Best Way to Remove Beer Labels

Use only bottles with water soluble glue

 

A good bit of bleach and a little bit of oxy-clean. Over night.
But be sure to rinse thoroughly.
That will remove the labels, guaranteed.

 

+1 bleach and water soaking hot water, real hot water can work to, but you'll go through a lot of it if you have a large amount of bottles

 

I always went the hot water and oxyclean over-night soak approach. Usually the labels were floating in the morning, but for some you had to peel them off. And if they didn't peel off, I tossed the bottles as it wasn't worth my time.

 

I use hot water and dish soap. Works for most labels. Scrape and scrub

 

You'll quickly learn which brands are easy and which are hard. Those half-liter bottles of German wheat beer (Weihenstephaner for sure, but also Hofbräu I think) have labels that just fall right off after a few minutes in the water. A little scrub removes any residue. I also love that size of bottle, it saves time on bottling day (and space in my dishwasher—I sanitize my bottles by running them through a "sanitize" cycle without any soap), but it's not so much beer that I feel like I can't crack one open on a random weeknight.

The bottles are pricey, but they come with some excellent beer inside. [Edited to add: I mean they come from the store with excellent beer inside. By the time I've filled them up, caveat emptor.]

 

Ive found that most of the german and belgian commercial beers that are sold in my area have labels that come off quite easily after a short soak in hot water. Sam Adams' labels are very easy to remove also.

 

Many German brewers, in the German market, are using standard 500 ml bottles that are re-used. Not recycled but re-used. If you ever see a 500 ml bottle that looks like it has white glass abrasions at the top where the neck meets the body and along the bottom, it is a re-use bottle that has been around a while.

Point is, they are soaking off labels, sanitizing and re-using. Those labels have to come off easy or the system doesn't work. The bottles are a bit more robust as well.

I can guess that if they are bottling for export in 12 ounce bottles, same label equipment.

Cheers.

 

Chlorine, Oxyclean, hot soapy water, PBW (my preference); regardless of what you use to get the labels to slip off relatively easily, I agree with @pweis909 on trashing the bottles if the labels stick.

UFO labels come off easily, too. Not sure about the rest of Harpoon's offerings.

 

Buy a keg.

 

A lot depends on the type of label, paper will come off easy with a day soak in soapy water. I've seen some plastic labels that are a real bitch, no way for the water to penetrate and loosen the glue. I've noticed that import labels are the easiest. Stone brewing uses a super tough plastic that is way more trouble to remove than its worth.

 

If you are removing labels for a collection be careful about the strength of the Oxiclean solution that you use if you choose that method. I've had that chemical remove some ink from the label.

EDIT: You might also read my post in this thread.
https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/beer-labels.499994/

 

Hot water for >15 minutes, then use the back blunt end of a spoon to scrape them off, then scrub with a brillo pad to remove excess adhesive. For any labels that are relatively difficult to take off, throw those into the recycle bin, it just ain't worth any extra hassle.

 

A putty knife also works well.

^^^ This.

 

A PBW soak does the trick for me with most labels -- they tend to fall off and the glue evaporates as well (make sure to wear rubber gloves!). And if that don't do the trick, I follow @dmtaylor's lead and recycle them.