making a label with my brewery name,Inserted pic on colorful label design. I also put BOD & Ale at the bottom,so as to leave room for the actual beer name at the top,bottling date & ABV% at the bottom That can be inserted later,then printed on sticky paper from the LHBS. Hope that idea helps some...
 
onipar said:
I was telling my brother the other day that if there were reusable labels that had a kind of "dry erase marker" section to them (that you could use to change the name every time you changed beers), I'd be all over it.

You could design a general label, like you were saying, and then just leave the middle blank and write in the beer name when you use them. Then just erase the beer name and reuse the label for the next batch, and so on.
Click to expand...

Exactly what I was thinking of doing - leaving part of the label blank so I can either mark it or put a small sticker on it to give the specific beer info. Shouldn't be too hard to get a sticker off of a vinyl label to reuse. I would love to make specific labels for each beer, but there are only one or two recipes that I brew regularly. I tend to mix it up a lot and am always brewing something new.

***also, I forgot to mention that if you sign up for their email newsletter, you get a coupon code for 25% off your first order.
 
i used the regular printer and milk as glue. it worked really well and i didn't have to soak to get the lables off. the worst part was cutting out all those lables. i got to eight and quit. they were oval lables and they looked really cool, but if i ever do it again i'm gonna do them square, and stack them somehow and try to cut them all at once.
 
I print mine on normal paper and glue them with stapples permanent glue tape.
It's not good for cooler fill with ice, but It's the easier to remove, put in water like 30 seconds and it peel right off with glue.
 
You know what was pretty cool I used and looked good, was that transparent paper kinda like the labels stone brewery uses
 
I use this to print my labels. It's only in black and white, but still fun. link
 
Last edited by a moderator:
NyPDFustercluck said:
I forget who it was that taught me this, but print em out on regular paper and use milk, yes milk as a glue. I was skeptical at first too, but it works pretty good!
Click to expand...

Tempted to try this but concerned about the potential smell of off milk. Has anyone had this problem?
 
I use printable avery stickers (round and small enough to fit on a bottle cap). Seems to work well for me. Can do a small design/color but don't have to worry about de-labeling since they are stuck onto the cap.

BeerLabel.jpg
 
Tiredboy said:
Tempted to try this but concerned about the potential smell of off milk. Has anyone had this problem?
Click to expand...

Nope. I've labelled hundreds of bottles using this method. I've still got a few from my first batch that are now empty but up in the man cave. Even if u put your nose right to the label you can't smell anything.

And a quick rinse under warm water, and you've got a bottle with no label or label residue
 
I use some paper from my LHBS that has a tiger on the front. Pre-gummed paper. I like to brew my recipes several times over to make sure I have it down pat so having pre labeled bottled helps a bunch!
 
When I first started brewing I was crazy excited to design my own labels and have a finished beer that was really all *mine*. Since that time I've settle on just using a few letters on the cap with a permanent marker. No label to clean off to reuse the bottle and the clean look of a plain brown bottle is pretty slick!
 
For the milk method, print on a laser jet if you can. The colors won't bleed like they do on an inkjet.
 

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