How do you label your bottles?

[duboman]

Would you mind sharing which program you use to print on the dots?

They are Avery labels and you can download the free software which embeds itself into word, takes a little tweaking with font size and paragraphing but works great and the labels are cheap!

 

[OrdinaryAvgGuy]

They are Avery labels and you can download the free software which embeds itself into word, takes a little tweaking with font size and paragraphing but works great and the labels are cheap!

Thank you for the information!

 

[OrdinaryAvgGuy]

They are Avery labels and you can download the free software which embeds itself into word, takes a little tweaking with font size and paragraphing but works great and the labels are cheap!

24 beers in a case... 24 stickers to an Avery sheet... coincidence?

 

[BansheeRider]

24 beers in a case... 24 stickers to an Avery sheet... coincidence?

Hey would you be kind enough and post the link for these labels? I am on the Avery website and cannot find them. Thanks!

 

[duboman]

http://www.avery.com/avery/en_us/Products/Labels/Identification-Labels/Print-or-Write-Round-Color-Coding-Labels_05467.htm

http://www.avery.com/avery/en_us/Templates-%26-Software/Software/Avery-Wizard-for-Microsoft-Office.htm?N=4294967076&refchannel=3980ac83ae70a110VgnVCM1000002118140aRCRD

The first link is for the labels and you can get them in other colors. The second link is for the Microsoft Word Add in software. They are 3/4" round labels and I have never had a problem finding them in any office supply store locally. People commonly use them to price garage sale items.

 

[reverendj1]

Some rather creative labels you made there as well as some of the others I saw.

Thanks!

Damn you!! Now I am going to have to add a color laser printer to my brewing equipment. I hope I can trick SWMBO into believing that is for my job, not my brewing.

Haha. Mine was pretty cheap (~$100) and it's been a workhorse. I used it for all the invitations, programs, etc. for a fairly large wedding, printing all my labels, etc. You can just have them printed at Kinko's or something too. They have all laser printers. I'm not sure what the cost to have Kinko's do it would be. You can also use an inkjet printer, you just have to be more careful because you can only get the back of the paper wet and not the front, or it will bleed. Of course, printing a large amount on an inkjet is like peeing money away. It'd actually be cheaper to have them printed.

 

[BansheeRider]

http://www.avery.com/avery/en_us/Products/Labels/Identification-Labels/Print-or-Write-Round-Color-Coding-Labels_05467.htm

http://www.avery.com/avery/en_us/Templates-%26-Software/Software/Avery-Wizard-for-Microsoft-Office.htm?N=4294967076&refchannel=3980ac83ae70a110VgnVCM1000002118140aRCRD

The first link is for the labels and you can get them in other colors. The second link is for the Microsoft Word Add in software. They are 3/4" round labels and I have never had a problem finding them in any office supply store locally. People commonly use them to price garage sale items.

Thank you for the links! I checked the website and it appears that the program only works for Windows computers. I have a MAC, and customer service told me that I can choose a template online and print from their online page. Unfortunately MAC users cannot imbed this software into Microsoft Word. The web printing is just as good, just not as convenient. Thanks for your help.

 

[sroberts]

You said "I've thought about sticking the caps somehow but then I'd not be able to reuse them" You reuse your caps? If so, how many times do you usually reuse them?

I don't reuse a capped cap, if you know what I mean. I was referring to placing an uncrimped cap on a swing-top as a lazy way to identify the swing cap brew. This uncrimped cap can be reused to cap a bottle.

 

[ScotBrew]

I'm going to be buying these: http://www.bottlecapco.com/10-Color-Bottle-Cap-Combo-Pack_p_344.html

Gotta buy caps and may as well buy color coded ones at the same time! If I end up any extra bottles I'll use one of the colors and end up with a ton of bottles all different with the same color cap. These will then be my 'surprise' bottles.

 

[The_Cleveland_Brew_Shop]

These work great and you can cut them to be any size, like tiny, so you can mark all of your beer and not spend a bunch of money.

http://clevelandbrewshop.com/index.php?route=product/product&filter_name=label&product_id=143

 

[reverendj1]

I'm going to be buying these: http://www.bottlecapco.com/10-Color-Bottle-Cap-Combo-Pack_p_344.html

Gotta buy caps and may as well buy color coded ones at the same time! If I end up any extra bottles I'll use one of the colors and end up with a ton of bottles all different with the same color cap. These will then be my 'surprise' bottles.

Those are pretty expensive (~$0.13 apiece), you should look at the colored caps at Midwest Supplies, they are only ~$0.04 apiece, and you can pick the colors. I want to buy several to match caps with styles, but the shipping can be pretty bad, so I'm waiting until I can get a decent order.

 

[ScotBrew]

$35.00 for 500 works out at 7c each???

 

[reverendj1]

$35.00 for 500 works out at 7c each???

Dur, How does I math? Sorry about that. Not sure where .13 came from. At any rate, they are still cheaper from Midwest, and you can pick the color. They just don't have as many.

 

[el_horno]

I dont label I like a good surprise!

 

[Bierliebhaber]

Of course, I label with Care Bear stickers per appropriate mood and occasion for consumption.

 

[Soulshine]

Create labels for all my beers. Quite time consuming. I name all my beers after music/songs I enjoy. Have even gotten my beers to the guys in Furthur, Ryan Montbleau Band, and others. Have them sign a label for me and frame it in my 'man cave' downstairs. I also keep one bottle from each I create and add that to my wall containing an empty bottle of each beer I have brewed. Plus since I do share my beers with many friends it is nice to have a label on them.

 

[mac21]

I try and use different bottle caps (colors, runoffs, anything to differentiate). Def don't put a label on there if you don't want to clean them again! The stickers should work well. I've also found that metallic sharpies work really well to write on glass and metal.

 

[rodwha]

I just label the caps with a permanent marker.
You'll need to be somewhat specific possibly as I confused my blonde with my brown by labeling them both BA (_ Ale).

 

[cpl-america]

I'm going to be buying these: http://www.bottlecapco.com/10-Color-Bottle-Cap-Combo-Pack_p_344.html

Gotta buy caps and may as well buy color coded ones at the same time! If I end up any extra bottles I'll use one of the colors and end up with a ton of bottles all different with the same color cap. These will then be my 'surprise' bottles.

Those are linerless. Won't you lose carbonation?

 

[CityOChampBrew]

I just finished soaking and scraping the labels off of 240 beer bottles which lead me to think about the way that I will organize and label my bottles.

I understand that some print labels on shipping stickers while others print out their labels and glue them to the bottle with milk or some sort of glue.

The question is: If my wife and I plan to be the sole consumers of my homebrew, should I even bother labeling them with a fancy label? I was contemplation placing a simple sticker on the cap such as the one pictured below on the brew that I plan to drink while creating fancy labels for those that I plan to give away.

What system do you use to keep track of your beer? Marking the cap seems to be the easiest way to avoid additional bottle cleaning. BTW, I plan to keep 5-6 different batches in circulation... if that helps.

Thats exactly how I do it, I use dot stickers on labels and I have also purchased star labels.

 

[CityOChampBrew]

http://www.avery.com/avery/en_us/Products/Labels/Identification-Labels/Print-or-Write-Round-Color-Coding-Labels_05467.htm

http://www.avery.com/avery/en_us/Templates-%26-Software/Software/Avery-Wizard-for-Microsoft-Office.htm?N=4294967076&refchannel=3980ac83ae70a110VgnVCM1000002118140aRCRD

The first link is for the labels and you can get them in other colors. The second link is for the Microsoft Word Add in software. They are 3/4" round labels and I have never had a problem finding them in any office supply store locally. People commonly use them to price garage sale items.

Thanks for the link for the software, I would have never thought to print on the labels... Now I can continue to use the same labels I use and not have to explain what beer is what all the time when entertaining.

 

[ScotBrew]

Those are linerless. Won't you lose carbonation?

Just noticed this post. I've just checked and yeah, they are linerless. Thanks for posting that. I would have bought a ton and not noticed!

 

[emyers]

when i did bottle i would write the brew style on the cap with a sharpie. No cleaning and no trees killed. Get kegs.

However, when i do bottle for gifts i have used power point to create the label then clear packaging tape to glue them on. If your neat with the tape it looks real clean. I don't expect to get gifted bottles back so i don't worry about cleaning em.

 

[Calder]

I create labels in power point (9 to a page), print on a regular inkjet printer, cut out and stick on with a glue stick.

They come off really easily when soaked in water for a minute.

I've probably got bottles from up to 50 different batches around. Little stickers on the tops would not do it for me.

 

[MagicSmoker]

I've been going back and forth between the dots on the cap idea, which doesn't require any extra cleaning later but doesn't give you a lot of room for printing either, and Avery 22809 beer/wine labels.

The 22809 labels come 90 to a pack and cost $14.50 (+ tx) from Staples. $0.16 per label seems pretty reasonable to me, as long as the glue doesn't require hours of soaking in ammonia or PBW solution to remove...

 

[mglicini]

I create labels in power point (9 to a page), print on a regular inkjet printer, cut out and stick on with a glue stick.

I have to agree I actually designed my label in paint.. I wish I new photoshop but all I did was fiddle around and design a label that I only need to tweak a little in order to change the beer (color and name, and the little picture). Designing It took a evening but glue stick works great to hold it on
but if you screw up like I did, I had to redo my holiday so just be sure you spell correctly

 

[twd]

Thank you for the links! I checked the website and it appears that the program only works for Windows computers. I have a MAC, and customer service told me that I can choose a template online and print from their online page. Unfortunately MAC users cannot imbed this software into Microsoft Word. The web printing is just as good, just not as convenient. Thanks for your help.

The online software isn't too bad, easily allows you to include an image, circular text, etc. The biggest pain that I had was to get everything centered properly when it printed. Then I found when you print you can adjust the print up or down in very small increments using the "printer adjustment" button. Wasted quite a bit of labels trying to get it printed correctly, but now that I got that printer adjustment dialed in, it works great.

 

[Hulud]

sharpie on caps and when im feeling fancy i put actual labels on them

but since i keg i rarely bottle unless i am giving it to friends

 

[Hulud]

I have to agree I actually designed my label in paint.. I wish I new photoshop but all I did was fiddle around and design a label that I only need to tweak a little in order to change the beer (color and name, and the little picture). Designing It took a evening but glue stick works great to hold it on
but if you screw up like I did, I had to redo my holiday so just be sure you spell correctly

photoshop isnt too bad to learn if you just mess around with it

but when affixing labels i spray the front with clear coat from a can from an art store and the back with spray adhesive

 

[zeg]

I started off labeling each batch, but then I got busy... I will probably do some again when I hit on recipes I want to make more than once or for beers that I think I'll store a long time (or if I just get inspired). When doing that, I printed through Kinkos. IIRC, it costs something like $0.50 for a color printed page. I tiled my labels 6 to a sheet, so it worked out to a bit less than a dime per label. Quality was very good (printing quality, I make no claims about my art).

Since then, I just write a couple letters on each cap with a Sharpie, like so many of us. It works. I don't think I'm likely to go anywhere between these extremes. When I've given people a mixed bunch of bottles, I just send along a legend that explains what the codings are.