removing labels from bottles

[Winefarmer1]

Alright, I have encountered the best method for label removal from used bottles.

Use a razor blade scraper to scrape the label away. No wetting, less mess, less prep, and less muscle. Works at a rate of about one new blade per ten bottles for me thus far. After the labels are gone, the glue residue comes off with a soaped brillo pad and hot water.

I am removing about 15 to 20 labels per hour. After finishing I just sweep up the paper and glue and it is done.

 

[Waldo]

Try soaking them a bit in a tub of hot water with some Oxyclean ( without bleach) and most of the labels will just fall off. Use your razor blade to remove the stubborn ones

 

[hannabarn]

Waldo, I agree. That is the best method I have found yet.

 

[jerry]

Try soaking them a bit in a tub of hot water with some Oxyclean ( without bleach) and most of the labels will just fall off. Use your razorblade to remove the stubborn ones

How much Oxyclean per gallon ?

 

[Runningwolf]

I can do close to 30 bottles at a time in the laundry tray. Fist I fill all the bottles with my Buon Vino Wand. Next I put 3 scoops of oxy clean in the sink and fill it up to the neck of the bottles (using hot water). Let them sit for a few hours. With a razer blade scraper, scrape off the label , scraping horizontal not vertical. Some labels come right off and most just the top layer. Don't over work it, just set the bottles back in the sink for 2-3 more hours. Now the rest of the glue and residue comes right off with the scraper. Pull the plug on the sink and rinse the sink and bottles off with the wand again. As I empty out the bottles I run them under hot water ensuring they are all cleaned off.
Now here is my observation. I am talking about bottles all coming from the same winery and all different wines. Same glue used. Why is it clear bottles are the hardest to get the labels off of? Labels on green bottles come off rather easy. Labels on blue bottles almost float off.

 

[ibglowin]

I use one scoop in my mop sink and fill it with hot water and let them soak for an hour or so. It probably holds around 8 gallons.

 

[Wade E]

I scrape them off dry one by one as I get them. The scraper dry does a great job and its easy as the glue is hard and comes right off. I say that because when I soak I get a 50/50 ration of labels that fell off and the others where the glue mainly just softened up and then those are harder to do IMO.

 

[andy123]

Lindermans bottles are incredibly well glued. If those Aussies put as much effort in their wine as their glue there would not be much cause for making your own !

 

[Bartman]

Lindermans bottles are incredibly well glued. If those Aussies put as much effort in their wine as their glue there would not be much cause for making your own !

LOL - I agree. Lindemans' and Rosemount (square bottomed) are both real challenging.

 

[tonyt]

One good thing about having a big loud Italian family is that they all love wine and are glad to save bottles for me. Tonight I hit the jackpot. My sister and brother-in-law wend to spend the weekend with their a dentist friend. The friend and his wife have a cellar (serious walk in kind) full of high dollar Bordeaux and Burgundy. Wow these high dollar (cheapest was $59.00 and way up from there) labels just floated off. So maybe that's the trick we are trying to get labels off of too cheap of wine! Just saying.

 

[whino-wino]

Lindermans bottles are incredibly well glued. If those Aussies put as much effort in their wine as their glue there would not be much cause for making your own !

LOL - I agree. Lindemans' and Rosemount (square bottomed) are both real challenging.

For the Lindeman's bottles (except for 2004 for some reason) soak them for 1 hour and scrape the labels off. Don't worry about the glue at this point. Also, the glue is so dang sticky and gooey it doesn't matter if you scrape vertically or not. Just get the paper off. Once that is accomplished, take a bottle of Goo Gone (can be purchased at your local hardware store) and put a little squirt on it. Using a paper towel, wipe the glue off. It may take a second attempt to get it all, but Goo Gone takes that stuff right off with very little effort. I've literally done hundreds of Lindeman's bottles this way.

The best method for removing labels, of course, is to make sure you keep all of your empties from the wine you've made and get as many bottles back as possible from people that you've given wine to. Since I just use labels that I've printed at home and glue them on with a permanent glue stick, they fall right off with a 10 minute soak.

 

[xanxer82]

I was recently told by my friend that owns a vineyard and winery that our state regulation requires all wine labels to be able to stand up to a two hour immersion in water without falling off or ink running.
That is one reason they are so damn stubborn sometimes.
Wallpaper past remover works well. just dont get it IN the bottles. Oxyclean and a good long HOT soak helps. Also using a razorblade scraper makes life a bit easier.

I'm contemplating ordering a pallet of bottles. New and no labels. A pallet consists of about 90 cases. So if you're local ( Baltimore area) let me know we can go dutch or something on a pallet to reduce costs.