Removing Old Labels?

[Wade E]

If you reallt want to strip them ZipStrip paint remover will do so.

 

[uavwmn]

Ol Tex, I use a paint scraper. And then use WD-40 spray on the glue. Comes right off. Wipe with a paper towel.

 

[Joanie]

I used to use a big tub but I ended up making a big mess. Lately I've been filling a very large stock pot half full of water, setting it on the stove, filling 5 bottles with hot water, then putting the bottles in the stock pot. Sometimes just having hot water in the bottles will be enough to let me lift the labels right off. (I so love those!) If that doesn't take them off, the water heating in the stock pot does the trick.

 

[Runningwolf]

I do 24 bottles at a time in the laundry sink. I fill the bottles up with very hot water than fill the sink up with hot water just above the labels. I add about three scoops of oxy-clean to the water. I wait 20-30 minutes than remove the labels. If you wait any longer the water in the bottles starts to cool and the glue becomes hard again making it difficult to remove the labels. Note..after reading the previous posts, next time I am going to try leaving the oxy-clean out as I also get the film on the bottles. Besides it makes them very slippery when scrapping off the labels.

 

[Brent2489]

I use the stainless steel pot scrubber method. 10-12 bottles takes 15-20 minutes. Wet the labels and leave in one side of the sink and work my way thru the labels that are stubborn with a-little elbow grease. I also liberally apply liquid soap to get rid of the sticky stuff.

 

[Runningwolf]

I tried cleaning a batch of bottles tonight without the oxy-clean (just plain hot water). Forget it! I had much better luck with oxy-clean in the sink. I'll just take the extra time to make sure Irinse the bottles good to aviod the film on the outside of the bottles.

 

[xanxer82]

I'm debating whether to get some new bottles or not.
I have roughly 10 750ml bottles but I need 30. They are mixed sizes shapes and colors.
I think by the time I'm ready to bottle I will maybe have 5 to 10 more. The kit I have calls for 30. Perhaps I should order a few more to have some to get me started. Or I think that I need to drink more wine to get enough bottles.
Either way, how many people buy brand new bottles instead of recycling them?

 

[Runningwolf]

It depends on what your paying for new bottles and if you have access to good used ones or not. If you can pick up new ones for 7.00 a case it might be worth buying new ones for your first batch. We just had a wine fest in our area and i picked up 40 cases of used bottles for 2.00 a case. I knew that getting them from this one winery in paticular the labels are not a bear to get off. Just ensure the labels you are putting on the bottles you make are fairly easy to come off in the future. This makes life a lot easier. To answer your question, recycle!

 

[Big Ike]

After just a few months of this I can tell you that I agree with the wolf. I've got two different wine bars in my area that are happy to save me a case of empties a week. There are a lot of mix and matched shapes and colors, but it doesn't take long to have a few cases of like sized and colored bottles.


One of the wine bars called me today and told me to get in there because they had three cases for me. Recycle.

 

[xanxer82]

After just a few months of this I can tell you that I agree with the wolf. I've got two different wine bars in my area that are happy to save me a case of empties a week. There are a lot of mix and matched shapes and colors, but it doesn't take long to have a few cases of like sized and colored bottles.


One of the wine bars called me today and told me to get in there because they had three cases for me. Recycle.

I really like the idea of asking wine bars for empties.
There is a nice little wine bar about 3 miles from the house. I may see if they would save a case of empties.

thanks for the ideas and information.