How do you label your bottles?

[BigRedHopHead]

I use the dots on the caps. But I keg mostly, and only bottle a few batches per year. I usually tell those who I gift/give them to the general beer style and leave it to them to try it out. Don't have the time or patience to print and stick labels. Sure they are nice, but when you have kids, job, and wife, and make about 35 batches per year who has the time? I would rather spend my time formulating recipes and making beer.

 

[FuzzeWuzze]

I just sharpie on the cap some initials and the bottling date.

Like VP 11/15/12 for Vanilla Porter ...etc

 

[rodwha]

SWMBO has cool labels for canning that wash off. No need to peel them off or anything. Those would work if you want something simple.

I understand many of you want a nice presentable label, and that's cool. I don't have good enough beer to enter competitions, and I hate peeling labels from new bottles.

I am considering setting a 6 pack off to the side from each batch to stash away and try at a much later time, in which case initials won't work so well. But a date too would be just fine with me. I'm simple...

 

[Hulud]

SWMBO has cool labels for canning that wash off. No need to peel them off or anything. Those would work if you want something simple.

I understand many of you want a nice presentable label, and that's cool. I don't have good enough beer to enter competitions, and I hate peeling labels from new bottles.

I am considering setting a 6 pack off to the side from each batch to stash away and try at a much later time, in which case initials won't work so well. But a date too would be just fine with me. I'm simple...

Those labels that wash off, would they fall off from condensation?

 

[rodwha]

I'm not sure. I doubt it. They seem to hang on tight!

 

[Hulud]

Oh nice

 

[RIC0]

I actually label the shelves in my beer fridge with the type of beer instead of each bottle. Just food for thought.

 

[Hulud]

I actually label the shelves in my beer fridge with the type of beer instead of each bottle. Just food for thought.

That's what I'm gonna do when I get a beer fridge so I can keep kegging even more beer

 

[BonzoAPD]

This thread inspired me to try making some labels. Spent about a half hour on 3 designs. This is a preliminary one.

 

[01steve]

i like to use inventory or shipping tags that have the wire so i can just twist the wire around the neck of the bottle. i can just as easily twist them off aswell-... only porblem is when i put a bunch of them in cooler and the ice/water eats away @ the paper. other than that it's no problem in the fridge. i can even re-use the one that i plan to make another batch of.

i also thought about "borrowing" a bunch of "from and to" labels @ the local usps. the sharpie on the caps works but is a bit troublesome when the bottles are upright in a fridge

 

[ajlee]

I just take a sharpie to the cap, cheap and simple.

 

[allthingsgiant]

If you are going to contiue with this hobby, just move to kegs already. You will thank me later.

If I have to label, I get the labels from Onlinelabels.com. Wife makes up the labels in Illustrator, print them on an inkjet. However, these labels are a B***H to get off, so this might not be a good idea if you are reusing bottles. I second the motion to sharpie the caps if need a quick and easy solution.

 

[cpl-america]

print labels on regular paper, double sided tape. it holds easy, and when you are done it peals off. if you are using a cooler than spray it with that clear coat protect stuff, artists use to keep the colors from running when wet.

 

[Soulshine2]

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.

Imagine that...Thats how I intend to label /name my beers too.

 

[Timberline]

Post-it notes and crayon

One of my LHBS has a link on their website to these guys - https://www.beerlabelizer.com/ Seems like you could create it there and then print on Avery.

For now, I'm just writing with a sharpie on the bottle caps

 

[MaryB]

My house ale everyone knows has no label, otherwise I do the yard sale dot with an abbreviation on the lid. If I give away beer I have some oval labels I can print off so people know what they are getting.

 

[GrizzlyBrews]

If I'm sending my beer out for a competition then it will have my house label. If it's staying at home then I just mark the caps with permanent marker, usually just the beer name initials. I keep all of my bottling dates etc on file so that I know what's what.

 

[Brownalemikie]

I must be lazy....I just use different color bottle caps and keep notes of which color for which beer. No labels.

 

[pshankstar]

I have a box of a 100 tags with the string from staples. Then I use the Avery printer labels and have a template. The template has the name of the brew, dates (brewed, kegged & bottled), the yeast, OG, FG & ABV. The labels get printed so I can read it (I have bad hand writing) and they fit on the tags folded over. For each brew I update the labels with the new info and place a new label over the old ones.

So far this method works for me and makes it easy for me to answer questions about my brews I bring to gatherings without pulling out my phone as much if at all.

 

[Cavpilot2000]

I just take a sharpie to the cap, cheap and simple.

Ditto.
Or use different caps for each different beer. Black caps for Munich Dunkel, Hop cone cap for IPA, Red cap for X, Gold cap for Y...you get the picture.

 

[Soulshine2]

Cav, I did that with my very first bottling. White for Light, Red for Canadian. Nice to have a decent selection of colors at the supply store.

 

[dstockwell]

Sharpie, one or two letters so I know what it is..