recycling wine bottles

[ree]

I'm bottling the first batch of wine I've ever made - asian pear.

I collected empty wine bottles from pals and am prepping to reuse them.

First, getting off the labels. Here's a link to an article, comparing different techniques. I read somewhere (maybe here) water and oxiclean. I soaked my bottles in the oxiclean/water mixture for a few days. Some came right off - maybe the other half required some elbow grease. Some I had to resort to a razor blade. Then I ran them through the dishwasher.

There's some lingering glue on some I have to deal with, but I don't want to use anything too "industrial." Any suggestions?

Also I was reading on the net about cleaning the bottles. Everybody seems to just sanitize them with the sanitizing solution, correct? I thought about baking them in the oven for good measure. I came across this interesting thread here. One guy says 250 degrees for 25 min.

Also, should I throw in a bit of campden tablets in the wine before I start bottling?

Thanks for shedding any light.

 

[GreginND]

Bottles are easy to get from friends or the recycling bin.

I use the bottles if the labels come off easily. The ones that require more labor go back into the recycling bin. Not worth my time and effort.

No need to bake them. Clean them well and rinse with sanitizer.

If you haven't upped your SO2 levels (campden) for a while then yes, you should give it a dose before bottling. Bottling will introduce some oxygen, so it's best to be protected.

 

[Larryh86GT]

From the recycling bin I rinse them out, sanitize them, remove the label (If it's not a water based glue and doesn't come right off easily it goes back in my recycling bin) then the bottles get a good washing. And prior to filling they get sanitized again.

 

[Elmer]

I usually soak or bake the labels off.
Then if there is still glue or glue residue, I use a bottle of Goo Be Gone and a synthetic Brillo pad.

A little Goo Bee Gone and some scrubbing and the residue is gone.

I then rinse and wash the bottles thoroughly

I sanitize usually an hour before bottling with a couple spritzes of K-meta and store upside down until bottle time.

 

[Fog]

For the sticky glue residue try scrubbing with vegetable oil. Works great and its non-toxic... Kinda...

 

[olusteebus]

I just wipe the glue off with scotch pads. If you can get the kind they sell at auto parts stores or auto paint supply stores, they are better.

 

[sour_grapes]

I heat the bottles in the oven, not to sanitize them, but to remove the labels. Works great with most labels. Then a soak in PBW or Oxyclean and water.

The PBW is a base, so it turns most non-water-soluble glues into something that will come off in water. (If you ask GregInND, he will say something strange like "saponification." )

For the really hard-to-remove labels, I use Brake Cleaner, available in any auto parts store.

 

[vacuumpumpman]

Like Paul -
I have used brake kleen or acetone or some sort of lacquer thinner. Just make sure that it is done outside and the rags are put in a well ventilated area to dry.It works extremely well !!

 

[ree]

Thanks for answering my questions! Brake cleaner... who knew...?

I have a really dumb question now... For the year of the wine, do you note the year the grapes were picked and fermented? Or when you bottle it???

 

[Scott]

ree, usually for the date is when the yeast is pitched.

 

[calvin]

I have found there are 2 different types of labels. Some are just paper and scrape off easily after a good soaking. Others are vinyl or almost like a sticker material. If you soak and scrape those you get a huge mess. Now I fill those bottles with the hottest tap water possible and let them sit for about 5 minutes. The labels peel right off. When I'm done peeling labels I wipe the bottle down with a paper towel soaked in goo gone. After that I wash the outside of the bottles with hot soapy water. Rinse and dry. Like new again. I figure about an hour per case. I still haven't decided if its worth it or not

 

[Bibelljim]

Removal of Labels

Hello All,

I tried this the other day and it worked very well.

Soak the bottles in very hot water and add some dish soap and baking powder to the water.

Let it sit and the labels seem to come off pretty easily...

 

[GaDawg]

usually for the date is when the yeast is pitched.

So, if one pitched the yeast on 5/22/2013 you will have a 1 year old wine today?

 

[Scott]

So, if one pitched the yeast on 5/22/2013 you will have a 1 year old wine today?

That's the way I record it.