getting labels off

[JoshuaWhite5522]

I'm currently saving the lables off comercial beers to make a wall paper for the brew shed I hope to start building next year. I use PBW right now and it works great, but sometimes it fades the color of different lables. I was wondering if any of you have any other tried and true methods that work well. Also as a bottler I am always runnin short on bottles so once the brew shed is up and running with it's kegerator I still plan on donating clean delabled bottles to the home brew club. What are some very labor easy means of removing the lable if I'm not trying to save it.

 

[JoshuaWhite5522]

I just thught of boiling them, would that work if I had a kettle that i didn't care about ruining with the glue from the bottles?

 

[Poindexter]

I use a half scoop of oxyclean in a five gallon bucket of water and forget them for 48 hours. When the foil soaks loose from Sam Smith bottles, the rest of what is going to come off is already gone. FWIW at that point a lot of the ink is bleeding off the paper labels in the bottom of the bucket.

Doesn't work on the paint on Stone bottles. I hear PBW will take that off, but I haven't tried it.

 

[JoshuaWhite5522]

Yeah PBW is good that's how I do it, but it dosen't work on all lables. Mostly ones with a plastic type coating. Oxy may be the way to go for lable i don't care to save

 

[TheProph3t]

Oxyclean +1 - longer they sit the less glue residue left on the bottles.

 

[camiller]

Does everyone understand that the OP is wanting to preserve the labels?

You might try a heat gun (or hair dryer) to gently heat the label and maybe the adhesive might loosen up enough to peel off. Also, just try soaking in plain water, the cleanser is probably what is fading the colors on the labels. Third option, naphtha the ingredient in "UnDo" adhesive remover.

 

[daveeezy]

I usually de-label my bottles right after i wash dishes in the left over warm Dawn water. I usually just let them soak for a few minutes then go real slow when peeling them off. It works great except for Samuel Adams bottles, i think they use crazy glue for their labels!

 

[Homercidal]

I've had oxiclean ruin labels in short time. yeah, it takes them off, but sometimes the ink comes right off too.

 

[HiGravShawn]

Add 1 tbsp of Baking Soda per quart of water in a pitcher or something will hold your bottles. Leave for several hours and they practically float off and can be laid out to dry. Some plastic labels don't work well, but for the most part they come of easy as pie. I use a pitcher that holds 3 bottles and 2 qts water. I reuse the water for days. After they slide off a slight rinse of the glue and voila! Perfectly clean bottles with no elbow grease.

 

[JoshuaWhite5522]

Add 1 tbsp of Baking Soda per quart of water in a pitcher or something will hold your bottles. Leave for several hours and they practically float off and can be laid out to dry. Some plastic labels don't work well, but for the most part they come of easy as pie. I use a pitcher that holds 3 bottles and 2 qts water. I reuse the water for days. After they slide off a slight rinse of the glue and voila! Perfectly clean bottles with no elbow grease.

do you ever have a problem with the colors bleeding off the labels that way?

 

[HiGravShawn]

No, I have never had any labels bleed. Sometimes they get so soft they are in danger of tearing if they haven't completely come free, but that's about it. The more difficult labels I just leave in for 24 hrs or so and often they are floating in the water when I come back. Warm water seems to help them come off a little better if they're being finicky.

 

[jpabian]

I've just used a light hot-water bleach concentration in the kitchen sink. I let them soak for about an hour and the labels just slide off intact, and no noticeable damage.

This typically doesn't work for any foil, but it's what I do when de-label a freshly drunk six or twelve pack.

I'm not talking a lot of bleach either. Maybe 1/2 a cap full.