Anyone have a good idea how to relabel bottles? What is the best way to label and then reuse bottles. I have about 4-5 beers that I will be bottling soon. With that, I'll be reusing the same handful of bottles throughout the kegs. Meaning, I'll bottle some stout for a neighbor today and then a sour tomorrow. I'm looking for the best way to label them short of painters tape and a sharpie. Is there a label that can be easily wiped off and re-written on? My wife suggested painting the bottles with dry erase paint. I'm open to suggestions.
I don't know if this is any better than using "painter's **** and a Sharpie", but when I have multiple beers and want to keep them straight as to what's in the bottle, I just use a thin-point Sharpie and put an abbreviation on the cap. You won't reuse that cap, so you don't even need to wipe it clean for the next use. (This assumes that you're not using swing-top bottles, and that you're not looking for anything halfway fancy.)
I'll cap my beer, dry the crown cap, and write a letter on the top with a Sharpie. I'm assuming that people don't try to reuse their crown caps, so you'll always have an unmarked surface to write on. Someday, I'll write down what SDB stands for before I forget. Great beer, whatever I brewed.
As these guys ^^^ said, I also just use a sharpie on the cap. If you want them to look a bit nicer but don't want to make full labels, you can do something on a sheet of Avery address labels and stick them on. I'm too lazy to do anything more than write on the cap however.
If you want a nice label on which you merely print the beer's name after attaching a label, or you want to add graphics with your computer printer, these (https://www.amazon.com/Home-Brew-Ohio-KS-RBM9-ENWR-Making/dp/B006O2D5VO#feature-bullets-btf) are what I use when I want a nice label. They are 8-1/2 x 11 inch sheets that you print full sheets using your printer then cut to your desired size, moisten the back and stick it on the bottle. Or you can skip the printer, cut blank labels to your desired size, moisten and attach, let dry, then write on it. Because the glue is water soluble, it comes off easily. I soak a bottle in hot water for about 5 minutes and the label floats off with virtually no glue reside left behind. You have to wash the bottle anyway to reuse it, so no extra work is involved here. Not all homebrew stores stock this type of label paper, but I have found them in one store that I use. They come in 4-5 colors, but white in the most versatile if you want to make colored graphics on your computer.
I used to be a sharpie guy. Lately I've been buying different colored crown caps. The LHBS has something like 5 or 6 different colors. I just rotate the colors and in my brewing notes remark about what color crown i used at bottling (in case i forget but i usually dont).
That's more that I was hoping for, but seems simple enough, and it sounds like it will come off easily. I'd do different cap colors, but we are doing different variants on the same stout (coffee, vanilla, etc.) so you can only have so many colors. I'll just grab these at Northern today. I'm not looking to fill out the entire bottle, just a name, date and a few other words to describe what's inside. Thanks for the info.
Tho not bottle labeling, I store my bottles in milk crates and lable the crates. Less work and less money. When I have just a few bottles left, I transfer them to my aging shelves and mark that row of bottles.
I'm thinking of when/ if I give out bottles of homebrew to friends or other homebrewers. I'd like to have more info on the bottle. If it's just me drinking them, I'll just write on the cap. I'm looking down the line and I'll be passing quite a few out for the holidays. I'll get the labels from Northern and see how they go on and come off.
To remove labels from commercial bottles - I use a 5 gallon bucket, filled with liquid Ammonia from Wal-Mart at about $1 a gallon. It will hold about 12 bottles. just put them in and sink them, opening up. This also sterilizes them. I then use an inside bottle washing attachment on an outside faucet. I then take them inside for a hot water rinse. Labels are left in the bucket 99% of the time. Strain out the labels and reuse the ammonia - MANY more times! As for labels - I have the Brother P700 (P-touch) and the Brother QL 700. Both have a variety of colored print and colored paper options. Some are available as removable label option. I get the label rolls from Amazon.
I can't recall anyone ever mentioning ammonia as a method to cut thru the glue, so I'll have to give that a try someday. What is the "inside (the) bottle washing attachment" that you mention?
I've been doing the color-coded caps, but my brew shop occasionally gets caps with different prints. The IPAs get the caps with the hops print. Sometimes the sharpie comes out. But I'm going to check out some of these label options. It will go a lot better for when I give folks several different kinds of beer. I didn't want to have to do anything crazy to get labels off the bottles (again).
