Best label type for a cooler full of ice

[JRDroid]

I live in a small apartment and don't have room for a second fridge, so when I have parties a cooler of ice is how I keep large amounts of beer cold. I'd like my guests to be able to pull the beers out without the labels looking like garbage. What type of labels have you found that are able to hold up to a couple hours in a cooler without looking like crap?

 

[Edcculus]

Off the top of my head, you won't be able to make anything at home that won't peel off, or make the ink run when you put it in water. Inkjet ink will always run when wet. Even the $400,000 roll to roll UV cured inkjet press I have at work runs when you get it a little wet. There are some printers that have ink that won't, but they are special, and take a certain type of ink that costs a lot more. If you have a color laser at work, you might be able to run some sort of plastic (vinyl, BOPP etc) self adhesive sticker stock through it. I'd check on the specs for the laser printer though as self adhesive stock might not run through. The other option would be to track down sheets of vinyl or BOPP, which might be pretty rare or expenisve in 8.5X11 sheeted form.

 

[DrHops]

I used some plastic sticker sheets from Office Depot or Office Max that were their own brand for $10 for 10 sheets and printed on them with Epson Durabrite inks (waterproof inks). I was able to get 6 labels per sheet. They were expensive, but waterproof. They looked awesome as well.

 

[graybeard]

For handsome bottles that I serve from the refrigerator, I make ink-jet on paper labels attached with an ordinary gluestick. Obviously, this method is not suitable for se in a cooler, as the ink would run and the labels would slough off if immersed for any length of time.

I have not found an economical way to make cool-looking waterproof labels (lots of expensive ideas, though, from silkscreening to laser-cut vinyl stickers).

However, as a lazy/poor/innovative man's alternative to labels, especially for bottles soaked in a cooler, I have used color-coded caps. After bottling, I just color the caps with a sharpie or some model paint. I put a dab of the paint on the page of my brewing log, so I can trace bottles to batches. Just use a different color or color combo for each batch. No need for labels in this case.

For serving at your parties, you may want to post a "key" matching the different colored caps to a label you would have put on the bottle. This way, you show your cool lable art, your guests can tell what they are grabbing out of the ice, and you end up with less mess and a lower cost than some of the alternatives.

 

[Edcculus]

Hey, I just had a thought. Its not going to be fancy, but it will label the beer, look slightly better than colored caps and be pretty cheap. Might be slightly time consuming though.

1 - draw and cut out some sort of bendable stencil. Preferably out of a plastic. The design will have to be pretty simple here. 1 color preferably.

2. Tape down stencil to bottle

3. Color inside the stencil with a Silver Metallic Sharpie or an opaque waterproof paint. Really, something thats opaque and won't come off in water.

4. repeat...50 times.......


I've never tried this, but it has the potential to look pretty cool if done right. With a stencil, you won't get any shading, so it will have to be solid, or no ink. Time and artistic ability are probably the only drawback.