| |
Main
Date: 16 Aug 2006 19:57:33
From: Brian Foster
Subject: Best way to remove labels off bottles?
|
I put a bunch of Sam Adams, SA lite, and Fattire bottles in a cooler with
about a 1/2 cup of bleach and filled the rest of the way with water.
Let em soak overnight. Some labels came right off, all were soggy and came
off with a little scrubbing.
Is there a better/easier/faster way?
Some household chemical other than bleach work better?
I rinsed them really well with a bottle washer (from the homebrew store)
after that, and finally ran them through the long/hot (sanitizing) cycle on
my dishwasher before putting any beer in them.
Bottling is my least favorite homebrew activity so far......
|
|
| |
Date: 17 Aug 2006 01:10:07
From: Steve/Aus
Subject: Re: Best way to remove labels off bottles?
|
"Brian Foster" <brianfoster@houston.rr.com > wrote in message
news:NMKEg.7034$3l.232@tornado.texas.rr.com...
>I put a bunch of Sam Adams, SA lite, and Fattire bottles in a cooler with
>about a 1/2 cup of bleach and filled the rest of the way with water.
>
> Let em soak overnight. Some labels came right off, all were soggy and came
> off with a little scrubbing.
>
> Is there a better/easier/faster way?
>
> Some household chemical other than bleach work better?
>
> I rinsed them really well with a bottle washer (from the homebrew store)
> after that, and finally ran them through the long/hot (sanitizing) cycle
> on my dishwasher before putting any beer in them.
>
> Bottling is my least favorite homebrew activity so far......
I am well advised to answer here, as I own a label manufacturing business -
self adhesive.
Most adhesives used on self adfhesive films are designed to dissolve in a
mild alkaline solution such as caustic soda. Alkaline solutions will also
dissolve the thin metallic layer used on some labels allowing penetration of
the solution through to the adhesive.
Hope this helps. Steve W (in Aus)
|
| | |
Date: 17 Aug 2006 01:47:33
From: Brian Foster
Subject: Re: Best way to remove labels off bottles?
|
"Steve/Aus" <adlab@bigponddotnetdotau.trashthisbit > wrote in message
news:PlPEg.13324$rP1.11951@news-server.bigpond.net.au...
> I am well advised to answer here, as I own a label manufacturing
> business - self adhesive.
> Most adhesives used on self adfhesive films are designed to dissolve in a
> mild alkaline solution such as caustic soda. Alkaline solutions will also
> dissolve the thin metallic layer used on some labels allowing penetration
> of the solution through to the adhesive.
> Hope this helps. Steve W (in Aus)
>
So I looked up Alkaline solutions and the most common one I found was
household bleach. Are there other/better common Alkaline solutions?
Thanks
|
| |
Date: 16 Aug 2006 15:10:03
From: alebrewer
Subject: Re: Best way to remove labels off bottles?
|
Brian Foster wrote:
> I put a bunch of Sam Adams, SA lite, and Fattire bottles in a cooler with
> about a 1/2 cup of bleach and filled the rest of the way with water.
>
> Let em soak overnight. Some labels came right off, all were soggy and came
> off with a little scrubbing.
>
> Is there a better/easier/faster way?
>
> Some household chemical other than bleach work better?
>
> I rinsed them really well with a bottle washer (from the homebrew store)
> after that, and finally ran them through the long/hot (sanitizing) cycle on
> my dishwasher before putting any beer in them.
>
> Bottling is my least favorite homebrew activity so far......
Household ammonia will do in minutes what it takes hours for your
bleach solution to do. Start with half a cup in a gallon and see if
the lables don't come right off in 5 minutes or less. Keep in mind
that ammonia is rather caustic, though, and it will cause you problems
if you get it on any organs (and, skin is your largest organ, right?)
Also, caustics will eat glass, too. Diluted, it takes time, but it
will still etch the glass. A short soak and good rinse is no problem,
but I wouldn't leave them in overnight.
Of course, kegging is the easiest, only one bottle for the whole batch.
Short of that, consider using larger bottles. Go to Spec's (a local
liquor store) and look in their "Singles" cooler for some of the German
biers that come in half-liter bottles (Spec's has a wide variety;
you're sure to find several to your liking). These bottles are very
nice and fit the crown cap nicely. At one or two of these a day, it
won't take long for you to build up a decent inventory. I prefer these
bottles over the swing-top because they are quite a bit heavier and you
don't have to deal with those little rubber washers. Anyway, at a
half-liter per bottle, you'll need to clean less than 40 for a batch,
not 50 as you need for the 12 oz-ers. Besides, you may find the
variety of the German biers a little more interesting than you get with
the Sam Adams offerings.
ab
|
| | |
Date: 17 Aug 2006 16:07:26
From: Derric
Subject: Re: Best way to remove labels off bottles?
|
>> I put a bunch of Sam Adams, SA lite, and Fattire bottles in a cooler with
>> about a 1/2 cup of bleach and filled the rest of the way with water.
...
> Household ammonia will do in minutes what it takes hours for your
> bleach solution to do. ...
Just a safety note here.... do not ever mix bleach and ammonia because
poisonous gas (chlorine) is produced! I use bleach for sanitizing and
made a decision to keep ammonia far away from my brewing stuff.
|
| |
Date: 16 Aug 2006 20:55:52
From: Bart Goddard
Subject: Re: Best way to remove labels off bottles?
|
brianfoster@houston.rr.com wrote:
> Let em soak overnight. Some labels came right off, all were soggy and
> came off with a little scrubbing.
>
> Is there a better/easier/faster way?
Kegging. When you finally switch to kegging, you will
kick yourself forever for not doing it sooner.
(Heck, I've got a garage full of clean bottles, so if you're
ever in Austin, stop by and pick some up. That'd be
easer, eh? You might want to hurry, however, because
I think my wife is secretly getting rid of them bit by bit.)
And where the Hell are Kelvin and Alan? I've been in Calgary
for 7 weeks and haven't been able to raise either one of them.
Bart
--
The man without a .sig
|
| | |
Date: 17 Aug 2006 10:34:35
From: Mark R
Subject: Re: Best way to remove labels off bottles?
|
"Bart Goddard" <goddardbe@netscape.net > wrote in message
>
> And where the Hell are Kelvin and Alan? I've been in Calgary
> for 7 weeks and haven't been able to raise either one of them.
>
Don't recall hearing from either one in a while. Maybe there off concing
some sort of monster brew.
Mark R
|
| |
Date: 16 Aug 2006 21:05:53
From: John Bleichert
Subject: Re: Best way to remove labels off bottles?
|
Brian Foster <brianfoster@houston.rr.com > wrote:
> I put a bunch of Sam Adams, SA lite, and Fattire bottles in a cooler with
> about a 1/2 cup of bleach and filled the rest of the way with water.
>
> Let em soak overnight. Some labels came right off, all were soggy and came
> off with a little scrubbing.
>
> Is there a better/easier/faster way?
>
> Some household chemical other than bleach work better?
>
> I rinsed them really well with a bottle washer (from the homebrew store)
> after that, and finally ran them through the long/hot (sanitizing) cycle on
> my dishwasher before putting any beer in them.
>
> Bottling is my least favorite homebrew activity so far......
>
>
Bleach works well for tougher labels like Saranac. I've found that Sam
Adams and Samuel Smith's soak off fine with plain ol' dish soap.
-----------------------------------------------
John Bleichert syborg@earthlink.net
The heat from below can burn your eyes out!!
|
| |
Date: 16 Aug 2006 13:20:56
From: Wheat
Subject: Re: Best way to remove labels off bottles?
|
"Brian Foster" <brianfoster@houston.rr.com > wrote in message
news:NMKEg.7034$3l.232@tornado.texas.rr.com...
>I put a bunch of Sam Adams, SA lite, and Fattire bottles in a cooler with
>about a 1/2 cup of bleach and filled the rest of the way with water.
>
> Let em soak overnight. Some labels came right off, all were soggy and came
> off with a little scrubbing.
>
> Is there a better/easier/faster way?
>
> Some household chemical other than bleach work better?
>
> I rinsed them really well with a bottle washer (from the homebrew store)
> after that, and finally ran them through the long/hot (sanitizing) cycle
> on my dishwasher before putting any beer in them.
>
> Bottling is my least favorite homebrew activity so far......
It is mine also, I just purchased a keg system from my LHBS and my first
"keg batch" will go into it probably in a couple more days.
I also bought a small freezer from Sears to keep it in an a thermostat mail
order.
Bill
|
| |
Date: 17 Aug 2006 09:48:22
From: Tony
Subject: Re: Best way to remove labels off bottles?
|
> I put a bunch of Sam Adams, SA lite, and Fattire bottles in a cooler with
> about a 1/2 cup of bleach and filled the rest of the way with water.
>
> Let em soak overnight. Some labels came right off, all were soggy and came
> off with a little scrubbing.
>
> Is there a better/easier/faster way?
>
> Some household chemical other than bleach work better?
>
> I rinsed them really well with a bottle washer (from the homebrew store)
> after that, and finally ran them through the long/hot (sanitizing) cycle on
> my dishwasher before putting any beer in them.
>
> Bottling is my least favorite homebrew activity so far......
If you have a wire wheel brush mounted on a grinder, give that a shot.
I find that works very well for bottles with screen printed labels. My
grinder/brush doesn't even mar the bottle.
|
| |
Date: 17 Aug 2006 08:36:48
From: Baron218
Subject: Re: Best way to remove labels off bottles?
|
Bleach is Sodium Hypocholorite NA+ OCl-, it's extremely basic. In a
sense one proton (Hydrogen) from the water combines with OCl while the
OH of the water (Hydroxide anion which is one of the definitions of
basicicity) either floats around or combines with NA+ to make sodium
hydroxide.
Since I'm relatively new at all-grain homebrewing, just thought I'd
help when I could...
Thanks for all the tips on bottle removing as I have numerous old
bottles I've been meaning to clean up.
Cheers,
Mike
tkcbb77@hotmail.com wrote:
> alebrewer wrote:
>
> > Actually, househould bleach would be acidic, not alkaline. Alkaline is
> > basic, such as caustic soda, or household ammonia, for a few.
>
> Household bleach is *not* acidic. It is quite basic/alkaline.
|
| |
Date: 17 Aug 2006 07:39:16
From:
Subject: Re: Best way to remove labels off bottles?
|
alebrewer wrote:
> Actually, househould bleach would be acidic, not alkaline. Alkaline is
> basic, such as caustic soda, or household ammonia, for a few.
Household bleach is *not* acidic. It is quite basic/alkaline.
|
| |
Date: 17 Aug 2006 05:26:47
From: alebrewer
Subject: Re: Best way to remove labels off bottles?
|
Brian Foster wrote:
> "Steve/Aus" <adlab@bigponddotnetdotau.trashthisbit> wrote in message
> news:PlPEg.13324$rP1.11951@news-server.bigpond.net.au...
> > I am well advised to answer here, as I own a label manufacturing
> > business - self adhesive.
> > Most adhesives used on self adfhesive films are designed to dissolve in a
> > mild alkaline solution such as caustic soda. Alkaline solutions will also
> > dissolve the thin metallic layer used on some labels allowing penetration
> > of the solution through to the adhesive.
> > Hope this helps. Steve W (in Aus)
> >
> So I looked up Alkaline solutions and the most common one I found was
> household bleach. Are there other/better common Alkaline solutions?
>
> Thanks
Actually, househould bleach would be acidic, not alkaline. Alkaline is
basic, such as caustic soda, or household ammonia, for a few.
ab
|
| |
Date: 17 Aug 2006 11:52:08
From: Vladimir
Subject: Re: Best way to remove labels off bottles?
|
alebrewer wrote:
>
> Actually, househould bleach would be acidic, not alkaline. Alkaline is
> basic, such as caustic soda, or household ammonia, for a few.
>
> ab
A mixture of ammonia and baking soda has always worked well for me on
everthing except for plastic coated labels.
|
| |
Date: 17 Aug 2006 11:51:54
From: Vladimir
Subject: Re: Best way to remove labels off bottles?
|
alebrewer wrote:
>
> Actually, househould bleach would be acidic, not alkaline. Alkaline is
> basic, such as caustic soda, or household ammonia, for a few.
>
> ab
A mixture of ammonia and baking soda has always worked well for me on
everthing except for plastic coated labels.
|
| |
Date: 18 Aug 2006 04:51:47
From: Scotty B
Subject: Re: Best way to remove labels off bottles?
|
MSDS for bleach:
http://physchem.ox.ac.uk/MSDS/SO/sodium_hypochlorite.html
Safety first! ;)
|
| | |
Date: 18 Aug 2006 08:15:28
From: Walter Venables
Subject: Re: Best way to remove labels off bottles?
|
I usually just soak them and use a razor blade. For the real stubborn ones I
use "De-Solv-It" I haven't found anything easier myself and it works on all
glues as well as bugs on windshields. You do have to was the bottles after
with soap and water to clean off the residue.
|
|
