How to remove labels?

[The Experimenter]

Quick question... I've been saving commercial pop top beer bottles for bottling my brews and they have worked great. However, I was wondering if there was a common method for quickly and easily removing the labels? I just want plain, clean, unmarked brown bottles without needing to buy a bunch of empty bottles on Amazon. Of course this is not a dire need; the stuff tastes the same either way, but I just think they'd look nicer.

Most of the ones I encounter are paper labels that tend to tear into tiny scraps if you try to dry peel them off the bottles. I was thinking of soaking them in warm water for a few hours, scrubbing with some steel wool, and then removing any excess glue residue with a solvent (on bottles in which the label does easily peel off, I've used a cloth lightly dampened with Zippo fluid which tends to easily dissolve most if not all of the glue residue... just need a well ventilated area and some gloves).

Would this soak and scrub method work well enough, OR do you suggest a different method? Should I add anything to the water I soak them in? Or should I not soak them? Maybe I should just put hot water in the bottles (keeping the outside dry) so as to heat up and loosen the glue and making them easier to peel?...

Any thoughts on good methods for removing glued on paper labels from beer bottles?

 

[DBhomebrew]

I do a hot soak with oxyclean for a 1/2hr or more. Some labels come off easier then others. Some European labels come off if you breath on them funny.

 

[The Experimenter]

I do a hot soak with oxyclean for a 1/2hr or more. Some labels come off easier then others. Some European labels come off if you breath on them funny.

Pure Oxyclean? Or is there a specific ratio you dilute it in water with?

 

[2BedroomBrewing]

I do a hot soak with oxyclean for a 1/2hr or more. Some labels come off easier then others. Some European labels come off if you breath on them funny.

^ This but I find that some labels need an overnight soak to get them completely loose.

As for dilution, I do PBW at about 0.5-.75 oz per gallon for cleaning bottles.

 

[DBhomebrew]

Pure Oxyclean? Or is there a specific ratio you dilute it in water with?

I fill and cover the bottles with the hottest tap water then shake in 'about this much' Oxy Free.

Yes, 1/2hr or more. Sometimes that 'more' is overnight, but I like to get to them as soon as the labels release. I find it's easier to rinse the Oxy film if it's still warm.

And if a bottle is giving me too much trouble, in the bin it goes. Not worth the time.

 

[The Experimenter]

^ This but I find that some labels need an overnight soak to get them completely loose.

As for dilution, I do PBW at about 0.5-.75 oz per gallon for cleaning bottles.

I am a bit of a noob here, so I gotta ask, what’s PBW?

 

[firerat]

I am a bit of a noob here, so I gotta ask, what’s PBW?

Expensive oxiclean.

J/K Powdered Brewery Wash. It's a cleaner

 

[DBhomebrew]

I am a bit of a noob here, so I gotta ask, what’s PBW?

Similar to OxyClean. There's a thread on the forum about making some DIY.

BTW, I use Oxy Free. No dyes or scents.

 

[The Experimenter]

Cool, thanks for the tips guys. I’ll probably try the hot soak in water alone and see if I can make it work, but will definitely invest in some Oxyfree or PBW if the water fails to live up to my expectations on its own.

 

[DBhomebrew]

Oxy/PBW is really great for cleaning fermenters, too. I usually bottle at night. I fill the fermenter with water/Oxy and let it sit until I've made coffee the next morning. Usually just a good hot rinse is all it needs, no scrubbing.

 

[Sunfire96]

Cool, thanks for the tips guys. I’ll probably try the hot soak in water alone and see if I can make it work, but will definitely invest in some Oxyfree or PBW if the water fails to live up to my expectations on its own.

Oxiclean is the way to go for sure. Absolutely worth the $

 

[DuncB]

Dishwasher also pretty good provided you get to the bottles before the drying cycle occurs ie still wet.

If the bottles have those plastic labels on sometimes the label peels off so easy but leaves really sticky glue on the bottle.

I use orange solvent to get the residual glue off just a spray on the glue and it rubs off after a minute or two with a damp cloth. The orange solvent can be sprayed direct on paper labels and that releases them pretty well but its a one at a time process as opposed to the drop the bottles in oxyclean.

I stick any labels I make for the beer on with milk. Works brilliantly and they fall off if soaked in cold water.
With your own label makes the bottle look even better especially if you are giving them away.

 

[The Experimenter]

Dishwasher also pretty good provided you get to the bottles before the drying cycle occurs ie still wet.

If the bottles have those plastic labels on sometimes the label peels off so easy but leaves really sticky glue on the bottle.

I use orange solvent to get the residual glue off just a spray on the glue and it rubs off after a minute or two with a damp cloth. The orange solvent can be sprayed direct on paper labels and that releases them pretty well but its a one at a time process as opposed to the drop the bottles in oxyclean.

I stick any labels I make for the beer on with milk. Works brilliantly and they fall off if soaked in cold water.
With your own label makes the bottle look even better especially if you are giving them away.

Thanks for the different tips... I think I'll eventually make my own labels one day, but right now I'm just trying to get all the bottles clean so they all look the same and uniform (as opposed to inviting friends to try my new brew and then bringing out a bunch of mismatched bottles with a bunch of random beer/cider labels on them).

 

[day_trippr]

fwiw, Sam Adams bottle labels will float off if soaked in plain hot water long enough.

If they accomplished nothing else, SA stocked a lot of home brewers' glass needs I had 20 cases of their long necks at one point...

Cheers!

 

[The Experimenter]

fwiw, Sam Adams bottle labels will float off if soaked in plain hot water long enough.

If they accomplished nothing else, SA stocked a lot of home brewers' glass needs I had 20 cases of their long necks at one point...

Cheers!

I'm not a huge SA fan, but knowing what you just told me I might just have to do some work on a few SA 12 packs over the next couple of weekends.

 

[beerisyummy]

Expensive oxiclean.

J/K Powdered Brewery Wash. It's a cleaner

LOL "expensive oxyclean" Love it. It's the bomb diggity for cleaning residue in carboys, flasks, etc. Give 'em a soak and it will literally devour the organic material.

 

[day_trippr]

Consider it an investment
Seriously though, I never found an easier bottle to de-label...

Cheers!

 

[beerisyummy]

My MO is I clean bottles in the sink (having previously rinsed them after imbibing), soaking briefly with a solution of PBW and scrubbing with a bottle brush and then running thru the dishwasher with the sanitizing function. It's a bit much, but I have ZERO bottle infections. But the point is, as long as I've got the sinkful of PBW/water, if I want to de-label a few more bottles, I'll just dump 'em in there for a couple hours. DEFINITELY helps to know which labels come off easier. I'm over on the Left Coast and most of my bottles of choice are Anchor, Sierra Nevada and Deschutes. Doesn't hurt that they all make great beer

 

[camonick]

New Belgium labels come off easily in a plain hot water soak.

 

[3 Dawg Night]

You can almost tell from the ease of label removal which breweries were founded by former homebrewers.

 

[day_trippr]

lol!
I met and actually talked with Bill Koch at the JC brewery years ago.
I floated out of there and can't remember anything that was said

Cheers!

 

[Toxxyc]

I pack all my bottles with labels I get into a cooler box. When it's full, I fill it up with the hosepipe, slap on the lid and let it sit for a week. When you open it, all the labels are floating around. I find icy cold water works really well, for some reason.

 

[RMRPE]

I soak them in a baking soda solution (4 tbs/gal) and most labels just fall off. I just keep a container filled next to my slop sink that holds a couple of bottles. Hot water solution works faster but it works cold as well. When the solution gets gross, I just dump it and make another when I'm ready to strip labels again.

 

[Misplaced_Canuck]

When I was bottling, I'd keep a clean garbage can on the deck full of water and fragrance-free oxyclean. Any used bottle would be rinsed, and then put in the garbage can and filled up with the the water/oxyclean solution. At bottling time, I'd pull out the required number of bottles, and I'd pick the ones that had lost their label. A very quick brushing with some steel wool on the outside and they'd be ready for bottling.

MC

 

[btbonser]

I always soaked them in hot water then used a green scrubbing pad for the residual glue. Sam Adams labels always came off easier than Sierra Nevada labels. Probably different glued.

I would avoid using any chemicals

 

[z-bob]

I soak them overnight in a bucket with cold water and sudsy ammonia. Usually the labels just fall off. Unless they are foil labels, or that brand uses a weird glue. For those, I fill the bottle with hot water, wait a few seconds, then scrape the label off with a razor blade.

 

[Karn]

I pack all my bottles with labels I get into a cooler box. When it's full, I fill it up with the hosepipe, slap on the lid and let it sit for a week. When you open it, all the labels are floating around. I find icy cold water works really well, for some reason.

Do you know the ph of your water and if it's hard or soft, or neither? Thanks.

 

[IslandLizard]

Cheap: Washing soda or powdered laundry detergent (e.g., SURF, Persil, store brand).
1Tbs per gallon is plenty.
Overnight soak, some need a few days.

 

[SnowDogCider]

If you don’t want to go all toxic try the Magic Eraser. It will get the stubborn glue residue pretty well.
Good luck

 

[Toxxyc]

Do you know the ph of your water and if it's hard or soft, or neither? Thanks.

I have no idea. It just works.