hexmonkey
Well-Known Member
I hope you're joking.
Paper labels are just a place for bacteria to hide and multiply in between bottling. Even worse if you're using discarded bottles from a bar or the recycling center.
Usually you'll be cleaning and sanitizing the bottles in a in multiples in a bucket or tub. That means all the bad stuff that's accumulated in or on the label/glue is now in a soup getting into your other bottles. The high bacterial content can overwhelm the sanitizer - sooner or later you'll be pouring out 50 bottles of nasty, infected beer.
90% of all the bottles I've used have had labels that come off in an overnight soak of oxyclean.
If you're buying beer for the bottles, try to steer clear of:
- laminated labels, which are usually glued on with rubbery glue that is harder to remove
- metallic/foil labels, which tend to make a mess when the ink slides off the labels and starts floating around in the bucket/tub
- foil necks, which sometimes use the same glue as laminated labels(see above)
I've seen some nice, thicker-than-usual brown glass bottles used by Hacker-Pschorr's Oktoberfest beer lately.
