Removing Labels

Shagger · Post by **Shagger** » Sunday Jul 23, 2006 10:45 am

What is the best way to remove labels?
What methods do you guys & girls use?
Why bother & waste time? I'd prefer my bottles looking sparkling without the grotty labels on them.

Cheers,
Shagger.

JubJub · Post by **JubJub** » Sunday Jul 23, 2006 11:09 am

Dishwasher. It gets the crap of the outside of them, particularly if they are second hand. I was so busy just the other day geting all the crap out of the inside of some bottles that I didn't notice that all the crap from the inside was being replaced with all the crap frm the outside

If you can, don't have any rinse aid in it.

Jub

lethaldog · Post by **lethaldog** » Sunday Jul 23, 2006 11:12 am

Best way to remove labels is to fill the suckers with nice hot water and let them sit for a few minutes ( glass bottles obviously ) they should just come straight off! The other way is to just soak them in nice hot water for 5-10 minutes and same again they should bassically slide straight off, you may just have to scrub a little of the glue off witch when hot is a peice of cake!! hope this helped

melbourne man · Post by **melbourne man** » Sunday Jul 23, 2006 11:12 am

i soak them in a sink full of hot water for a while, then most of the labels can be pulled off easily except for VB and carlton draught and maybe some others.

then to get rid of the glue they leave behing i either send them through the washing machine or i soak them in a bucket of stericlean and water.

yardglass · Post by **yardglass** » Sunday Jul 23, 2006 1:09 pm

melbourne man wrote:

i send them through the washing machine

melbourne man · Post by **melbourne man** » Sunday Jul 23, 2006 1:30 pm

i mean dishwasher

that isn't to say that the washing machine wouldn't work i just havn't tried it yet

Shagger · Post by **Shagger** » Sunday Jul 23, 2006 1:38 pm

Hey thanks for the quick replies.
Unfortunately I'm the dishwasher here, I might try soaking them in an esky of hot water for a while.

Cheers,
Shagger.

JubJub · Post by **JubJub** » Sunday Jul 23, 2006 2:57 pm

If your going to soak them in hot water, throw a teaspoon of alkaline salts to the mix, it'll rip through the labels and melt the glue and clean the outsides.

Jub

Shagger · Post by **Shagger** » Sunday Jul 23, 2006 6:44 pm

JubJub wrote:throw a teaspoon of alkaline salts to the mix

Jub

Is that Bicarb Soda?

I found the VB & Carlton Draught bottle labels very stubborn even after 45 mins in very hot water, as melbourne man said.
The glue came off with a dolly scrubber no problems.
The new Coopers longnecks were a breeze.

JubJub · Post by **JubJub** » Sunday Jul 23, 2006 10:06 pm

Nup. The alkaline salts that I refer to are sodium metasilicate or what is sold as brewers detergent at my HBS. I have a feeling it is the same a dishwasher powder. It gives a soapy feel to the water.

Jub

da_damage_done · Post by **da_damage_done** » Monday Jul 24, 2006 10:39 am

I chuck the bottles in the laundry sink with hot/warm water and a couple of capfuls of bleach leave them to soak for a couple of hours or overnight and the labels pretty much fall off by themselves

I do however have to scrub off the remaining glue - with a scourer (usually the half yellow half green spongy thing) and the glue comes off really easy

And your bottles sparkle!

Cheers

rwh · Post by **rwh** » Monday Jul 24, 2006 11:48 am

Gawd, bottling's enough work as it is... I just leave the labels on. What difference does it make to what's inside the bottle!? ;)

Noodles · Post by **Noodles** » Monday Jul 24, 2006 11:56 am

Shagger wrote: The new Coopers longnecks were a breeze.

How good are the new Coopers long necks? Sensational. I had been drinking CUB beers in long necks, building up a nice little collection for bottling. Then I came across the Cooopers long necks and the bottles are so far superior it's not funny. Not only are the bottles better (thicker & crown seals) but the beer is very, very tasty.

The Coopers are about $8.00 extra per box which is well worth the money IMHO. See-ya CUB, been nice knowing you.

Shagger · Post by **Shagger** » Monday Jul 24, 2006 3:41 pm

Noodles wrote: How good are the new Coopers long necks? Sensational.

Yeah, Cooper's recently introduced them with the homebrewer in mind!
What a top bunch of fellas!

melbourne man · Post by **melbourne man** » Monday Jul 24, 2006 9:35 pm

when i make a brew i put labels on the bottles. they are unistat lazer printer labels from office works.

when it comes to removing them i find it very hard and i have to soak them in cold water as the hot water bakes on the glue and then scrape off the glue with my finger nail.

does anyone else use these labels and how do you get them off.

what other methods of labeling are there?

Cat · Post by **Cat** » Monday Jul 24, 2006 10:37 pm

I've heard about people just doing plain paper labels and sticking them onto the bottles with a milk and water solution, which come right off when soaked in water. Only problem is if you store the beer bottles in an esky you tend to lose all of your labels as well.

Choco · Post by **Choco** » Wednesday Jul 26, 2006 7:03 am

If you don't need the bottles straight away just soak in cold water for a week or so, it will remove everything, even foil. You might have to give the bottles abit of a rub to get rid of the glue after the label comes of.

halminator · Post by **halminator** » Wednesday Jul 26, 2006 9:54 am

For my newly aquired bottled I always soak overnight and a slight rub with a scourer the next day and any labels and glue come straight off.

For my labels, I simply use a small sticker on the cap which I record in my brew log to tell me which one is which. It works well, is simple, cheap and best of all my three year old daughter loves to help out her Dad out the stickers on.

The only problem I've found is that sometime the gold star sticker on the gold cap is hard to see after I've had a few....

melbourne man · Post by **melbourne man** » Wednesday Jul 26, 2006 4:58 pm

Why don't you just write the batch number on the cap with a permanent marker.

Krusty · Post by **Krusty** » Thursday Jul 27, 2006 12:51 am

melbourne man wrote:what other methods of labeling are there?

I label my beers on the cap with a fine permanent marker meant for writing labels on cd's/dvd's. The only trouble with this is that it requires a steady hand.
I used to label my brews with a number which corresponded to the number brew it was, but then I lost the brew log. My record keeping skills are appalling!
-Krusty