Removing Glue from the outside of bottles!

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BTReese

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I bought some 70% Isoproply alcohol to try and cut the glue off the outside of some wine bottles I had de-labeled for my use at home. The glue laughed at me over that one.:) What I ended up using, and this may cause some to cringe, was some WD-40 on a old wash cloth. This stuff is amazing!! Totally removed the glue from the outside with hardly any effort. Just thought I would share with others in order to make life easier,and maybe provide a cheaper route to clean that pesky glue. I did go back and clean the outside with the alcohol to get any left over WD-40 and will totally reclean these bottles with oxyclean stuff and bottle brush, followed by san star prior to filling with wine. Hope this help someone with a tiresome chore!
 
I have been soaking my bottles overnight and then scrape off with a straight edge (very time consuming).I look forward to trying WD-40.Do you soak the bottle or attack as is? Thank you for te info.
 
I peeled the label off a bottle last night and it left all the glue behind on the bottle. And I can tell the glue isn't the friendly type. I'll have to give the WD40 a try and see.

Larry
 
this may cause some to cringe, was some WD-40 on a old wash cloth.
***CRINGE***
Rub peanut butter into the glue and leave for a while (perhaps overnight). Remove with a small brush.

Works GREAT for me.

Steve
 
I have been soaking my bottles overnight and then scrape off with a straight edge (very time consuming).I look forward to trying WD-40.Do you soak the bottle or attack as is? Thank you for te info.

Well I used the Oxyclean stuff that said double strengh makes lable removal easy! LIES! LOL! The paper lable was gone already and had tried the razor blade scrapping couple weeks earlier. Had to quit for the day and got started back today working on the glue that was left. The glue was in the shape of the label so I am sure the Oxy stuff didn't remove anything but the paper. The WD-40 made this easy as I just wiped it off, anything stubborn i used my finger nail to scrap off. Hope that helps.
 
Goo-gone with orange scent is good as well. I remove the labels with a two hour soak, do goo gone then wash in the dishwasher
 
I scrape the labels off dry with a windshield razor scraper and use the little can of Goobegone and then sanitize them when ready to bottle.
 
WD-40 works for me. I wash the outside of the bottle with dish soap when I'm done. Clean and sanitize before bottling.
 
I use charcoal fluid then dish soap and sanitizer before bottleing
 
I don't even try removing difficult labels. I'll soak bottles overnight in water with a bit of bleach, then if the label (and glue) does not scape off easily, into the recyle bin it goes.
 
I soak in warm water - peel off the labels with a window scraper - and then hit with goo-be-gone, then wash and sanitize.
 
I scrape the labels off dry with a windshield razor scraper and use the little can of Goobegone and then sanitize them when ready to bottle.

The only bottles I have with stubborn glue are these cool 375's I have ~30 cases of. They're new, but labeled. I paid $1/case for them.

Over a few months time I tried everything imaginable to make the process easy. This glue never gets hard - it is sticky and nothing would break it down.

Finally, the extreme goo-gone Wade mentioned did the trick. I scrape dry with a razor scraper then hit the residue with the extreme goo-gone.

It works for me!!
 
If the label and glue doesn't come off after a soak and quick windshield ice-scraper treatment, the bottle clearly doesn't want to partake in my wine making badly enough, so I condemn them to the recycling bin.

To me, its not worth the frustration, stress, and time to spend more than 2-3 minutes per bottle! I can buy a case of 12 for $8 new, so I ask myself 'is this worth $0.75?' - if not, in the recycling it goes!
 
If the label and glue doesn't come off after a soak and quick windshield ice-scraper treatment, the bottle clearly doesn't want to partake in my wine making badly enough, so I condemn them to the recycling bin.

To me, its not worth the frustration, stress, and time to spend more than 2-3 minutes per bottle! I can buy a case of 12 for $8 new, so I ask myself 'is this worth $0.75?' - if not, in the recycling it goes!

I bought 36 cases of new 750s this year for $4.80 a case b/c I was tired of dealing with scrounging and scrubbing bottles. The 375s I'm dealing with are just really damn cool bottles, otherwise I wouldn't bother with them either.

The winery I bought the 750s from said they have more, so I may pick up another 20 cases or so before long - like you said, it's not really worth the time to collect and clean when you can get inexpensive new ones.

I don't think everybody is lucky enough to be able to get new bottles for less than $12+shipping though ...
 
Try putting the bottles in the freezer. This will harden the glue and make it easier to scrape off.

These actually scrape off pretty easily w/o freezing. It's the residue that's the problem.

WAS the problem - goo-gone eXtreme wipes it right off!!
 
Never thought of the freezer but good lord would my wife kill me if she started finding bottles in the freezer that werent filled with a precious alc!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Plain and simple Mr.Clean magic eraser the heavy duty one . If that doesn't work I use a small dab of Goo - Gone but you have to be very careful not to get it in the bottles because it's oil based and hard to get off the glass .
 
A nylon or mesh scrubber really makes short work of the glue and clingy bits. Run a small stream of hot water over the glued area and scrub. Most of the glues come off this way, but there are a couple that don't work and have to resort to things like GOO-GONE.
 

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