Any tips for removing wine bottle labels?

[sampvt]

Wet the label with hot water, In an away from you top to bottom action, scrape with the heaviest and sharpest carving knife you have then scrub with a metal scouring pad dipped in soap powder, come off very easy.

 

[drainsurgeon]

I have friends who save bottles for me as well. What pisses me off is that they don't rinse out the bottles when they are done with them (I know, don't look a gift horse in the mouth) ...but I give them free wine!!!!! Every couple months I come home from work and find a bag of bottles sitting by the garage door.
When I get them into the sink, some nasty looking, fuzzy, black and green stuff comes floating out of the bottles. These bottles always require some extra work to clean and sanitize. Almost not worth the effort....but still free.

I don't bother cleaning bottles like that. There are too many sources of free "clean" bottles out there. Restaurant's are a good source. I also pick up some from the recycling center when I stop there about every 2 weeks. If they are dirty or moldy inside I don't bother. As far as label removal I take a window scraper and angle the blade starting at one side of the bottle label with downward strokes. The residual glue comes right off with a paper towel with a little Goo-Gone. I would imagine just about any citrus base product would work. I've tried soaking but seem to end up more of a mess than its worth. I can clean a dozed bottles up in about 15 min.

 

[opus345]

Like many others, I will soak in hot tap water with oxiclean for a couple hours. After that I will use the edge of spoon and scrape the labels off. As has been mentioned some will come off easy, and some are so glued on that it's not worth the effort. If I have to put real muscle into it and I find a tough gummy residue under the label, then the rest of those bottles go into recycling. Not worth the effort now and despite goo gone and similar products doing a great job there are some bottles that you just can't get all their glue off.

Same as others. Soak in oxyclean in 15 Gal rope tub for 24 hours. For tough labels, use plastic fork (top and bottom) to scrape. Then use bristle brush for final polish.

 

[opus345]

scrape with the heaviest and sharpest carving knife you have

And you still have all your fingers?

 

[vernsgal]

Place your bottles in a cooler filled with powdered dishwasher soap and hottest water available. Allow to soak for 24 hours. They should remove easily. Any residual glue, remove with scouring pad.

 

[JohnT]

try this..

1) build a chicken wire cradle that will firmly hold a bottle on it's side.
2) use a low powered pressure washer to blast that sucka off of the bottle.

This works amazingly well and takes only a minute per bottle. It works even better if you soak the bottles first. This even works well for those pesky plastic labels that have been applied with rubber cement.

.. Just make sure you wear eye protection!

 

[opus345]

try this..

1) build a chicken wire cradle that will firmly hold a bottle on it's side.

Actually it should work but I'm reminded of the Galazy Quest quote, "Look around; can you construct some sort of rudimentary lathe?"

 

[hounddawg]

soak in very hot water, then
holding a knife as you would at a sharping angle scrape off the labels. then using a rag soaked in dish washing liquid to remove any extra glue, a good help is buying a nice set of thick BBQing gloves, your hands will thank you greatly.
Dawg,,,,

 

[dcbrown73]

Check this out: http://www.labelnator.com/....it was only a matter of time!

I bought one of these online and this is what the back of the package says hah.

Read the area with the red background right above Safer, Quicker, Easier.

Apparently, they did not do a good job of proof reading before they printed all the packaging.

 

[HarrysHomeBrew]

Old thread but.... I just used a drill with a big wire brush. Worked well. Then used goo gone to get the last thin glue. I put the bottle on the ground and held it with my legs while I used the drill.

I bet one of those table grinders with one side a wire brush would even work better. It would be easier to hold the bottle and push against the brush.

 

[Jal5]

I found that after the hot water soak I can scrape the labels off with a plastic scraper but the glue! I tried Goo Gone but cannot stand that smell inside the house. WD40 works just as well on a piece of rag without the stink.
Joe

 

[HarrysHomeBrew]

I did not get the spray bottle I got the wipes in a can. I wonder if the smell is different. Either way I liked the citrus smell of the goo gone. I was a aircraft mechanic for 26 years so like the smell of WD40 too.

 

[Country]

Tried everything and this is what works for me. Pre-heat your oven to 300 f. and load it with bottles that have had the inside rinsed out. Give them 5 minutes in the oven and remove one at a time and easily peel the label off. Set the bottle aside to cool while you attack the others. Once done with the labels, scrub off the glue with dish soap. The rinse water in the bottles steams them inside and out. Helping to sanitize and loosen to stubborn labels. Good luck,

 

[larry]

Have some empties I have been saving up and was wondering if anyone has any easy peasy tricks for getting labels off. I was thinking of soaking like 3 or so at a time in a five gallon bucket with some sanitizer, thought that might help, but I am sure it has been done before, so, thought I would ask......Thanks in advance!!

Hello Riperoo I am new here but I have done what others have suggested and soaked them in oxy clean the one with he green top.I let them soak about an hour and the labels came right off.

 

[wildhair]

I have a 6 gallon bucket, add 1/2 cup of Zep degreaser and a handful of washing soda. I submerge the bottles and soak for ....a few days or so. Most of the labels slip right off, the residual glue comes off with Bar keepers Friend and a nylon scrubbie pad. Rinse them with some hot water. I can soak 7 at a time, and re-use the water for quite a few times.

 

[Scooter68]

Naturally the correct answer is likely to be a bit different for each of us. (Time, materials and effort involved)

My view is that if I would get a little more organized, I would keep notes on which brands, and types of labels are easy to remove and which are just plain nasty. THEN if I would keep that list in the car with me when I go to the recycling center I would not find myself struggling to both remember which bottles to take and which to leave alone. In general a lot of the foil or metallic labels are bad news.

I have also found some 'interesting' conditions including - Some where the front label was easy peasy and the back label was a real bugger to remove.
Using hot water on the inside and NOT getting the outside worked on a few but that's a pain to do so...

Guess I need to start that list next time I do more label removing.

So let's see...
Cork top yes - screw top no
Bottle colors matching
Bottle shapes matching
Punt matching or not there
Label type good/bad

Oh, and do I have enough for the batch I'm collecting these for? Do I need more of a certain bottle.

BOY this is getting complicated.

 

[wildhair]

We're supposed to match bottle shape & color? LOL For my OWN labels, post-other-label removal - I use either a removable label (Avery #22827) OR I use spray glue on the label & they come off easy-peasy. I just tried out the Avery one & I like them better - they are thicker, less likely to have colors run & come right off. Plus - they have a free downloadable template that makes it really easy to design and print....................... but now I'm off-topic, so I'll shut-up.

 

[Scooter68]

Whaaat!? Off topic?? We are on the wine making forum site right.

 

[wildhair]

LOL I diverged into label MAKING .....and strayed from label REMOVAL.... which is the topic of this thread. Don't want to offend .....again.

 

[cmason1957]

And some of us don't worry about shape matching, I sort of color match, but only in so fast as they are green or at least dark. It just isn't worth my time to do that.