some labels come off easily after a little heating but some are very stubborn and leave a residue ive read of people using wd40, goo gone,mineral spirit, oxy clean and even peanut butter. outside of peanut butter are any of the above not too toxic and can they be used safely? does peanut butter really work and if yes by the same token would any other food grade oils work? what has worked for u?
removing wine labels
- Thread starter sholomy
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I soak my bottles in oxy clean for 30 minutes, scrape what comes off, soak some more and scrape again. You might want to try and do a search for this on the forum here because everyone has there favorite procedure the works best for them.
Powdered Brewery Wash (PBW) works well on a lot of labels. (It seems there are a few different types, and they respond to different solvents.)
I soak my bottles in hot water and a combination of B-brite and PBW. Very rarely a problem getting the labels off. For the glue I use a single edge razor blade if it's a problem. More people use Oxiclean but I started with PBW and do not want to switch.
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Oxy clean rinses off easiest if you don't allow it to dry on the bottle. PBW is also an excellent cleaner but more expensive.
I cleaned 700 bottles this winter/spring. First get the label scrapped off. I used boiling hot water first with a soak and a paint razor blade scrapper.
To get off the glue, try Brillo pads for the non water soluable glues. Sure paint thinner will be easier, but I did not like the idea of paint thinner next to the bottle in case any gets inside while rinsing.
Brillo pads and elbow grease will work for stubborn glues.
To get off the glue, try Brillo pads for the non water soluable glues. Sure paint thinner will be easier, but I did not like the idea of paint thinner next to the bottle in case any gets inside while rinsing.
Brillo pads and elbow grease will work for stubborn glues.
We fill the bottle with hot water; do not soak the bottle in water until you peal the label off. By the time I have filled the upright bottles in the sink the labels are ready to peal off the first ones filled. Works like a charm for the bottles we get from two different wineries. After the label is off we lay the bottle in a skin filled with hot water and oxy clean.
bkisel
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- Soak a bit.
- Peel off what I can (often whole label comes off).
- Scrape the rest.
- Course type washing pad with baking soda and a little elbo grease removes remaining paper and glue.
I'll be trying the hot water fill idea posted above.
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Use a pressure washer!
I built a "cradle" out of 2X6 and some chicken wire. I soak the bottles in warm water for a minute or two (just to soften them up), then blast them. Does a great job! Just wear saftey goggles!
I built a "cradle" out of 2X6 and some chicken wire. I soak the bottles in warm water for a minute or two (just to soften them up), then blast them. Does a great job! Just wear saftey goggles!
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LOL Sheesh, John why are you holding back? Why not just pull out the sand blaster!
Spent too many hours scraping! When I got done one day, I realized that I spent 6 hours scraping the labels off of $40 worth of bottles.
Annoyed and aggrivated, I spotted my pressure washer. The room grew dark and a heavenly light rained down upon it. A choir of angles then sang out. It was a truly inspired moment....
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suecasa
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I pick up used bottles from local vineyards … here's my technique …
Fill the sink with hot water and a squirt of dish soap … fill bottles with that water and make sure they are positioned with their labels covered. let sit over night.
Take an old steak knife and use either the teeth or the back edge to scratch off the labels … most will come off easily. the rest put back in the water for a while once most of the paper is off. at the same time use the knife to tear off any foils that remain on the neck.
After the labels are off …I use a Mr Clean Eraser to remove the glue residue. I tear the eraser in 1/4s and each piece will usually clean 15-20 bottles before is gets too gooey or disintegrates.
Very few that I end up giving up on and recycling. All in it averages less than 5 min per bottles. Good for the environment. Good for the pocketbook!
Fill the sink with hot water and a squirt of dish soap … fill bottles with that water and make sure they are positioned with their labels covered. let sit over night.
Take an old steak knife and use either the teeth or the back edge to scratch off the labels … most will come off easily. the rest put back in the water for a while once most of the paper is off. at the same time use the knife to tear off any foils that remain on the neck.
After the labels are off …I use a Mr Clean Eraser to remove the glue residue. I tear the eraser in 1/4s and each piece will usually clean 15-20 bottles before is gets too gooey or disintegrates.
Very few that I end up giving up on and recycling. All in it averages less than 5 min per bottles. Good for the environment. Good for the pocketbook!
RegionRat
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I also use a pressure washer. Works like a dream. The next time I do it I will shoot and post a video of it.
RR
BernardSmith
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I find that copper scouring pads with dish detergent works to get the glue off of about 95 percent of the bottles. The other 5 percent I need to add a drop or two of cooking oil to the scourers and that removes the gum. I assume that since I apply the detergent and oil to the outside and I apply them to individual bottles and the bottles are not soaked in solutions of oil or detergent there is little risk of the oil or the detergent ending up inside the bottles so risk of contamination is very low.
We have what is know as a canning sink. The one side is larger and deeper. It will hold 25 bottles upright. I start by filling each bottle with hot tap water. By time we are done filling the last bottle with the hot tap water we can peel off the label on the first filled bottle. It takes 30 minutes from start to finish to do 25 bottles. There is NO scraping what so ever, the labels peel off in one piece. Once the label is off, we add oxy clean to each bottle and finish filling with hot water and let them soak for a few hours. Rinse and we have 25 bottles ready to go. The wineries where we get the used bottles rinses them after they empty them so there is not even any rinsing on our part before adding oxy after the label is removed.
We get bottles from 2 different wineries and both bottle sources work the same way to get the labels off in one piece.
The one trick we found is do not get the label wet when filling with water. We only fill each bottle under the hot water tap with a funnel to the height of the top edge of the label.
We get bottles from 2 different wineries and both bottle sources work the same way to get the labels off in one piece.
The one trick we found is do not get the label wet when filling with water. We only fill each bottle under the hot water tap with a funnel to the height of the top edge of the label.
Sammy, have you tried that technique with lots of different bottles? I wonder if that just works with your 2 types of bottles? I got 700 different bottles and probably had 50 different brands. Some washed off with just water and others were stubborn.
