Hot Glue bottle wax experiment

[sfrisby]

Holiday Gingerbread Porter

 

[cbehr]

Well I did 3 mini glue sticks to 1 crayon and added about 1/8 lb of parafin wax and the caps are too brittle. They crumble and don't peel off nice in 1 piece. I'm assuming I have too much wax and should maybe eliminate the parafin next time?

 

[GoodOmens]

6gs/7c ratio...

I melted the glue sticks and 4 yellow crayons, stirred, then tossed 4 orange and red red and let them melt. The colors marbled well at first, but then turned a muddy red.

I'll let you know how they peel when it's time.

 

[hungry4hops]

Just dipped my whiskey barrel stout made with makers mark, turned out pretty good!

 

[sfrisby]

Very nice looking. I need to try to thin mine out I think. When I flip the bottles upright, I only get 1 drip. Yours look great! What's your ratio?

 

[hungry4hops]

Very nice looking. I need to try to thin mine out I think. When I flip the bottles upright, I only get 1 drip. Yours look great! What's your ratio?

Used about 4 glue sticks per crown, it was actually pretty thin I turned back the heat to thicken it up!

 

[tennesseean_87]

oops

 

[Bazaar]

My bottles using this method.

 

[sfrisby]

Just because this thread needs revitalizing...

 

[butterpants]

This thread is awesome

 

[bboyeruga]

This thread needs to be stickied. Sub'd

 

[Sambucus]

I'm so fracking proud of my 1st attempt, I'm posting it.

I was reading a lot of forums and blogs out there, and 2 issues came up regularly, with one solution:

1. Removing wax from crown caps to get an opener on it. Some people put the wax on thin enough, still showing the crimp, to get a grip on the cap with the wax on. I do not like that. Second option is string or packaging tape under the wax. I always had my mind set on butcher's string.
   
2. Removing labels from bottles. Always a pain. I read some blogs where brewers rather hang a tag around the neck to avoid having to remove the labels again.
   

I was staring at my spirit collection and saw the below bottle of Belgian jenever which kills both birds with one stone. Filliers hangs a tag from the string used to remove the wax, and the string is uniquely placed over the top of the cap. (mine is a bit damaged, been tempted to drink it a few times)

Using the 3 mini-glue-sticks to 1 crayola-crayon ratio, I melted the wax in a bain-marie. The can had to spend some time on direct flame to melt properly, but I always put it back in the bain-marie while dipping.

Tragedy hit, and I lost the first bottle when the heat made the cap blow off. This is elder-flower champagne. Bottled at a SG of 1018. Very volatile! So I ran the sink and started cooling the bottles.

Turned out nicely. Smooth, and still beautifully glossy when dry.
Wouldn't want to do it for 40 pints though.

 

[MetallHed]

Did mine today:

Double boiler with beer can and vegetable oil because water didn't heat up enough:

Dippin' the bottles

Dryin

Looks great!

I used the 3 glue sticks (.44 diameter, 4" long) to 1 crayon ratio that was previously mentioned by sfrisby.

 

[sfrisby]

At my count, you are set up for a disappointing 49th anniversary.

 

[wobrien]

Has anyone tried this with corked bottles? If you set the cork flush with the top, would the wax hold the cork down? I imagine dipping the cage in wax would be a disaster...

 

[Paps]

I gotta get off me lazy arse and try doing this one day.

 

[MindenMan]

Back in high school, I had a terrific Arts and Crafts teacher. One of the many things we did was use the lost wax method for casting jewelery. My point is we had very different "grades" of the wax we used for different parts of the casting. Being a very frugal and creative instructor, he taught us how to make the wax sheets/strips used in jewelery. Mineral Oil. Yup. Mineral oil added with paraffin could make any firmness of wax we wanted at room temperature. Just good old fashioned cheapo mineral wax. Give it a try, you might like it.

 

[Gixxer]

I am surprised I didn't think of that... I cut parrafin wax with mink oil to waterproof leather. Not that I would use mink oil for this, but mineral oil sure!

 

[wobrien]

Anyone have any thoughts on this below?

Has anyone tried this with corked bottles? If you set the cork flush with the top, would the wax hold the cork down? I imagine dipping the cage in wax would be a disaster...

 

[MindenMan]

If you are talking a carbonated beverage, don't even think of it. The wax would not hold a pressurized cork in. Well, it may at first, but if the temperature takes a swing quite a mess would ensue I am sure.

 

[tennesseean_87]

I wouldn't trust it without the cage. I'm not sure, but if you left some wire out of the wax, removing the cage might be a good way to get the wax off of the cork--somewhat like the string idea above (a variation of which I have used).

 

[wobrien]

If you are talking a carbonated beverage, don't even think of it. The wax would not hold a pressurized cork in.

I wouldn't trust it without the cage./QUOTE]

This is what I figured, but was hoping to hear otherwise. I'll forgo this route as recommended.

 

[skeezerpleezer]

Just bottled up a 23month old Flanders Red. Ratio was 2 crayons for each 10' x .44' hot glue stick (i used 24 crayons and 12 glue sticks).

 

[sfrisby]

Skeezer- Those are good looking. Nice job!

 

[wobrien]

Skeezer's look great. I was lazy and bout the wax from the Homebrew shop. Mine came out flat, rather than with the sheen that skeezer got.

From yesterday:

 

[butterpants]

Na dude that looks great!

 

[wobrien]

Na dude that looks great!

I do like the results, but it's expensive to get the store bought stuff

 

[butterpants]

No doubt, way beads are like 15$ a bag at my LHBS.... that buys a lot of glue sticks

 

[cbehr]

How is everyone making out when removing the wax top? Mine seem to peel off when warm but after being in the fridge they crack apart and are a mess. I've tried more/less crayons to glue sticks and nothing seems to work.

 

[sfrisby]

How is everyone making out when removing the wax top? Mine seem to peel off when warm but after being in the fridge they crack apart and are a mess. I've tried more/less crayons to glue sticks and nothing seems to work.

I get some crumbs when the cap is pulled off, but nothing more than that. Sounds like may be a bit heavy with crayons.