Any tips for removing wine bottle labels?

[sour_grapes]

@Evan_J leave those burgundy bottles for me! I am just too anal to put Pinot, Chardonnay etc in a Boudreaux! Wouldn’t taste right (yeah I know it’s mental!)

Here is a thread you may be interested in: https://www.winemakingtalk.com/threads/do-you-worry-about-bottle-shape.57871/

 

[linjanbri]

Hi from Australia
I wash all the bottles in hot water and baking soda. The ones whose labels lift after about five minutes I leave to soak. The others are rinsed and dried and I put them in the oven at 250 celcius for about 5-10 minutes. You need to be very careful not to burn yourself taking them out, but when out I hold the neck with a tea towel, and use a butter knife (clean edged) to lift a corner and peel off.
I spent the afternoon doing this last week and delabelled about three dozen bottles in 2 hours. I hate having to scratch the labels off, takes a lot of time and is messy.
I will have to look at that de labelling tool!!

 

[jgmann67]

I process bottles once the bin is overflowing. It's nice lately because most of the bottles in the bin are from my own wine - soak in oxy green, scrub inside the bottle to get rid of the occasional reside, rinse, spritz with Kmeta and let them dry. The labels come off very easily.

This weekend, I processed 4.5 cases of bottles (there's no room in the burgundy bin).

 

[Rmarr]

For the stubborn glue remnants I read a tip here a while back that worked amazing. Might even be this thread actually After the whole soak and scrape- rub on oil- ANY oil. Let sit for a minute. Remove that stubborn glue with anything- I just used a coarse sponge with vegetable oil. Worked like a charm.

This is my wonder glue remover, except I add my oil to bakeing soda to make a paste. This paste eats through glue like nothing else I have ever done. After the glue is removed I let them sit on the counter for 15 mins and wash it off with a little dish soap and water. The bottles come out looking brand new.

 

[winggolder33]

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!!

No soap in bottle!

 

[rustbucket]

winggolder33, the way I avoid getting soap in the bottles when de-labeling is to fill them with warm water and seal them with old corks that I push into the openings.

 

[winggolder33]

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!!

Some of them simply peel off in one piece, no soaking required. Others, (most) require a soak under water, no SOAP!, and a fingernail or paring knife scraping. Finish with a Chore Girl cleanup of the glue. You can use a little dish soap on the OUTSIDE.

 

[winggolder33]

winggolder33, the way I avoid getting soap in the bottles when de-labeling is to fill them with warm water and seal them with old corks that I push into the openings.

That will sure work, but I prefer not to soak in soap.

 

[GaDawg]

I have learned triage. If I have a label that is very difficult, I throw it away

 

[crcarey]

I put all bottles in oven at 225 for 15 minutes. Most labels peal right off. The ones that don't are usually papery types that fall right off in water. Use a fresh razor blade and change them often. Final Cleaning with scotchbrite pad from dollar store. Did use steel wool but didn't last as long and would get rusty. I have delabeled thousands with ease, but took a while to learn oven trick and master the process. Oh ya, I pull bottles out hot with a rag (be careful).

 

[Jal5]

This may have been posted before but the best scraper is a carpet cutting knife. Good handle and a curved blade. Fits the shape of bottle very well. Less likely to cut my fingers since using this.

 

[Evan_J]

@Evan_J leave those burgundy bottles for me! I am just too anal to put Pinot, Chardonnay etc in a Boudreaux! Wouldn’t taste right (yeah I know it’s mental!)

I know, it took me a while to get over that too. There isn't much difference, but my storage racks will hold 30 - 31 bottles of Bordeauxs, but only about 28 Burgundys, per shelf. For whites, I currently use easily delabeled Bordeaux bottles, from one brand of pinot grigio, that is popular at the place where I get most of my used bottles.

 

[szap]

I have a can of naphtha and found that it works great to remove the glue left after removing the labels. Just spray on and wipe off. Make sure no open flame and have good ventilation. There are a handful of wine makers that use a vinyl type label. (7 deadly zins is one example.) I have been able to remove these with a heat gun. This won't work on paper labels.

 

[Scott Harbison]

Removed labels last night. Soaked bottles in hot water with chlorine free Oxy Clean for 4-5 hours. Scrapped off labels with a large putty knife, then used WD 40 on a paper towel to clean off bottles. Worked like a charm! Sanitized bottles with K meta and letting them dry now.

 

[mainshipfred]

Removed labels last night. Soaked bottles in hot water with chlorine free Oxy Clean for 4-5 hours. Scrapped off labels with a large putty knife, then used WD 40 on a paper towel to clean off bottles. Worked like a charm! Sanitized bottles with K meta and letting them dry now.

So what's going in?

 

[Scooter68]

There are so many different types of adhesives used that no one method works all the time.

I've found some soak right off in hot soapy water.

Others will peel cleanly if you put hot water in the bottle but don't get the label on the outside wet.

There are even some really nice ones that peel off cleanly with no heat, no water just a little careful fingernail work and gentle even pulling.

Others require soaking scrubbing, rubbing and occasionally the use of glue solvents.

(Of late I have personally adopted a "No Solvent" policy for at because of, 1) Cost, 2) Additional labor to remove the solvent itself, and 3)The risk of solvent residue lousing up a bottle or batch of wine.)

Often I find the more exotic the label, the more issues removing it. Clear labels lead that group followed by labels with foil and labels with cutouts.

 

[Scott Harbison]

So what's going in?

My first Merlot kit. My first wine making effort of any kind! The wine is ok. As I've mentioned on here before, it's thin and my oak chips and spiral didn't give it much of a boost. But it's drinkable and I'm going to take it all the way through!

I have a WE Eclipse Lodi Cab that's currently in a barrel borrowed from @Johnd , so I'm using this kit experience to learn as much as I can before I finish that one. It's tasting much better than the Merlot. The Cab will probably get bottled somewhere around March, unless John needs his barrel back before then.

 

[Johnd]

My first Merlot kit. My first wine making effort of any kind! The wine is ok. As I've mentioned on here before, it's thin and my oak chips and spiral didn't give it much of a boost. But it's drinkable and I'm going to take it all the way through!

I have a WE Eclipse Lodi Cab that's currently in a barrel borrowed from @Johnd , so I'm using this kit experience to learn as much as I can before I finish that one. It's tasting much better than the Merlot. The Cab will probably get bottled somewhere around March, unless John needs his barrel back before then.

Ha!!! That’s not my barrel anymore, it’s yours, my contribution to “paying it forward” in the winemaking world!

 

[winojoe]

I use a razor scraper if the label will not peel.

Hold the bottle by the neck, and scrape away from you.
Clean anything left with hot water and a Brillo pad.

Anything that is really gummy is not worth my time and gets thrown in the trash.

Anyone that returns bottles that are not rinsed gets no more wine.
I explain why and usually have no more problems with them.

 

[mainshipfred]

I use a razor scraper if the label will not peel.

Hold the bottle by the neck, and scrape away from you.
Clean anything left with hot water and a Brillo pad.

Anything that is really gummy is not worth my time and gets thrown in the trash.

Anyone that returns bottles that are not rinsed gets no more wine.
I explain why and usually have no more problems with them.

I get unrinsed bottles back as well. What kind of sense does that make. I'll try a quick rinse with the bottle washer but throw most away.