I took the labels off, but then this happened... Now what?!?!

[JosephLongbow]

As it has been mentioned many times before on here, I soaked some bottles in an oxy clean solution to remove the labels but now I have a secondary problem...

I submerged the bottles completely and the glue residue that came off made its way into the bottle. Now I have a layer of glue residue on the outside and inside of the bottle giving it a dusty look when it is dry. The outside is obviously easy to scrub away, I'm just having some trouble cleaning the very bottom of the bottles. The bottle brush won't get it as it is designed mostly for the neck and sides.

Any suggestions?

I was thinking about squirting a little Goof Off into each one and topping it with water then letting it sit for a day. Of course, I'd do some extensive rinsing, but do you think this is a good idea? Any other routes you'd suggest?

 

[Picker]

You can bend the bristles on the end of the brush down so that they actually will scrub the bottom of the bottle. That's what I had to do after using a Saison yeast that refused to rinse out of empties. I don't think I'd go with the Goof Off idea.

 

[AlCophile]

You might try a little bleach, soaking overnight. CAREFUL Bleach will damage eyes, so do in outbuilding. Rinse well, air out on side or upside down. Only other I can suggest is naphtha, charcoal lighter fluid, also hazardous.
NEVER mix bleach with ANY acid, you will get chlorine gas. You may die.
Now, the right way: fill bottle with water, stand in soap water but not right up to opening. Stand o.n., scrape off most of crud, add few drops liquid detergent to goo, scrape with industrial s.s. scrubbie. Works well. Good luck. For those nasty plastic labels, remove with razor blade.

 

[flars]

Try soaking the bottles, fully submerged, in a PBW solution for 24 hours. Hot jet rinse the inside of the bottles while they are still wet.
PBW will dissolve the glue that holds the labels for Pilsner Urquell bottles.

 

[sumbrewindude]

As it has been mentioned many times before on here, I soaked some bottles in an oxy clean solution to remove the labels but now I have a secondary problem...

I submerged the bottles completely and the glue residue that came off made its way into the bottle. Now I have a layer of glue residue on the outside and inside of the bottle giving it a dusty look when it is dry. The outside is obviously easy to scrub away, I'm just having some trouble cleaning the very bottom of the bottles. The bottle brush won't get it as it is designed mostly for the neck and sides.

Any suggestions?

I was thinking about squirting a little Goof Off into each one and topping it with water then letting it sit for a day. Of course, I'd do some extensive rinsing, but do you think this is a good idea? Any other routes you'd suggest?

Are you sure it's not just particulate from hardwater/oxy? In some instances if you soak in oxy for extended periods of time, you'll get a chalky/white/dusty film on the bottle that can easily be cleaned off with a mild acid solution - either Starsan or simple white vinager will both work, all you need to do is let them sit in solution for a few minutes and they'll be clear again.

Goof-off is hydrophobic, it won't mix with water at all - not to mention it's not something I'd want in bottles I was planning on using shortly.

Most houses have vinegar in them, give this a shot first before you spend the time scrubbing everything. Just put a good splash into some water and let them hang out...

 

[BarleyStanding]

I've used oxy quite a bit and had the same haze on the bottles if I leave them in the solution too long. I've read somewhere that this is a reaction of the oxy with really hard water. I've used a 50/50 vinegar/water soaking solution, and then a really good hot water rinse to get rid of the haze. I've switched over to PBW because of this, but still use the oxy now and then for stubborn labels.

BTW, don't mix bleach with the vinegar solution, it's been a while since my last chemistry class, but I would bet the acetic acid would react with the bleach and make some pretty nasty gas.

 

[MichaelBrock]

I'll add my vote to this being a deposit from the oxyclean/water. I have this happen if I use too hot water (possibly higher mineral content from the hot water tank?) The simple solution for me is to simply dunk the bottles in the 5-gallon bucket of Star-san I always have around. A few minutes will clean the deposit off. The other "use an acid" suggestions above will also undoubtedly do the job.

 

[JosephLongbow]

Some really great tips here guys, thank you so much. I'm going to try some of these methods right now.

 

[JosephLongbow]

Well ya'll were right once again, I soaked the bottles in a StarSan solution and they cleaned right up. That was a lot easier than some of the alternatives I was considering. I think I'll use PBW next time for delabeling to avoid this.

 

[Melana]

or soak in oxy to remove labels without letting the solution get into the bottles. Hint - fill with plain water and stand in a tub first then add the oxy to the tub.

 

[rekoob]

Just a side note on oxi clean. it brakes down to sodium percarbonate and soda ash.
I use this to clean my carboys and kegs all the time. I put a scoop in, add water and let it sit (days).
In the carboy you can see the sodium percarbonate and soda ash layer on the bottom, rinses out easy and once it's broken down doesn't really leave a film of anything on the sides, it all settles out on the bottom.
Just my experiance anyway, have never had any issues with it.
For bottles (when I took labels off) I always used bleach.
Glad it all worked out for you.

 

[pig140]

I've never had to use oxi-clean for labels. Soaking in tap water as hot as it'll go usually works for me. If there's still residue, I use an SOS pad straight out of the hot water and then rinse. Comes off sooo easy.

 

[JosephLongbow]

I just read a BeerSmith article that mentioned using ammonia too. I'm not sure I wanna do that.

I think from here on out I'll soak without submerging the whole bottle.

 

[Redcat]

I've used oxy quite a bit and had the same haze on the bottles if I leave them in the solution too long. I've read somewhere that this is a reaction of the oxy with really hard water. I've used a 50/50 vinegar/water soaking solution, and then a really good hot water rinse to get rid of the haze. I've switched over to PBW because of this, but still use the oxy now and then for stubborn labels.

BTW, don't mix bleach with the vinegar solution, it's been a while since my last chemistry class, but I would bet the acetic acid would react with the bleach and make some pretty nasty gas.

You can mix bleach with water and then add vinegar. Do not mix undiluted bleach with vinegar though. Acidified Bleach solution is a much better sanitizer than just bleach alone.

No Rinse sanitizer with Bleach, Water and Vinegar

 

[jahdub]

I just use baking soda for removing labels. Works just as well as oxiclean and PBW for $.50 a box. It leaves white residue behind, as well.

Rinsing the bottles with star san gets the residue off.