Label Removal

Soak them in very hot water. Careful you do not want to get burned!

Easier if you also fill them with hot water before soaking (they sink). Scrub away the remaining glue with a cleaning brush.

Yes and yes. Finish them off in the dishwasher, but make sure you get most of the label off, or it will likely clog the drain.

Make sure you give them a really good inspection, and final cleaning with iodine, or similar before bottling. Cleanliness is next to godliness when brewing.

Try to keep the iodine on the outside of the bottle.

Negative, I always did an Iodine rinse prior to bottling to remove/kill any little nasties which might be lurking in those hard to reach places inside the bottle (as instructed by the brew-master who I bought all my equipment). You must keep in mind to rinse out the iodine with distilled water to avoid unpleasant flavors. Some people use bleach, but that's not the preferred method. One tiny little bug can ruin the whole batch/bottle... keep it all sterile.

Also you can use these small white tablets (forgot the name at the moment) which can be bought at any brew-shop. Most people use them for whine making rather than beer, but some people crush/dilute them with water and use them in place of the iodine.

Cheers! And good brewing to you!

I think I would use vodka.

Stick your own label over the top of the existing one, saves time and effort and no one will ever know the difference.

Try soaking the label in soda, ie, coke, pepsi or the like.. Leave it a minute and peel. It works great if you ever get one of those nasty no parking 12" x 12" labels in your windshield. I learned it from a drunky while I was trying to brush it out...It might work for you,,, let me know....

How in hell would a drunky know? since when do they drink Coke or Pepsi?

For wine bottle I always start with hot water.

If there's still some gunk, you could use some "degunker" sold at most hardware store.

But my favorite "sticky stuff remover" is the regular lighter fluid. You know the kind that you use to refill those Zippo Lighters. It's way cheaper than the degunker, and not quite as chemical wich means it wont eat through plastic and other soft surfaces like some hardcore degunker.

Enjoy !

Use ammonia in the first hot water, it will dissolve the label glue very quickly, then I agree with previous post to then wash in hot water in the dishwasher.

This has done me very good with beer bottles to accept my personal brew!!

Steve

Some good ideas here already. Also consider steam. For starters, you might try a teakettle. Wave the labels through the exiting steam. If this works, you might then set up a more mass-production scheme. Usually the labels should come off pretty much intact, not in mushy scraps. Kudos on your project, by the way.

The usual label adhesive gums are prepared from water soluble adhesives.

Hence the following options are worth trying.

1]Plain water soaking to wet out and peel away the label.

2] Hot water soaking

3] Steaming in cooker

When you use heat, fill the bottle with water to avoid air expansion and breaking of the bottle.

4] You can also wrap the label with wet cloth and release after enough soaking time.

Hot water will genrally do the trick if you let them soak long enough, but admittedly not all labels and glue are created equal -you may find some labels take longer then others. You can use a solvent like zippo lighter fluid (many commercial paint/tar/wax removers are basically the same thing), or if you want something less "smelly" you can use a solution of water and liquid laundry detergant. Simply score the label multiple times with a knife, and spray it with the solution. Let it soak in for a minute or two, and then scrape it right off. This also works very well on wallpaper.

I am of the belief that labels for beer and wine are adhered with a water soluble glue. For this glue, the ammonia soak should work well. Try filling the kitchen sink with warm water with some ammonia added and let soak over night. If larger numbers are needed, is becomes the bath tub. If needed, you might be able to find a discarded bath tub that could be put back into service in your still shop.

If you find that the glue does not dissolve well with this method, you may have found a rubber based glue. For this I would suggest mineral spirits soaked into a small cloth or paper towel and allowed to lay on top of the label and soak into it. The rubber based glues are more difficult to remove than the water based glues. If you can, try to avoid the brands with that glue. Good luck. Send samples.

Boil em. Sterilizes the bottles too.

Thank all of you for your comments & suggestions

Hello ID Clark,

I am not sure if you want to save some of the nice labels or you just want an easy way to remove them?

I made mostly apple wine, but other more strongly flavoured ingredients like rose-hip, raspberry, blackberry, and all kinds of other fruits are nice, but it is sometimes difficult to leave them long enough to ferment and clear before drinking, right?

I cleaned bottles by the hundred by leaving them in hot water in a trash can I bought just for that. The labels come clean off.

If it is your first time get the stuff you need together before you start to do anything. The most important part is disinfecting the bottles. You can get little tablets for that, called "campden tablets". The Home Winemaking Page - More info I use 1 crushed and dissolved campden tablet per 10 litres of must (0.5 g sulphite) ... In making 1 wine bottle full of sterilising solution I use about: ... www.geocities.com/mipeman/info.html

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Take care, and when can I come round and taste all your hard work? ;=)

The glue is hard to get off the label just soak in water.