Sticky Labels

[mrb]

Well, I like to reuse old bottles because it's cost effective. (Usually my old bottles that I clean the heck out of.)

BUT.....

Some companies use adheisive on their labels that I can't even get off with a good soak in warm water.

ANY IDEAS?????

 

[Moonpile]

Well, I like to reuse old bottles because it's cost effective. (Usually my old bottles that I clean the heck out of.)

BUT.....

Some companies use adheisive on their labels that I can't even get off with a good soak in warm water.

ANY IDEAS?????

Scrub them with a stiff scrubrush while the bottle is in the water. It's kind of a PIA, but it's the only thing I've ever found that really works.

I'll be glad to hear if anyone else adds ideas to this.

Moon

 

[the_bird]

I soak them in a little bleach water, although some are still a PITA even after that. Lots of folks swear by Oxyclean for this application.

 

[Schlenkerla]

1 cup of ammonia in 5 gal water will work wonders for labels. The smell is quite strong. If you do this do it outside and you might try using rubber gloves. They require an overnight soak. Get a big kegger tub to do this. Its good for swamp cooling fermenters and blow off containment, so it won't be a waste of $$$.

From what I have heard Oxyclean works too.

If you decide to make your own beer labels I recommend Avery 6464 labels. They are removable like post-it notes. You might have to order them online. Many of the office supply stores don't have'em. My office max will order them and ship them to me free of charge.

http://www.avery.com/us/Main?topic=All+Topics&Ne=1010&N=1010&toplevel=1010&catalogcode=WEB01&start=yes&action=search.ESearch&kw=6464

 

[seyahmit]

Oxyclean is the best in my opinion. I used ammonia once and vowed never again. After letting the bottles soak a full day, I still had to scrape most of the bottles and my hands stunk for a couple of days.

I use a smaller cooler that I can fit 18 bottles at a time. I pour a little Oxyclean in the cooler and add hot water. Over the span of 1-2 hours, I will add enough water to overflow the cooler and purge the top foamy layer from the Oxyclean. Most if not all of your labels will either be floating or will just slide off the bottle.

 

[pa-in-utah]

I use baking soda and hot water. Most labels peel off nicely. Then a quick scrub with a stiff brush and you are good.

Amstel bottles suck cuz the labels are plastic. I use a razor blade to peel them off then soak with the others in baking soda.

 

[jma99]

Get thee to thy hardware store and get some TSP
Tri Sodium Phosphate

Will remove any label! Even the dreaded Sam Adams!

 

[mrb]

Thanks for the help!!! Bottle cleaning is the biggest PIA of this whole process.
So much for my dishwashing liquid and warm water.

Is OxyClean that expensive?

 

[boo boo]

Get thee to thy hardware store and get some TSP
Tri Sodium Phosphate

Will remove any label! Even the dreaded Sam Adams!

Thanks for that tip. I have some wine bottles that I have to use a lot of elbow grease to remove the labels from.

 

[Joe028]

hot soak in PBW sanitizer has worked for me. To each his own. Good luck.

 

[ColoradoXJ13]

oxyclean for me, removes almost everything easily...I soak the bottles for 10 min, slide off the labels, soak 10 more min, then the glue comes right off with an abrasive sponge. I got like 5lbs of oxyclean for $8 I think...

 

[BarleyWater]

I just use hot water and a scrub pad, no labels I haven't been able to remove. Even Heineken labels adhesive will come off with a good scrubby pad, just soak, peel of the label, soak, and scrub off the adhesive.

As for re-labeling, I don't know who I got this tip from, someone on here, but plain paper and milk works great. Just print the labels on plain ol' printer paper and dampen the back with a little milk. It dries quick, stays on great, and comes off with a rinse. Best of all, it's by far the cheapest way to make labels.

 

[razyrsharpe]

Get thee to thy hardware store and get some TSP
Tri Sodium Phosphate

Will remove any label! Even the dreaded Sam Adams!

whoa! not much left of the label then is there?! TSP will burn them to a crisp. but very effective i imagine. i just used a long soak and a painter's 5-in-1 knife to scrape them off. but yes, it was a pain.

 

[Schlenkerla]

whoa! not much left of the label then is there?! TSP will burn them to a crisp. but very effective i imagine. i just used a long soak and a painter's 5-in-1 knife to scrape them off. but yes, it was a pain.

Better use gloves or it'll take a layer of skin with the labels.

 

[bummerkit]

oxyclean for sure

 

[greg75]

Get thee to thy hardware store and get some TSP
Tri Sodium Phosphate

Will remove any label! Even the dreaded Sam Adams!

Funny, I always found the Sam Adams labels to be among the easiest to remove. In fact, I've tended to buy more Sam Adams than I otherwise would for this reason...

Laminated labels are the hardest for me, because the laminant layer doesn't allow water to effectively soak the adhesive on the back. Redhook is a common commercial example with labels like this. I typically throw these bottles directly in the recycle bin.

 

[IowaStateFan]

Funny, I always found the Sam Adams labels to be among the easiest to remove. In fact, I've tended to buy more Sam Adams than I otherwise would for this reason...

Laminated labels are the hardest for me, because the laminant layer doesn't allow water to effectively soak the adhesive on the back. Redhook is a common commercial example with labels like this. I typically throw these bottles directly in the recycle bin.

OXYCLEAN OXYCLEAN OXYCLEAN!!!! I can't say it enough. Oxyclean works great. Yesterday I filled a cooler with hot water and 2 Tablespoons of Oxyclean and let 30 bottles soak while I was out and about. When I came home I ran a bottle brush inside each bottle and rinsed them out. Took about 20 minutes. I did have to peel the labels off the Sam Adams bottles and wipe the glue off with a sponge. It was peeling, not scraping and wiping, not scrubbing - really no big deal. The Red Hook labels were at the bottom of the cooler - no peeling, no scrubbing, no wiping.

 

[hnefatafl]

Another brewer for Oxyclean. 98% of the labels fell off within a few minutes, and it was a simple matter of wiping the bottles down with a cloth to get the remaining glue off.

However! There is one brewer up here (Granville Island Brewing in Vancouver, BC) who uses something close to Krazy Glue to weld their labels on. No amount of soaking in Oxyclean even makes a dent. However, a good rub down with mineral spirits dissolved the glue pretty quick. All you have to do then is get rid of the smell. Oddly enough, Oxyclean works well for that.

And I found the trick of using milk to put the labels on works amazingly well, and they come off REALLY quickly.

 

[GoBrewers]

I second ilikestuff. No label adhesive is a match for hot water and a copper scrubby. You probably have one right next to the sink anyway, so after you pour the beer, just rinse out the bottle and scrub the bottle off. Twenty seconds' worth of work.

 

[BarleyWater]

The Red Hook labels were at the bottom of the cooler - no peeling, no scrubbing, no wiping.

I find to be among the hardest, go figure. I also de-label right after pouring my beer, an extra few seconds and no boxes of labeled bottles to deal with. Of course you could always just not worry about it all together, but I like making my own labels.

 

[mrb]

OXYCLEAN!!!!! I used it and it did the trick!!!!

LOVE IT!!!!

 

[Moonpile]

I tried the Oxyclean and it's FANTASTIC!!!! Wal-mart sells tubs of it for $8, which looks like it would last me a good, long while.

I put 2+ cases of bottles in a keg tub, sprinkled oxy on them and tried to get some into each bottle (since these bottles had been in my basement for many moons and had not been rinsed). I used about 3 or 4 scoops for the whole keg tub, then filled with hot water, taking care to fill the bottles first.

I then went and listed to one album and came back and the labels were sliding right off. Only one or two bottles required even my thumbnail to get labels off. Some residual glue needed scrubbing.

Dead crickets and old dried up moldy beer residue came floating up out of the bottles. Nasty as all heck, but it makes me wonder about the bottles I had used soap and elbow grease on! Well, this was just the delabelling stage. I'll be re-cleaning them with focus on the insides at a later date.

I also let a batch of bottles, prepared in much the same way, soak for 24 hours. All but one or two labels were completely off and the residual glue was even gone from three quarters of the bottles.

I strongly reccomend this for bottles, especially if they're pretty funky to start with.

Moon