removing bottle labels

PBW.

 

Just a thought ...but for the tough ones send a S.A.S.E. to the brewery and ask nicely for a label or two.

 

Hot water and oxyclean works really well. Let it soak for a while and most labels peel off. If they dont come off after this, I generally ditch it. I collect labels too and I have found some breweries have labels that never come off(great lakes) or disintegrate or run when they come in contact with water (RR). Some are just stickers though and peel off but it takes a bit of pulling (cigar city).

 

check this out...

http://patrickbarry.com/blog/how-to-remove-beer-labels-intact-from-bottles

 

Self Addressed Stamped Envelope

If you do a search of the Brewerania forum you'll see a few posts like yours with good suggestions.

 

Great Lakes is my nemesis in labels, I have a Christmas Ale from 2010 that is still only half off.

 

Def some hot water and oxyclean, mine usually are floating in the water by the time I walk back to check them out.

 

My mom received a book for collecting wine bottle labels and taking notes on the wine. To remove them it comes with label stickers that you use to peel the label off and save it, they work perfectly.

 

I've seen something like this before and I remember a few people recommending a quick go (10-15 seconds) in the microwave helps with getting the label off.

 

Depends on how much water you have, so its hard for me to tell. Sometimes I use too little and they don't come off, so I would add about a scoop if you are soaking a bunch of bottles.

 

i run them through the dishwasher. most come off. I lay them flat and call it a day.

 

When myself and a buddy went to the homebrew store for the first time, the salesman gave us a compound called Straight A. One tablespoon in a gallon of water (we use warm), throw your bottles in there, and most will come right off. Some breweries (Duck Rabbit, Troegs) require more soaking than others, but some (Bells, Terrapin, Guinness) come off after maybe about two minutes. We just use it in the sink while brewing to clean up our bottles from the last week of drinking (and while drinking and brewing), and it works like a charm. NOTE: some labels don't come off very well and peel. Learn which breweries they are, and soak them extra. You could probably just let them dry overnight (or maybe use a hair dryer?) and they'll be fine for whatever you want to do with them.

 

Hot water and Oxiclean. Every label comes off with ease. Doesn't take much Oxi. I use the Versatile Free because i reuse my bottles for home brewing and this has no Dyes or perfumes

 

that article was nutty. i never knew that there are wine remover labels and turning the silkscreened bottles into glasses...GENIUS! doubt i'll do it, but would love to have a darkness glass or a few.

 

Kills me the way some breweries put enough glue on their labels to keep tiles on the space shuttle!

From my experience, seems like German breweries use the least amount of glue. Soak them for 10 minutes and they're floating...

 

I've heard Dark Horse are the worst to get off. I can't wait to try one in Oxiclean. It has taken off every label i have thrown at it..