Bottle Label Removal

[Mad Hornet]

Got back into home brewing a few months ago. Still had my old bottles from back when I home brewed 15 years ago and it's neat to bring them out of retirement, some with painted on labels of now defunct Hoster's brewery here in central Ohio.

But, I quickly realized brewing up a batch every couple weeks I need more bottles. And now it's to the point that I am picking out 4 and 6 packs and taking into consideration how difficult a particular brewery's labels are to remove! Great Lakes Brewing turns out real proud of their glue. Bell's not so much. Is it just me?

 

[IslandLizard]

Depending on where you live, look on local "classifieds" pages, such as CL, etc. Free curbside pickups.
You also may be able to pick up bottles for free, or at a very nominal price, from other homebrewers.
Once homebrewers move onto kegging, they rarely use bottles anymore. Contact local Homebrew clubs?

Soaking (commercial) bottles in a (large) storage tote with water and some laundry detergent or washing soda, Oxiclean etc. for a few days should float off most labels. Use a stiff brush to clean off any of the glue remnants. More tenacious labels may need more soaking time, or help from a razor-edge paint scraper. Whatever doesn't come off, may not be worth your time.

 

[DaWiseBrew]

This reminds me of why I finally broke down and first bought a kegging setup so many years ago! Sorry, that's not particularly helpful. For the many evenings that I spent soaking bottles in various detergents, and for all the paper and glue embedded in my fingernails at the end of it all, it just wasn't worth it for me.

My only suggestion would be to buy bottles from your homebrew store and re-use those. Bottles from commercial breweries tend to be made of much thinner glass anyways, and prone to breaking and chipping. There is not much worse than having a friend cut their lip on a chipped bottle. As far as labels, I recently found the GarageMonk erasable labels, and those seem to work out pretty well for me.

Seriously, though, should you decide to start kegging, you won't regret it. When I want to bring a six pack of my beer over to a friend, I just attach my Blichmann beer gun to my keg and fill as many bottles (homebrew store bought) as I need. It's pretty easy. If I want to send beer by mail, I use the plastic PET bottles.

 

[Mad Hornet]

Depending on where you live, look on local "classifieds" pages, such as CL, etc. Free curbside pickups.
You also may be able to pick up bottles for free, or at a very nominal price, from other homebrewers.
Once homebrewers move onto kegging, they rarely use bottles anymore. Contact local Homebrew clubs?

Soaking (commercial) bottles in a (large) storage tote with water and some laundry detergent or washing soda, Oxiclean etc. for a few days should float off most labels. Use a stiff brush to clean off any of the glue remnants. More tenacious labels may need more soaking time, or help from a razor-edge paint scraper. Whatever doesn't come off, may not be worth your time.

Well that would take away from the fun of drinking the beer LOL. I know all that I just kind of shifted my buying to drinkable beers that have easier to remove labels. Southern Tier is another that is proud of their glue and it's to the point I won't bother trying like you say.

 

[Redpappy]

Go for Samual Adams, they are not to bad to remove. Only ones that I have reused lol

 

[Immocles]

Haha, I know what you mean about some places being proud of their glues. When I started out, I asked for bottles from friends and family, and every so often I would come across a really stubborn label. Lucky for me, the local staple uses crown caps and their labels fall off after about 5mins in PBW. Then just a quick scrub with a green scrubby to get the glue off and its good to go. So if you see any Schells or Hauenstein in your area, its great beer and home-brewer friendly!

 

[Mad Hornet]

This reminds me of why I finally broke down and first bought a kegging setup so many years ago! Sorry, that's not particularly helpful. For the many evenings that I spent soaking bottles in various detergents, and for all the paper and glue embedded in my fingernails at the end of it all, it just wasn't worth it for me.

My only suggestion would be to buy bottles from your homebrew store and re-use those. Bottles from commercial breweries tend to be made of much thinner glass anyways, and prone to breaking and chipping. There is not much worse than having a friend cut their lip on a chipped bottle. As far as labels, I recently found the GarageMonk erasable labels, and those seem to work out pretty well for me.

Seriously, though, should you decide to start kegging, you won't regret it. When I want to bring a six pack of my beer over to a friend, I just attach my Blichmann beer gun to my keg and fill as many bottles (homebrew store bought) as I need. It's pretty easy. If I want to send beer by mail, I use the plastic PET bottles.

I am not ruling this out but I'm not there yet. Aside from label removal, I still enjoy the process of bottling and I get satisfaction and comfort from the stockpile of homebrewed beer bottles in my "bunker". I'm ready for a national emergency LOL

 

[Mad Hornet]

Go for Samual Adams, they are not to bad to remove. Only ones that I have reused lol

Good to know! I like Sam Adams too

 

[Mad Hornet]

Haha, I know what you mean about some places being proud of their glues. When I started out, I asked for bottles from friends and family, and every so often I would come across a really stubborn label. Lucky for me, the local staple uses crown caps and their labels fall off after about 5mins in PBW. Then just a quick scrub with a green scrubby to get the glue off and its good to go. So if you see any Schells or Hauenstein in your area, its great beer and home-brewer friendly!

I've never heard of them but will keep in mind especially next time I'm up that way. Always like to try local brews

 

[AzOr]

I am not ruling this out but I'm not there yet. Aside from label removal, I still enjoy the process of bottling and I get satisfaction and comfort from the stockpile of homebrewed beer bottles in my "bunker". I'm ready for a national emergency LOL

+1
I remember after bottling just sitting next to my treasure for a few moments. Until reality sunk in and I had to start cleaning my mess.

 

[bwible]

Go for Samual Adams, they are not to bad to remove. Only ones that I have reused lol

I have a few cases of Sam Adams bottles. Great bottles. The only mention on those is that you are not “supposed” to use those or any other embossed or otherwise identifiable bottles if you ever plan to enter any homebrew competitions. That said, people do enter them anyway.

My favorite bottles are Fuller’s bottles. It took me awhile to collect 2 cases buying 4 packs, but now I have them. I think they are just beautiful bottles.

 

[D.B.Moody]

I was given a beer kit for Christmas in 1994. To use it I had to empty a couple of cases of beer. Work, work, work. What a great hobby!
This was long enough ago that the bottles were returnables - much heavier than today's bottles. I also got some from a friend who moved to kegging.
Although the gold foil is a pain to remove, I love my Samuel Smith bottles. In general I make a label for each batch, and put them on nine Samuel Smith bottles that also display the contents. (Nine labels fit on a page of my label paper stock.) I don't usually do more labels because, you guessed it, I don't enjoy taking them off before they go into the dishwasher to be ready for next time. I've never wanted to move to kegging because it would involve more stuff and complications.

 

[Snuffy]

Best cap bottles I have ever found are the half liter Tucher Weizen beer bottles. kristall, dunkles, hefe. Not only is the beer excellent and less than 3 bucks each, the labels almost fall off totally intact after about an hour soak in warm water.

 

[Mad Hornet]

Thanks Snuffy. I don't think I've ever seen that brand in these parts but I've never been much for wheat beers for whatever reason. I do like wheated bourbons just not so much with beer.

 

[derekp83]

I recently bought a case of a Czech beer called Primator. They're 11.2 oz bottles, and when I stuck them in a bucket of hot water with Easy Clean, the labels slipped off within seconds. I was bottling that day and had no intention of peeling the labels then, just cleaning the bottles. I ended up cleaning them again because I wasn't comfortable with the idea of the bottles being cleaned with the glue from the labels. Long story short, I noticed the labels come off just by holding the bottles under the hot tap in the kitchen sink for 10 or 15 seconds, then peeling them off like a price tag.

I've stopped caring about peeling labels, and just bottle with whatever I got, or buy brand new bottles like the European style 16.9 oz bottles I got last summer. Plus, reusing bottles without peeling labels makes for good handouts to friends and family, without worrying about getting the bottles back.

By the way, I'd like to meet the man or woman that can peel the label off the neck of a Penn Brewing Co. bottle.

 

[camonick]

The labels come off New Belgium bottles fairly easily with a brief soak in hot water. A going over with a scotch brite pad or stiff bristle fingernail brush to remove the residual glue is all that’s needed to finish the job. My dad is a New Belgium fan boy so I get most of my bottles from him. Bottles with the new style vinyl labels seem to have some kind of industrial adhesive on them and the only thing I’ve found that removes the residue is lacquer thinner. Mineral spirits or goo-gone will work if you have all day. Breckenridge Brewery uses those labels and now I usually just throw their bottles away.

 

[Mad Hornet]

The labels come off New Belgium bottles fairly easily with a brief soak in hot water. A going over with a scotch brite pad or stiff bristle fingernail brush to remove the residual glue is all that’s needed to finish the job. My dad is a New Belgium fan boy so I get most of my bottles from him. Bottles with the new style vinyl labels seem to have some kind of industrial adhesive on them and the only thing I’ve found that removes the residue is lacquer thinner. Mineral spirits or goo-gone will work if you have all day. Breckenridge Brewery uses those labels and now I usually just throw their bottles away.

Laquer thinner, mineral spirits and goo gone represent more effort than I'm willing to put forth. At this point, if a hot water bath and scotch brite won't get it I'm tossing them. Thanks for the tips everyone keep em coming.

 

[AzOr]

Yup I soak bottles in a retired plastic fermenter filled w water and about 1/3 cup of oxi. If they don’t come off easily, they get recycled.
+1 on New Belgium bottles. I have a friend who drinks those Costco craft beers, those labels come off easily as well.

 

[mashpaddled]

I bottled exclusively for years and actively worked to remove labels for like two or three years. Eventually it wasn't worth the trouble. I run bottles through the dishwasher so if the labels come off in there great but if not oh well. Label-free bottles are way nicer looking but 95% of my bottled homebrew is consumed by me at home and I don't care enough.

The German-style 500ml bottles are generally great at parting with their labels though. I don't think I've ever had one survive on the bottle after a run through the dishwasher.

 

[Elric]

The German-style 500ml bottles are generally great at parting with their labels though. I don't think I've ever had one survive on the bottle after a run through the dishwasher.

i just removed a bunch of labels over the weekend as my wife's main complaint of bottled homebrew is she gets confused as to what is what. I removed labels off a huge assortment of different breweries and hands down the easiest were the different German ones. Didn't even need any oxy solution for those, a 5 minute soak in hot water and the labels lifted off on their own! This was on an assortment of 500ml bottles and some 330ml n/a german beer as well (incidentally the best na beers I've had so far have all been German).

 

[JSmetalcraft]

I had some tough labels to remove. Plus the glue even on those that slipped off easy with just water. A tub with warm water and Alkaline Brew Wash with a few hour soak work fantastic.

 

[seatazzz]

I've found that Sierra Nevada and Elysian bottles have the easiest labels to remove, and are generally pretty sturdy glass. Anything with mylar labels isn't worth it; soaking in oxyclean takes off the printing but the labels themselves won't come off short of scraping with a razor blade.