How to: Remove old wine labels

[CBell]

Nashoba Valley Winery bottles are the demon spawn of Satan! foil labels, glued on with, to the best of my experience, super glue. Soaked in oxyclean hot water for about a month, attempted scraping with a chisel, got a couple of corners off. Kind o want to soak these in paint thinner. Some o them are really interesting bottles, though, hence why I haven't pitched them yet.

 

[olusteebus]

I normally soak mine overnight in oxyclean but I had to do a batch quickly the other day. I just soaked them for a while, used a plastic putty knife on the label and then used a scotchbrite pad. It was a little harder but not necessarily so.

 

[wood1954]

I've been doing the same thying shoebiedoo does. I add some Starsan to the water to help sanitize while they soak. A little scrubbing with a nylon pad and they come clean, it's the easiest and cleanest way i've found to delable. the oxyclean makes the bottles too slippery.

 

[Bacci]

Has anybody ever notice how easy the labels come off on most all Italian wine bottles?

 

[GreginND]

Has anybody ever notice how easy the labels come off on most all Italian wine bottles?

Yes, I have!

 

[vacuumpumpman]

Nothing removes residual glue better than acetone. Lots of negatives, but I'm just saying...

Joe

I agree ! That is after I soak them with oxyclean unscented and use a handheld razor scraper first.

 

[FABulousWines]

I simply soak in hot water for about an hour. Then use a plastic pot scraper, if needed. Some labels are so flabby at this point that I can get them off with the thumb nail and some are cohesive enough to just pull the whole label off in one go. Any stubborn adhesive that survives is tackled with a little Goo Gone.

 

[Luc]

I used to put all my empty bottles in my bath and fill it up with hot water. The hundred or so bottles would take me more then half a day to clean up.

So now I am doing things differently.

I fill 6 to 7 bottles with water (so they won't float) and then put them into a bucket. Then I fill the bucket up with water.
Then I go on with business as usual and a few days later I empty the bucket and bottles and most labels directly come off without any effort. A few need scraping with a knife and that is all.

This way I clean 7 to 14 bottles a week which gives me enough clean bottles to keep up with mu hobby.

This way I just loose a few minutes the days I am cleaning instead of half a day in my weekend.

Luc

 

[pwrose]

Instead of WD-40 try using cooking oil and a paper towel. Same principal but easier to clean up.

 

[suecasa]

I soak in hot water for a couple hours. Any labels that are plastic or foil get slashed first. After soaking I use a kitchen knife to scrape off the residue. A mr clean magic eraser works like...well...magic to remove any goo. With no nasty chemicals!

 

[manitobawineo]

I totally agree with the Goo Gone comment. I found it at Home Depot for $5.49. I fill my bottles with hot water and soak them in a 5gal pail overnight, scrape off the label. If the glue doesn't release, Goo Gone works very easily every time so far for me.

 

[sgx2]

+1 for using Goo Gone on stubborn glue residue. For really, really tough ones you just can't beat WD-40. Either way, I make sure not to get either one inside the bottle.

I try to clean the outside of my bottles when I rinse them out. If I needed to use Goo Gone and/or WD-40 I put the bottles on a spike or tine in my dishwasher and let it get well cleaned.

 

[vacuumpumpman]

I also have used acetone and it really removes any residue - just make sure it is done outside as it is very flammable