I have worked on pealing 200+ different beers labels which I plan to collect in a photo album normally utilizing a hot water soak for an hour and peeling off slowly. Cheap glued labels tend to come off easy but I was wondering if anyone else had this weird hobby and found useful techiniques for those tough labels(founders for example).
Almost always peel off the labels of a beer bottle but never collected them. I do collect the caps though.
Homebrewers do it alot to reuse the labeless bottles. My mother suggested to me once dropping a bit of detergent on the water and it seems to work a bit better (I'm not sure if this is just the power of suggestion working on me, though)
Use a little PBW or OxiClean in the hot water and the labels will literally float to the top in 15-20 minutes. No peeling necessary I think any oxygen based cleaner will do the trick. http://www.brewandgrow.com/brew/equipment/cleaning-sanitation/cleaning/pbw-cleaner.html
I've found general homebrewing sanitizer StarSan works quite well. Some bottles require much more soak time than others. Bells for example can get the label off cleanly with a meager 10 min soak. Some like New Glarus require a full day soak and even then sometimes it doesn't work. I've meant to try OxiClean as well, I've heard great things.
New Glarus must have changed their glue. Their labels were always the first to flat off in hot water. I have not done one of theirs in over a year now. To the OP: do a search in this thread for this topic. There have been other posts about removing labels, and I can't remember all of the hints.
Hot water with some oxiclean in a cooler. Closing the top keeps the water hot longer and the labels will eventually just peel right off. Some will be floating in the water and some will need a little help. All will eventually come off though.
For me, baking soda works just as well as oxyclean for most labels. I've never really worked out the cost difference, though. Good luck on your collection, I'm closing in on 500 myself!
I've experienced ink being removed from the label if too much Oxyclean is used, so you need to experiment to determine a cautious amount that still does the job. However, there are always some labels that just won't come off regardless of what you do, short of delicate surgery with a razor blade.
just an update, used a couple tablespoons of oxyclean with a sink full of warm water with a one hour soak, and though those tough labels didn't just peel away without effort, they were a bit easier to deal with than just water alone. Next I'll try PBW and post the comparison.
I tried the microwave method a few days ago for the first time on some vinyl-like labels. I heated bottles one at a time for 40 seconds and that softened the glue enough to allow me to slowly peal the label off. Be sure to have some paper handy on which to stick the label because most of the glue comes off with the label.
I use hot water and oxiclean or a hair dryer and razor blade for the sticker types. I "try" and keep all me unique labels.
