Oxy-clean and wine bottles

[mmadmikes1]

It gets mentioned all the time but let me say it as a lead item. You will not find a better way of getting labels off and cleaning inside of bottles than oxy-clean. Now I did use my Dads Carb boil-out once and did a better job but cost and the chemicals are sorta overwhelming. That and it can piss off a Father fast as hell. So if your new, go get oxyclean. I buy the cheaper generic stuff and it works fine too.

 

[Runningwolf]

Mike I agree. I get the big box at Sams Club. I think its like 13 pounds.

 

[ffemt128]

Oxy gets my vote also.

 

[Thunter]

+1 on the Oxy Clean from me. Great Stuff

 

[wyntheef]

I use it too, but a new thing I've found is when rinsing the bottle with hot water, let it sit for a few minutes and also soak the label for a minute or so, and most of them come off pretty clean with just a little bit of rubbing.
Actually seems to work a lot better than the 24 hour soak, and I'm not a fan of that chore.

 

[Andy419]

I absolutely agree -- I "discovered" that last night (after reading a few posts that said Oxy-Clean was OK to use) and was going to post about it today -- you beat me to it! I put 2 scoops in a kitchen sink full of hot water. After about 20 - 30 minutes, the labels came right off, a little bit of rubbing and the bottles were completely clean.

Also -- if you need a little extra muscle (example: Mirassou bottles have a plastic sticker that is tough to get off), some dry Oxy-Clean on a damp sponge is a good abrasive.

 

[Andy419]

Follow Up Question

Question: How much more cleaning do you need after the OxyClean? I have some "One Step" cleaner I got from my HBS -- do I still need to use that or can I just rinse with K-Meta and be done?

 

[mmadmikes1]

I run them yhough the dishwasher after I oxy clean the with K met in washer and thats all I do

 

[Runningwolf]

Question: How much more cleaning do you need after the OxyClean? I have some "One Step" cleaner I got from my HBS -- do I still need to use that or can I just rinse with K-Meta and be done?

K-meta before bottling and you should be good.

 

[Andy419]

Thanks for the help!

 

[mmadmikes1]

K-meta before boiling and you should be good.

if you are boiling the bottles you dont need K-met

 

[ffemt128]

if you are boiling the bottles you dont need K-met

I think that was supposed to be bottleing....

 

[robie]

Oxy-clean is great, but if you leave the bottles in it too long, they can have a film form on them, which can be a challenge to clean.

Just don't leave the bottles in longer than necessary.

 

[midwestwine]

Ya I had the same problem with the film on them when I only soaked them for 30 min I wont ever use it again because I could not get the film off the inside of the bottles had to toss them out

 

[Runningwolf]

Oxy-clean is great, but if you leave the bottles in it too long, they can have a film form on them, which can be a challenge to clean.

Just don't leave the bottles in longer than necessary.

This is the reason I don't use it to clean the inside of my bottles. I stand the bottles up and fill em with hot water then fill the sink with hot water to an inch or two above the label. I add about three scoops of oxclean.

 

[Teamsterjohn]

LOL, your right Andy, and counting the days till the next time you have to add k-meta to the wine. Oxy-clean, I just started to use it a few weeks ago, and its great for me.

 

[Birdman]

I use the oxyclean when I want to clean a bottle without meta (such as a cleaning a carboy that I am pressing still-fermenting red into). As for getting labels off, I just soak the bottles for a couple hours in a bucket and then use a razor scraper. They come right off easily. I have a 6 gallon bucket in the cellar. It nicely holds 7-8 bottles. I just put bottles in it as I drink the wine. When it fills with bottles, I fill it with water, scrape the labels, stash the bottles and start again.

What I would really like to find is a source for new stelvin caps so I could use stelvin bottles and new caps. Corks are going the way of the do do bird I think!

 

[xanxer82]

Just bought a tub of oxyclean. Hope it works

 

[joseph]

+labels

I do not use oxy but make my own labels with printer paper then use glue sitck.
warm runing water the lables come off in 15 sec no scrubing
Joseph

 

[mmadmikes1]

Joe I was talking about taking off labels from recycled bottles (commercialLabels). My labels come off way to easy sometimes