How to peel off labels

[ShetlandBrewer]

I don't know mate, I think the colour makes all the difference!

I'm more worried that Stanely might be wanting his blade back before he gets all the labels off.....

[micmacmoc]

I used to work in the adhesive/ink trade. The standard test of adhesion is the cross hatch tape test....but to ge anything off...cross hatch the label with a sharp knife at 5mm or so. Steep in white spirit bath. I asked my pub to save magnets bottles for me, my mate drinks San Miguel so he gives me those. Both these come off in warm water, it also means all my beers in identical bottles. Stout looks great from a mangers bottle with a purple cap on. I am sure if you supply your local with a suitable box they would save the mangers bottles for you, summers coming so their dreadful cider will be all over the show. Why on earth the morons drink such stuff is a tribute to the marketing at said morons. Old Rosie kicks mangers arse.

[Nofolkandchance]

+1 Themadhippy
Personally, I've managed to get a good load of old magners bottles from the local pub (who was only too happy to get rid) and they labels slipped right off in very hot water while cleaning. Excellent volume (500ml) and brown!

Yep absolutely. Best tip by a county mile. I've gotten about 150 from the local wetherspoons.

[Francois]

I've really taken to rekordelig cider bottles. Paper labels, lightly glued, slide right off with a short soak in warm water (though washing up liquid speeds it up a bit). Plus they're a nice 500ml and dark enough to avoid lighstrike but clear enough to easily check for conditioning. The only catch is that my lever capper struggles a bit with the grip on capping as the bulb is a bit slender, but as long as you have forearms like popeye and don't mind using them it's no real bother plus we go through a good 80 of them a day in summer (i work as cellarman in a busy canalside pub) so there's always a decent supply! Heavily recommend, particularly if you have a decent bench capper

[gibbiem]

I've really taken to rekordelig cider bottles. Paper labels, lightly glued, slide right off with a short soak in warm water (though washing up liquid speeds it up a bit). Plus they're a nice 500ml and dark enough to avoid lighstrike but clear enough to easily check for conditioning. The only catch is that my lever capper struggles a bit with the grip on capping as the bulb is a bit slender, but as long as you have forearms like popeye and don't mind using them it's no real bother plus we go through a good 80 of them a day in summer (i work as cellarman in a busy canalside pub) so there's always a decent supply! Heavily recommend, particularly if you have a decent bench capper

Got loads of these. A local pub is happy for me to help myself to their empties!

[mshergold]

Lighter fuel works very well.

[widdersbel]

Has anyone ever tried using a heat gun such as you'd use for stripping paint?

Thinking of trying it on some Thornbridge type foil labels...

[Jim]

For foil labels filling them with very hot water and letting them stand for 10,minutes is remarkably effective. The labels can then be carefully peeled off.

[widdersbel]

Heat is definitely the answer.

[IronBlue]

The dishwasher works well for most normal paper-based labels, but then they don't put up much of a fight anyway.

I sympaphise with the original post - the impossible labels where you peel off the plastic layer and it leaves behind a layer of 'adhesive tin foil', specifically for me the Proper Job and other St Austell bottles, I've had loads of these and normally just bin them now. Heat doesn't touch them, neither does GT85 (normally good), sticky stuff remover, or several different solvents! I don't like giving up but I've yet to find the right chemical....

[widdersbel]

I've been dealing with a load of Thornbridge bottles today. I used a heat gun on them and it proved successful in getting most of the label off. Then I soaked them in Sticky Stuff Remover and scrubbed off the residue. Finally a quick rinse in hot soapy water and they're all sparkling.

Time consuming, but I figure once I have a decent stock of label-free bottles to use in rotation, I won't have to do this job again any time soon. And I like the shape of the Thornbridge bottles, so it's worth the effort.

[Ren]

After peeling off Thornbridge bottle lables i soaked them in vegetable oil to easy scrape the oil based glue off

[quixoticgeek]

Apologies for the slight thread necromancy.

Just tried to take the labels off some Bristol beer factory bottles. Used a stanley knife blade to lift the corners, and then the labels came off in one piece, no problem. Took seconds per bottle.

Will try wd40 on the glue that's left in the morning when I can find it in day light.

Quite unlike the simplicity of most continental bottles which fall off with a hint of water...

Julia

[fitzy85]

I bought a two pack of scourers from wilkos with a silver type bit sticking out. Rips the labels right off. Cost 70p

[hophit]

I've really taken to rekordelig cider bottles. Paper labels, lightly glued, slide right off with a short soak in warm water (though washing up liquid speeds it up a bit). Plus they're a nice 500ml and dark enough to avoid lighstrike but clear enough to easily check for conditioning. The only catch is that my lever capper struggles a bit with the grip on capping as the bulb is a bit slender, but as long as you have forearms like popeye and don't mind using them it's no real bother plus we go through a good 80 of them a day in summer (i work as cellarman in a busy canalside pub) so there's always a decent supply! Heavily recommend, particularly if you have a decent bench capper

Decent bench capper being the key ingredient here. On bottling day, I went to the extensive effort of rummaging through a local pub's bins to get about 100 of the buggers for a party I was brewing for. I dilligently washed them all, got the labels off, sterilised them and then found that the lip on the neck was positioned such that I couldn't use them with my capper! A fail of the utmost magnitude resulting in the loss of the best part of a day of my time and an emergency dash back to the bins to find more approproate bottles!