Maybe the worst ever..... (label removal)

[Trevor57]

No need to appologize! I have used several green bottles in every batch I have ever bottled and never had a skunked beer. This anti-green sentiment is utter beer snobbery. You know how it goes, if enough people repeat a lie, it must be true. I have little doubt that in a side-by-side test a green bottle mayl skunk before a brown one, but as I said, after years of using green bottles, no skunks, and I have not been overly careful either.

IMHO green bottles look better then the brown ones. It is also easier to spot the sediment in the neck as you pour a green bottle.

It isn't a lie. UV light reacts with alpha acids (hops) to create a skunk smell.

 

[Quaffer]

It isn't a lie. UV light reacts with alpha acids (hops) to create a skunk smell.

OK, not a lie, but my point is that it is not as critical as you may think. At least that is my experience. Cheers.

 

[moosetav]

I use any type of bottle that I can cap and de-label. Color makes no difference. I condition them in milk crates covered with a black trash bag in a dark closet. Then into the beer fridge which is pitch black. The little exposure to light they would get when I bring a sixer to a buddy's house is negligible. I see no point in avoiding clear and green glass.

 

[NHBeerDude]

I just tried to scrape a case of Smuttynose with little sucess. Just wondering. Does ease of label removal help decide what beer you purchase?

Smuttynose is the most difficult that I've dealt with but it doesn't mean that I won't buy their beer.

 

[overflow]

Two Brothers is worst for me. Same thing, some sort of vinyl/plastic thing. I don't even bother trying to remove them, it's not worth the effort. They go straight to the recycling bin. Oxyclean soak overnight removes all these labels no problem:

Sam Adams
New Belgium
Dogfish Head
Darkhorse
Bells
Sierra Nevada
New Glarus

 

[Fishin-Jay]

Sierra Nevada labels are my favorites. Thirty minutes in warm water and they come right off. No additives in the water needed.

 

[Cheaton]

Try scoring the labels BEFORE you soak them (with a razor knife or othe sharp impliment) in a criss cross type pattern. This should allow your solution to penetrate into the gum below instead of just at the edges.

 

[Mischief_Brewing]

I have a big plastic bin filled with bleach water that I am soaking empties in. I was able to clean and de-label 2 cases in the middle of October and then I forgot about it. I still have at least 40 bottles in there. I went to add a few bottles to it in December and realized that the entire bin is frozen solid. I guess I'm not cleaning bottles until spring...

Hopefully I'll have my kegging setup ready by the time my latest brews are ready...

 

[beach]

Mad Anthony's out of Ft. Wayne, IN. Total PITA
Beach