So who here DOES NOT de-label bottles?

[Meatyboy]

I haven't removed a label yet. I could care less if my bottle says Gaelic Ale, my brain and tongue say Bavarian Hefe.

 

[louie0202]

I keg......as far as bottling I am bottling for the first time and bought new belgian bottles for the beer i am making. For Wine....I typically buy new bottles and/or ask people for Charles Shaw wine bottles as the labels come off very easy...and I give out about half the wine I make....the beer is for me.....and its kegged....so I think if I did bottle, I wouldn't waste time delabeling.

 

[BrewerBear]

I could care less if the labels are still on. Up until now my sink would only hold about 10 bottles so cleaning and removing lables was a pain. Bought a muck bucket that will hold at least 60 bottles, that makes it easier to soak a bunch at a time.

It is very easy to sanitize the inside of a bottle with the lable on, I don't understand the concern over a lable being left on, but to each his own.

 

[passedpawn]

OK, everyone here already knows that the beer inside is the same whether there is a label on the bottle or not. No point in saying that any further.

Let me summarize this thread up to this point.

The arguments for removing them is

• Brewing requires a lot of attention to detail. Sanitation, process, ingredients. If you can't be bothered to clean the outside of your bottles, you probably are not bothered with brewing details either.
• Part of the mystique of beer is its appearance. If you get a dirtly glass at a bar, you won't be happy. Why serve a beer, even for yourself, from a dirty bottle?
• It's so easy. A $2 Homer bucket and a scoop of oxyclean will take the labels off a dozen bottles in a day, no work at all to it.

The argument for leaving them on is

 

[Jdk261]

When I bottle, I just soak/submerge them in hot pbw to clean...it just so happens that this takes labels right off, so when I do have any bottles with labels, they just slide off as a result of my normal cleaning practices...so it doesn't take any extra steps for me.

 

[emjay]

OK, everyone here already knows that the beer inside is the same whether there is a label on the bottle or not. No point in saying that any further.

Let me summarize this thread up to this point.

The arguments for removing them is

[*]Brewing requires a lot of attention to detail. Sanitation, process, ingredients. If you can't be bothered to clean the outside of your bottles, you probably are not bothered with brewing details either.
[*]Part of the mystique of beer is its appearance. If you get a dirtly glass at a bar, you won't be happy. Why serve a beer, even for yourself, from a dirty bottle?
[*]It's so easy. A $2 Homer bucket and a scoop of oxyclean will take the labels off a dozen bottles in a day, no work at all to it.


The argument for leaving them on is

You invalidated the first point with your first sentence, it still goes into a clean glass (not really much different than having a keg plastered with stickers, IMO), and it's even easier to not give a ****.

Sure, if the beer is for other people or a comp, I'll use delabeled bottles, but if it's for myself, I know better, and it's an unnecessary waste of time and money, however small you consider it to be.

 

[barrooze]

I stopped removing labels many years ago.

 

[BrewKnurd]

The easiest way for me to ensure that the inside of the bottle is clean is a soak in oxyclean. So delabelling is no extra cost or time with my process.

 

[Theis]

I quit taking the labels off- There is just nothing quite like having an imperial oatmeal stout poured from a Heineken light bottle.

 

[divi2323]

I tell my friends if they come over and delabel my bottles, ill give them free beer. Win win.

 

[Stauffbier]

If you can't be bothered to clean the outside of your bottles, you probably are not bothered with brewing details either.

This is a bit presumptuous!

I think there is a difference between being bothered by something and finding something unnecessary..

Just because I don't remove labels from bottles doesn't mean I skimp on brewing procedures!

 

[Stauffbier]

The easiest way for me to ensure that the inside of the bottle is clean is a soak in oxyclean. So delabelling is no extra cost or time with my process.

I stand my bottles up when I clean them. Each one gets about an 1/8 of a teaspoon of PBW in it and is then filled to the rim with hot water. After they soak like this for an hour or so I dump them and wipe the mouth of the bottle with a rag and then rinse. I started doing it this way in an effort to save water, since filling a big tub with water is more wasteful. I've tried to do many things to cut down on water use or re-use water. Let's face it... this hobby uses a lot of water! I live in a place where they're getting ready to outlaw watering your yard due to water shortage, so filling a bunch of tubs for cleaning/de-labeling is not ideal...

 

[BakRivrBruen]

Immediately rinse a bottle conditioned beer and report back.

I've always rinsed my bottle conditioned bottles immediately after pouring and have never had a problem. The yeast doesn't magically etch itself to the glass so it can only be cleaned with pbw or oxyclean. Let it sit a day or two without rinsing and that's a different story. If you hand clean every bottle after use then more power to you.

 

[FATC1TY]

I don't remove anything from the bottles.. Just too lazy. I've bought some bombers, but my collection is growing and my interest is getting smaller in dealing with how the bottles look.

 

[BrewKnurd]

I stand my bottles up when I clean them. Each one gets about an 1/8 of a teaspoon of PBW in it and is then filled to the rim with hot water. After they soak like this for an hour or so I dump them and wipe the mouth of the bottle with a rag and then rinse. I started doing it this way in an effort to save water, since filling a big tub with water is more wasteful. I've tried to do many things to cut down on water use or re-use water. Let's face it... this hobby uses a lot of water! I live in a place where they're getting ready to outlaw watering your yard due to water shortage, so filling a bunch of tubs for cleaning/de-labeling is not ideal...

Sir, I commend you! I also regret to state that I am too lazy for that. I fully acknowledge that I am wasting more water than I need to.

 

[passedpawn]

This is a bit presumptuous!

I think there is a difference between being bothered by something and finding something unnecessary..

Just because I don't remove labels from bottles doesn't mean I skimp on brewing procedures!

I was generalizing. If it doesn't apply to you, please ignore.

 

[lewishowardm3]

I de label bottles but it can be time consuming. I might just skip this now as I'm the only person who drinks out of them. It whats on the inside that counts!

 

[0202]

I keg now anyway, and I used to spend time taking off labels, designing my own labels and even constructing 4/6 pack boxes. I would still do that for a gift but not for a bottle that will spend all but 3 seconds in a closet or trash bin.

 

[opus345]

Been using an overnight Oxy soak for the labled and unlabled bottles. Then I just rinse as usual. Kills two birds with one soak.

 

[brewchick3]

I guess I have OCD when it comes to that too. Always de-label and mark the top of my caps with the initials of my beer using a Sharpie.

 

[Brewsncrabs]

Never have and never will.

 

[FlyDoctor]

Never. I can see removing labels if the bottles will be gifts etc, but otherwise it seems like an entirely unnecessary task, especially when you pour the beer into a glass anyway.

 

[verbhertz]

Immediately rinse a bottle conditioned beer and report back.

I do that all the time, works fine. Except for the apfelwein, that yeast is tough. Any bottles not rinsed immediately get an oxi soak and bottle brush.

 

[amandabab]

all stick on labels are so easy to remove, I don't know how you'd clean bottles without removing them.
If you were real careful, the label might last one cleaning cycle, but not more than two.

 

[0202]

all stick on labels are so easy to remove, I don't know how you'd clean bottles without removing them.
If you were real careful, the label might last one cleaning cycle, but not more than two.

There are definitely bottles I've had to chuck after boiling, soaking in oxy and using solvent or oil on with a scraper. I still couldn't rid it of a layer of adhesive that was sticky to the touch. Can't remember brand but definitely craft.

Sam Adams labels used to come off if you complained about them too loudly.

 

[Retrofit]

I remember an hour into scrubbing bottles this question popped into my head.... "Why the fk am I doing this?"
Then I stopped taking labels off.

A buddy of mine was over and we were obviously drinking and he stopped and said, "Why is the label still on this bottle?"

And I looked at him and said, "Why not?"

It was a mind blowing experience for both of us, and then he stopped scrubbing labels off his bottles.

 

[amandabab]

There are definitely bottles I've had to chuck after boiling, soaking in oxy and using solvent or oil on with a scraper. I still couldn't rid it of a layer of adhesive that was sticky to the touch. Can't remember brand but definitely craft.

Hot water and a few drops of dish soap have never failed me, even foil and plastic film labels.
I think people come up with a lot of methods that just don't work as well as dropping them in a sink of hot water. even oxy clean doesn't work as well/fast.

 

[0202]

Those aren't methods I came up with, those are fairly standard methods of removing an adhesive. Either way, there are certainly bottles that work easier, and I'd usually have a friend over and begrudgingly get to business making bottles available for brewing I want to say the stubborn ones were Sierra Nevada or Victory, but it's been too long to be sure. Ironically I recently removed some labels from larger bottles so I can make some custom ones as gifts and they only required hot water, clean as a whistle.