Tips for getting Adhesive off of Bottles

The vast majority of labels come off soaking in warm oxyclean solution, or PBW if you have some of that. Just a little scrub with a scrubby sponge finishes the job after the label comes off.

 

I've used the mister clean magic eraser sponges and they work really well on most glues. There have been a couple that must have used gorilla glue, I just tossed those bottles.

 

As previously mentioned Oxiclean will do the trick.

Seeing as how PBW is quite expensive here ($13 per #) where as Oxiclean is fairly inexpensive ($12 for 5#) I did a little experiment where I soaked a couple labelled bottles in warm water with both cleaners for an hour. After the hour was up the labels fell right off both sets of bottles. Therefore, I no longer see the need to spend the extra money on the PBW, at least for cleaning bottles.

 

I soak outside in the sun on warm days, or use hot water if doing indoors. I find this makes a noticeable difference in how quickly/easily they come off.

PBW is more expensive, but very much worth it for a lot of other tricky household cleaning. It does wonders for your coffee carafe, for example.

 

When I get bottles where the adhesive won't come off, I recycle those -- bye bye. Most labels come off no problem with hot water. It's not worth any trouble to mess around with harsh chemicals or elbow grease, IF you have enough bottles where you can pick and choose. Heck... I know guys who just leave the labels on. Who says you need to take them off? They've got a point. Still I take mine off anyway.

 

Goo Gone works well on the tough glue that remains after the label is removed. I think there is also a similar product called Goof Off, or something like that.

 

The product I use is called Bottle Gone.

 

I used to always remove labels, but then I figured "Why?" I drink most of the damn beer anyhow. So now I bottle 1/4 of the batch in label-less bottles to give away and don't worry so much about the bottles I'm gonna drink.

 

Be sure to get Oxyclean that doesn't have any perfumes / fragrances. I believe it is called Oxyclean Free? I use One Step which is chemically the same as Oxyclean but without any of the additives. More expensive though.

 

The brewery supply store I go to has that white powder stuff you mix with cold water to activate. I think it's the PBW that was mentioned above. I put my bottles in the sink the night before bottling and the labels will literally fall off the bottle if they haven't already done so over night. It leaves no residue behind. Note... if you get the labels out of the sink and place them on the counter sticky side down, they will re-stick when dried... Um don't ask how I know that.

 

Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't pbw an alkaline cleaner while oxy clean is neutral?

 

Oxyclean works great. Sometimes I let the bottles soak overnight. There are a few brands that seem to use super industrial glue. Be patient with those and they will give too.

 

If you don't mind having to super rinse everything twice, an ammonia solution will work wonders.

 

Goo gone works.

 

I'd think it would leave a little citrus kick too.

 

My bottling process incorporates a triple rinse between oxyclean/scrub-brush and Starsan phase. Not sure if each triple rinse = one super rinse.