20 replies to this topic

[DgNt]

I've found a pretty steady supply of bottles from a great local pub. A fair proportion are Stella, the bottles are fine but removing the clear plastic labels is a bit of a pain (more specifically the residue -a razor quickly removes the label). There are a few others with those plastic labels as well. Does anyone have any tried and true methods to quickly and completely remove them without using nasty solvents? Not a huge deal, if desperate, I'll use them but otherwise they are happy in the recycle bin.For most bottles I just keep a razor blade by the sink and soak the bottle in a large plastic cup while I enjoy my beer, peel with the aid of a razor and I'm done. Best seem to be german bottles, the labels seem to just fall off after 10 min soak.Cheers!

[ncbeerbrewer]

Even though I only bottle now when I need arises (not often) or for friends. I have found that submersing bottles in Oxyclean seems to do a pretty good job in removing labels. It softens up the label and removal of the adhesive is not too difficult either. Some labels will just peal off too. At times though I have just said heck with cleaning off the labels and just mark the beers on the bottle cap. Cleaning bottles on the outside is the worst part of bottling (for the most part)Hope that helps,Mike

[MakeMeHoppy]

It's been a while but I always thought hot water soak for 5-10 minutes did a good job of softening the glue. I then used a plastic pampered chef scraper to get any tough parts off. Finally I used brillo and hot water to get the remaining glue from the bottle. I remember Harp having a plastic label that all but fell right off with hot water, but the bottles were not good for my capper. I bottled well before I bought oxyclean, but I've seen so many recommendations for it and it is so cheap I think I would start with that.

[jimdkc]

Goo Gone. Put a few drops on the adhesive, let it sit for a few minutes, scrape or wipe the adhesive off. wash the bottle.Jim

[strangebrewer]

Even though I only bottle now when I need arises (not often) or for friends. I have found that submersing bottles in Oxyclean seems to do a pretty good job in removing labels. It softens up the label and removal of the adhesive is not too difficult either. Some labels will just peal off too. At times though I have just said heck with cleaning off the labels and just mark the beers on the bottle cap. Cleaning bottles on the outside is the worst part of bottling (for the most part)Hope that helps,Mike

+1Hot water with a healthy scoop of oxyclean will remove most labels. Most will slip right off after a good soak no effort required. Now wine bottles are a different story. Whatever the glue is that they use to stick those labels on is not nearly as soluble as beer bottle label glue.

[jayb151]

Goo Gone. Put a few drops on the adhesive, let it sit for a few minutes, scrape or wipe the adhesive off. wash the bottle.Jim

This is the only thing I can recommend, though I've never done it.Oxy clean doesn't work, PBW doesn't even work. That glue is way too difficult to get off. I've just given up trying to take those labels off and simply throw then in the recycling. It bothers me though because Two brother's brewing uses those plastic labels; so now I have to get rid of the bottles from a local place, and I've significantly slowed buying their beers since I can't reuse the labels. It's all good though, because Goose Island switched to pry-cap bottles. Now I'm just buying more GI!

[Deerslyr]

When did Stella move to plastic labels??? I inherited a several cases of Stella bottles from a Pakistani friend and they were paper labels. For bottles with paper lables, I soak them in oxyclean... paper and glue comes clean off. The only one that might need some mild rubbing to get the glue off are Sierra Nevada. I actually keep one of those big plastic tubs with the rope handles in the garage filled with Oxyclean... Right now it's completely full of bottles that need to be rinsed and sanitized... but all the labels are off.For the plastic labels, like the kind on a Heineken bottle, you'd probably have to soak in hot water for I'd say no less than 10 minutes so you can peel it off. From there, I think I'd then toss them into the Oxyclean to get the residue off. Let them soak for a few days. Oh... on the Stella bottles... at least a couple of years ago with the European bottles, you HAVE to use a bench capper. The bottles didn't have the lip for the wing capper. But maybe you know this.

[Deerslyr]

This is the only thing I can recommend, though I've never done it.Oxy clean doesn't work, PBW doesn't even work. That glue is way too difficult to get off. I've just given up trying to take those labels off and simply throw then in the recycling. It bothers me though because Two brother's brewing uses those plastic labels; so now I have to get rid of the bottles from a local place, and I've significantly slowed buying their beers since I can't reuse the labels. It's all good though, because Goose Island switched to pry-cap bottles. Now I'm just buying more GI!

My neighbor goes through Pacifico... I came home one day and saw 4 cases of empties sitting in the garage. Nice brown bottles with standard paper labels that slid right off after the oxy soak.

[davelew]

This is the only thing I can recommend, though I've never done it.Oxy clean doesn't work, PBW doesn't even work. That glue is way too difficult to get off. I've just given up trying to take those labels off and simply throw then in the recycling. It bothers me though because Two brother's brewing uses those plastic labels; so now I have to get rid of the bottles from a local place, and I've significantly slowed buying their beers since I can't reuse the labels. It's all good though, because Goose Island switched to pry-cap bottles. Now I'm just buying more GI!

I've found that some labels that won't come off any other way will float off when submerged in a mixture of 1 cup Windex to 5 gallons water for an hour or so.Bleach is another thing to try. Both bleach and ammonia rinse off quite easily, but both definitely need to be rinsed. Oh yeah, and the obligatory note: don't mix bleach and ammonia, that makes phosgene which is a poison gas used in WWI.

[strangebrewer]

Bleach is another thing to try. Both bleach and ammonia rinse off quite easily, but both definitely need to be rinsed. Oh yeah, and the obligatory note: don't mix bleach and ammonia, that makes phosgene which is a poison gas used in WWI.

I'm a chemistry dork so I have to clarify here. While it's possible you could create phosgene from bleach an ammonia it would take some pretty specialized circumstances. The most likely outcome of mixing the two would be creating chlorine gas which was used early on in WWI as a chemical weapon so I recommend against mixing the two all the same.[/chemistrydork]

[Steve Urquell]

I have some of those bottles with the plastic labels and use them. I don't worry about taking them off. No harm in leaving them on--other than asthetic.As far as other bottles: I fill my cooler with hot water and oxyclean. ~ 30 bottles will fit in it. The water stays hot all day and all labels float off along with the glue.

[DgNt]

Thanks, I was going to try hot water and see what happens.. I'll try oxy and ammonia before I give up completely - I want something easy or recycle bin they go (I'd rather spend my time brewing than scrubbing). I've never found a paper label to be an issue, the razor makes it easy to peel in one piece and most paper label glue residue buffs off with a damp rag pretty easily.I have fallen in love with brewing and bottles are my overflow when my kegs are full. Fortunately 1/2 price bottle night will get me a case for 2 hrs at a bar I love.Cheers!

[zymot]

Hot water and some PBW (Professional Brewer Wash) by FiveStar Chemicals and an overnight soak is what you need. If that does not make the labels melt off, I throw the bottle away.Oxyclean is similar, but not the same. There are recipes with Oxyclean and something else (TSP?) and it is better, but not the same.Homebrewers like to crow about how cheap they get Oxyclean. I had Oxyclean leave a white powder residue on the bottles.I am a right tool for the job kind of guy. Oxyclean goes in my washing machine, PBW goes in my brewery.A 5 pound jar of PBW is not all that expensive. It works better and the savings in my time more than offsets the added expense. Besides, a dose of PBW is like 38 cents, if I save 75% with Oxyclean, that is only a 30 cents savings. 30 cents? I do not need the aggravation.

[cavman]

I use urn cleaner, it's a proffessional coffee equipment cleaner. I just keep a bucket of it mixed up and throw in a few bottles, the labels fall off within a couple of hours. I also use it as my cleaner in the brewery it works great.

[Steve Urquell]

I had Oxyclean leave a white powder residue on the bottles.

I've seen a few people post about having this issue. I use oxyclean free and have not. My bottles come out crystal clear. I wonder--do you think it's something with the water?

[zymot]

I've seen a few people post about having this issue. I use oxyclean free and have not. My bottles come out crystal clear. I wonder--do you think it's something with the water?

Something like that happens to me once. I do not know what caused the problem. As I was scrubbing each bottle, inside and out, for the second time, I swore to myself, "Never again, damn it, never!"The nickles and dimes I saved by using Oxyclean was a waste of my time.I know I am in the minority. Many people use Oxyclean and are happy with the results.You won't have to worry if you use PBW. That stuff is magic.

Edited by zymot, 11 February 2011 - 06:57 PM.

[No Party JKor]

If the label doesn't come off after soaking in oxyclean, I just recycle it. There are plenty of bottle out there with easy to remove labels, I don't need to fight with the ones that don't.

[Steve Urquell]

As I was scrubbing each bottle, inside and out, for the second time, I swore to myself, "Never again, damn it, never!"

I would have done the same.

[jayb151]

Hot water and some PBW (Professional Brewer Wash) by FiveStar Chemicals and an overnight soak is what you need. If that does not make the labels melt off, I throw the bottle away.Oxyclean is similar, but not the same. There are recipes with Oxyclean and something else (TSP?) and it is better, but not the same.Homebrewers like to crow about how cheap they get Oxyclean. I had Oxyclean leave a white powder residue on the bottles.I am a right tool for the job kind of guy. Oxyclean goes in my washing machine, PBW goes in my brewery.A 5 pound jar of PBW is not all that expensive. It works better and the savings in my time more than offsets the added expense. Besides, a dose of PBW is like 38 cents, if I save 75% with Oxyclean, that is only a 30 cents savings. 30 cents? I do not need the aggravation.

I agree that PBW is the best stuff to get labels off, but it won't work for this application. I've had plastic labeled bottled sit overnight in PBW and nothing happens to them. The OP's best bet is to try and remove the label in one piece, and try goo gone like jim said. Other than that, I don't know what will take the glue off, I've given up trying to clean those kinds of bottles.

[No Party JKor]

Yup, PBW/Oxyclean doesn't remove solvent based adhesives. Goo gone or acetone work.