# I feel rich!



## Joanie (Jun 3, 2008)

I have my 45 bottle tree full of newly washed and de-labeled bottles. It's a beautiful sight! Plus I look really cute with pruney fingers!






NW, you are absolutely correct! Life _*IS*_ good!


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## rrawhide (Jun 3, 2008)

show us the pruney fingers and the bottle tree filled - then the filled bottles!!!














rrawhide


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## Joanie (Jun 4, 2008)

LOL My fingers have recovered this morning but I can do the other 2 photos!


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## JimCook (Jun 4, 2008)

I'm thinking that with some nice strobe lights, you could turn that bottle tree into a nice DJ lighting fixture as well. 


- Jim


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## Joanie (Jun 4, 2008)

Oooooh great idea, Jim!!!


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## Mike1973 (Jun 4, 2008)

I reaaaaallllly don't like de-labeling bottles!


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## NorthernWinos (Jun 4, 2008)

Joan...what wines are going in these bottles?????

Them full of great wine with labels on will be a nice sight too....


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## Joanie (Jun 4, 2008)

Since many of them are the same, I want to keep them for myself but I have 12 gallons to bottle for a friend so most of them will go to him. I have three cases of 1500 mil bottles so I will use them first then finish with these.


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## univity (Jun 6, 2008)

Mike1973 said:


> I reaaaaallllly don't like de-labeling bottles!




Same here - but I am too cheap to buy bottles when I plenty of used ones from my friends.


I have tried soak then scrape, scrape then soak, etc , etc 


seems to be no easy way - I have just started pitching thedifficult ones in the recycle bin


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## Mike1973 (Jun 6, 2008)

Not to hijack Joan's topic here but I would be interested in any tricks or secrets people have for removing labels, besides the soak, scrape, soak that we all love so much


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## univity (Jun 6, 2008)

a short soak in hot water and Straight A cleanser seems to make about half the labels peel right off - the problem is the other half are then very gummy and even harder to take off - I have started just pitching those for now as I have a stash of about 200 bottles that need delabeling (thats a lot of elbow grease!)


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## Joanie (Jun 6, 2008)

Northern Winos put me on to this one...



there are some labels that will come right off just by filling the bottles with hot hot water. Let them sit for a few minutes and the labels come right off. 

Most of the bottles I de-labeled this time were like that so it wasn't too painful! 

I soak them and take off as much of the labels as I can then re-soak, scrape with a knife or a potato peeler, then uses a scrubby. If there is still sticky glue use Goo-Gone. It smells like oranges and will dissolve the glue.


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## Mike1973 (Jun 6, 2008)

Joan said:


> Northern Winos put me on to this one...
> 
> 
> 
> ...



I guess that makes sense, heating them from the inside out. I might give that a try. I have a whole bunch that I need to do and I'm not looking forward to it!


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## Joanie (Jun 6, 2008)

Try that first as it may save you a lot of work!


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## NorthernWinos (Jun 6, 2008)

And a new blade in a paint scraper/razor blade holder is the best ticket.....And, I learned from Masta to get the razor blade under label/glue and go around the bottle..NOT...Up &amp; Down....Do it while the glue is warm and soft.

I use the paint scraper thing that came with my glass top stove....get the blades at Home Depot paint section..etc.

Since learning this I use just plain hot water and never use a chemical...once in a great while if the bottles sat outside before I got ahold of them I will put a little dish soap in the water and use a stainless steel curly thingy on any left over glue/paper......

I don't dislike cleaning bottles...It's another process in home wine making...and it signals that bottling time is nearing.





Seems once you make enough wine and drink most of it yourselves you have a good supply of bottles that have on your own labels and are rinsed and relabeled after use.

Seems it must be getting near time to bottle something as the empties are building up....

Life is Good!!!


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## Mike1973 (Jun 6, 2008)

Northern Winos said:


> And a new blade in a paint scraper/razor blade holder is the best ticket.....And, I learned from Masta to get the razor blade under label/glue and go around the bottle..NOT...Up &amp; Down....Do it while the glue is warm and soft.
> 
> I use the paint scraper thing that came with my glass top stove....get the blades at Home Depot paint section..etc.
> 
> ...



Well, it means that I have a couple batches to make and have some commercial wine bottles to strip. Thinking of it as part of the process helps though. I did a few tonight and kind of incorporated all the ideas. I filled them full of hot watter, soaked them in hot water with dish soap and used a razor scrapper to actually get them off and they came off fairly painlessly!! I plan on doing a bunch this weekend just to get them out of the way. 

*Edited by: Mike1973 *


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## Joanie (Jun 7, 2008)

If you can do a case at a time it's not so bad. It helps to do them as you get them too then you're not faced with a garage full of them. (Oooh wait... now there's a nice dream I wouldn't mind having!!



)


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## Joanie (Jun 8, 2008)

Here's my full bottle tree blooming with clean de-labeled blossoms!


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## Mike1973 (Jun 8, 2008)

Very nice sight indeed! But yeah, some Christmas lights would be nice on there







*Edited by: Mike1973 *


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## uavwmn (Jun 9, 2008)

Mike, I hear ya. I have a method where I sit with a glass of wine, some music, and use a xacto knife to peel off the labels, then I soak them in "Straight A" solution of hot water. It is a pretty quick method for me.


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## uavwmn (Jun 9, 2008)

Joan is right........if you try to de-label them when you get them, it doesn't feel as painful as a few cases!!


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## Joanie (Jun 9, 2008)

I have to be honest...I talk the talk but I don't always walk it!


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