Used wine bottles

[Old Corker]

Love an Oxy soak, but I'm starting to notice that some of the bottles that are on the 2nd or 3rd pass through my delabeling pipeline are starting to get "oxidized" on the outside. It makes me worry about the insides and those get recycled. I'm now using a dish soap soak for unlabeled bottles and an Oxy soak for new labeled bottles.

You think the Oxy is causing some damage to the bottles? Have not seen that. I only do the full treatment on "new" used bottles. Since its my least favorite part of the hobby we are pretty anal about rinsing out bottles as soon as they are empty and if I put a label on it is only the easy peel variety.

 

[Scooter68]

Love an Oxy soak, but I'm starting to notice that some of the bottles that are on the 2nd or 3rd pass through my delabeling pipeline are starting to get "oxidized" on the outside. It makes me worry about the insides and those get recycled. I'm now using a dish soap soak for unlabeled bottles and an Oxy soak for new labeled bottles.

You might try an overnight soak in Distilled white vinegar. I know that sounds like a bad thing to have vinegar ANYWHERE around your wine making but this is distilled white vinegar. Excellent at removing all sorts of deposits and rust on metal too. (It's my favorite rusty metal cleaner.)

 

[hounddawg]

You might try an overnight soak in Distilled white vinegar. I know that sounds like a bad thing to have vinegar ANYWHERE around your wine making but this is distilled white vinegar. Excellent at removing all sorts of deposits and rust on metal too. (It's my favorite rusty metal cleaner.)

you recon my skeeter pee port might work,
Dawg

 

[SLM]

Why are you all so afraid of chemicals? I worked in the auto painting industry for 20 years, immersed in all manner of volatile organic compounds. I don't think they did me any harm.

 

[opus345]

You think the Oxy is causing some damage to the bottles? Have not seen that. I only do the full treatment on "new" used bottles. Since its my least favorite part of the hobby we are pretty anal about rinsing out bottles as soon as they are empty and if I put a label on it is only the easy peel variety.

Yes. Now that I switched to two separate soaks, I'm not seeing the deposits on my used bottles with my peelable labels.

@Scooter68 Thanks for the idea. Next cleaning run, I may see if I have any "oxydized" and try the distilled vinegar treatment.

 

[Snafflebit]

Time for me to eat some crow! Regarding Used wine bottles

Soaking wine bottles in PBW and water for a couple of days is just as effective as baking and peeling off the labels. In fact, this method is cleaner since there is no need for solvent to remove the last bits of adhesive from the baked bottles. The Labelnator is still necessary, but I have learned to be more careful.

I find that doing a followup soak, after the label is mostly scraped off, will clean up about 90% of the bottles. I will need to scrub down the bottle with a Scotchbrite or Magic Eraser after the second soak, but the bottle is very clean after the second round of soaking.

 

[Scooter68]

Time for me to eat some crow! Regarding Used wine bottles

Soaking wine bottles in PBW and water for a couple of days is just as effective as baking and peeling off the labels. In fact, this method is cleaner since there is no need for solvent to remove the last bits of adhesive from the baked bottles. The Labelnator is still necessary, but I have learned to be more careful.

I find that doing a followup soak, after the label is mostly scraped off, will clean up about 90% of the bottles. I will need to scrub down the bottle with a Scotchbrite or Magic Eraser after the second soak, but the bottle is very clean after the second round of soaking.

You've ended up on the same plan as I did.

Scotchbrite pads and PBW or even Straight Dawn Dishwashing liquid is effective with hot water and patience. I've also used oxiclean that was left over from way back and that worked well too. I just don't like using any petroleum based products or even mineral spirits. The chance of contaminating residue slipping by just isn't worth it.

Yes, there are some really tough labels out there but then until those are the only bottles available, I'll just skip those. I suspect that as the eco movements continue to march on, label adhesives and label materials will become easier to remove. Exceptions will exist of course but the desire to reduce environmental impact of waste will make things easier.

 

[DizzyIzzy]

Time for me to eat some crow! Regarding Used wine bottles

Soaking wine bottles in PBW and water for a couple of days is just as effective as baking and peeling off the labels. In fact, this method is cleaner since there is no need for solvent to remove the last bits of adhesive from the baked bottles. The Labelnator is still necessary, but I have learned to be more careful.

I find that doing a followup soak, after the label is mostly scraped off, will clean up about 90% of the bottles. I will need to scrub down the bottle with a Scotchbrite or Magic Eraser after the second soak, but the bottle is very clean after the second round of soaking.

What's PBW??.........................................DizzyIzzy

 

[Jim Welch]

What's PBW??.........................................DizzyIzzy

A powdered cleaning compound developed for cleaning brewing equipment that is very very effective in removing organic deposits. Also rinses easily. Similar to powdered dishwasher machine detergents sans surfactants and fragrances. IIRC, it stands for Professional Brewery Wash, or something similar. A great cleaner, expensive but to me it is worth it.

 

[varano14]

Another option that I have found to work really well on some labels is hitting them with a clothing steamer. We have a little travel sized one that I can sit on the table and hold the bottle in front of four about 10-20 seconds. Some labels fall of at that point leaving being almost no adhesive. Others leave behind the adhesive. I have had some that don't come off well with this method and those I usually don't bother with.

I like doing this because is makes almost no mess and has a chance of requiring no additional steps.

This method saved the day during a family members wedding when they had to peel the barcode stickers of the bottom of 200 jars. Officially bride approved.

 

[fermenter]

Interesting: Labelnator, device to REMOVE label from something; baconator something bacon is ADDED to.

 

[LosGatosLinda]

My process is the pretty much the same as @cmason1957. I use a tool I found in the kitchen drawer used for cutting dough to scrape the labels off. Not sure what it's called but looks like the thumbnail below. Stainless steel scouring pad to clean the glue while still in the cleaning water. This works on 90% of the bottles. Some producers use a glue that requires a solvent to break it down. I set those aside and then take them outside and clean the residue off with denatured alcohol (preferred) or whatever else I have. Let them air dry then store until ready to sanitize and fill. For me cleaning labels is the least favorite things about this hobby and I put it off as long as possible in the hopes that someone else will do it. So far only my wife has volunteered.

Looks like a dough scraper.

 

[DizzyIzzy]

I

A powdered cleaning compound developed for cleaning brewing equipment that is very very effective in removing organic deposits. Also rinses easily. Similar to powdered dishwasher machine detergents sans surfactants and fragrances. IIRC, it stands for Professional Brewery Wash, or something similar. A great cleaner, expensive but to me it is worth it.

I soak my bottles in hot water on the stove adding a sheet of fabric softener and a dash of Dawn. Leave it for a couple of days, heating the pot of water up daily, and the labels usually come off without too much effort...................................................DizzyIzzy

 

[Jim Welch]

I

I soak my bottles in hot water on the stove adding a sheet of fabric softener and a dash of Dawn. Leave it for a couple of days, heating the pot of water up daily, and the labels usually come off without too much effort...................................................DizzyIzzy

sounds like a good delabeling process. I wasn’t advocating using PBW to delabel just answering your question. PBW is an excellent solvent of organic residue but it is expensive. Too expensive to use removing labels IMO.

 

[distancerunner]

Once again, WMT is a wealth of information.

We had about a hundred bottles sitting in storage for the last twenty years. They needed to be cleaned. Some needed to be delabled. Taking the advice in this thread, we soaked them in very hot water and unscented Oxiclean for forty eight hours. Most of the labels were floating in the water today. Two of us were able to slam through this task in about two and a half hours. That included delabeling, scrubbing the bottles inside and out, triple rinsing, and placing on a bottle tree.

Thank you to all who made these suggestions.

 

[Khristyjeff]

Once again, WMT is a wealth of information.

We had about a hundred bottles sitting in storage for the last twenty years. They needed to be cleaned. Some needed to be delabled. Taking the advice in this thread, we soaked them in very hot water and unscented Oxiclean for forty eight hours. Most of the labels were floating in the water today. Two of us were able to slam through this task in about two and a half hours. That included delabeling, scrubbing the bottles inside and out, triple rinsing, and placing on a bottle tree.

Thank you to all who made these suggestions.

Great work, and quick work for 100 bottles. Congrats!

 

[deesloop]

I find uPVC cleaner invaluable for dissolving the glue on labels. It's £4 or $5 for a litre and it lasts forever.
Not found a glue it doesn't dissolve and it works super quick - less than 30 seconds for even the thickest residue.

Those who dislike chemicals may find it's aroma a little strong (almost pear like) but I like it.


Hey a post where I actually offered some advice

 

[Snafflebit]

I have a feeling that OxyClean and PBW are nearly the same chemicals, but I would be afraid to use OxyClean as a no-rinse sanitizer.

 

[cmason1957]

I have a feeling that OxyClean and PBW are nearly the same chemicals, but I would be afraid to use OxyClean as a no-rinse sanitizer.

I would be afraid to use PBW as a no-rinse sanitizer as well, it's a cleaner, not a sanitizer. But that's just my $0.02, take it for what it's worth.

 

[mainshipfred]

I have a feeling that OxyClean and PBW are nearly the same chemicals, but I would be afraid to use OxyClean as a no-rinse sanitizer.

I only use OxyClean primarily because it's so inexpensive and available everywhere. I do however rinse everything.