Bottle Preparation

[roosiecharm]

Hi all,

Another question - anyone have any handy hints for washing the labels off bottles in preperation for home brew bottling? The paper labels (such as tooheys new) are no worries, hot water does the job for those . I'm having problems with the plastic labels (such as tooheys extra dry or 5 seeds cider, corona etc). Removing the labels is easy enough, its the sticky glue redisue that I struggle with - I've tried eucalyptus oil, which does remove the glue well, but its then somewhat difficult to get rid of the oil!

Any easy tips on this subject?

 

[manticle]

First tip is any of those bottles that are clear (like corona and I think 5 seeds and maybe some other tooheys bottles) are no good for homebrewing. Beer (specifically the hops) is susceptible to light damage which can give your beer bad flavours.

Bottles should be brown or at least green. Any brown or green bottles have the plastic labels of which you speak?

 

[roosiecharm]

Hm hadn't thought of that - and so far, I haven't had any brown bottles with plastic labels - thanks for that

I plan to store all my bottled brews in a dark place - would it be ok to use clear bottles in that case? I imagine light damage would only occur if they were in fairly significant light? Or am I way off there?

 

[O'Henry]

I don't worry about labels anymore. I used to spend so long cleaning them off, then one day realised I didn't need to (much to the delight of my gf and brewing partner). I know what is in it. I don't drink the ones with no labels so I can give the few of those I have to friends or comps.
Just leave the stickers on there. And try to get enough brown bottles. Maybe while your first batch, with mixed bottles, is conditioning in the dark, drink some brown bottles.

There is one label that comes of a dream in hot water, no residue, no nothing. takes about 1 minute: Pigs Fly.

 

[kelbygreen]

light damage will happen under UV light from what I can gather. I wouldnt subject them to any light if possible. Yes they should be fine but just encase drink them first. Paper labels I soak my bottles over night in napisan solution (this is done after I drink it or have it given to me and when I pour my home brew out gets rinsed and straight into the napisan bath) next night pick them up and most of the labels are floating around the rest will peel of really easy (coopers bottles are the worst may need 2 day soak to get labels off)

 

[piraterum]

Soak the bottles in a bleach solution, wait about 10mins and the labels should lift off easily.

Make sure you rinse the bottles throughly in cold water immediately after, don't want any nasty chlorine flavours in your beer!

 

[Pennywise]

Napisan with very hot water will get the crap off, or PBW (but that's a bit exxy). Clear and green bottles are fine so long as you can keep them out of the light, I used to use (and still do[when I bottle]) clear bottles, but all my bottles get stored in large cardboard box's, in a darkened room. But like others said uv light will kill a beer in minutes if in a clear bottle, will also do it in green bottles but not as quick

 

[O'Henry]

Direct sunlight will effect brown bottles also, it just takes much longer.

 

[kelbygreen]

I usually have a fermenter full of napisan solution and will just use that. I got about 200 bottles a bit ago so its good I can clean about 8-9 a night then store ready for sanitising so my bottles and fermenter gets cleaned the solution seems to work for about a week (well thats the longest I have had it in for) and I havnt noticed it damaging the fermenter. Tell you its bloody clean though

 

[roosiecharm]

Very cool - thanks a lot guys

 

[Hatchy]

Does it matter if the bottles have labels? I don't really care if mine come off or stay on with the exception of neck labels on stubbies. Those get soaked in water until they're ready to fall off. I'm sick of pouring beer on the floor because I can't see when the bottle's almost full.

 

[manticle]

I plan to store all my bottled brews in a dark place - would it be ok to use clear bottles in that case? I imagine light damage would only occur if they were in fairly significant light? Or am I way off there?

Might be ok but it's a bit like hoping your electric blanket won't set fire to the place because it's turned down low when you're not home. 9 times out of 10 your house probably doesn't burn down but why take the risk when all you have to do is flick a switch? Brown bottles are easy enough to come by.

 

[haysie]

Might be ok but it's a bit like hoping your electric blanket won't set fire to the place because it's turned down low when you're not home. 9 times out of 10 your house probably doesn't burn down but why take the risk when all you have to do is flick a switch? Brown bottles are easy enough to come by.

Now Uncle Manticle make sure you sanitise behind your ears and in between your toes :lol: :lol: Just wished my kids accepted anology like this :unsure:

I hear those plastic PET bottles have no labels. Try them.

 

[manticle]

You should see my toes.

Actually on second thoughts, you shouldn't. On a bad day I could inoculate an entire microbrewery batch and still risk overpitching.

Plastic brown bottles are another good option.

 

[booyablack]

I'm the same as you roosie, I store my brews in a dark cupboard in my garage which sees no light. I'd also been warned about the dangers of using non-brown bottles and lightstrike so I've always used brown bottles only.

However, lately I've gotten into the habit of bottling at least one bottle of each batch in a clear bottle. It's been good a practice for me since it allows me to see the brew. You can see the colour, clarity, sediment, floating hop chunks and even (let's hope not) infection! You can also compare the look of all your different batches side by side in the bottle. Since I store in absolute darkness I haven't had a problem with lightstrike yet and I have consumed plenty of the clear bottles now.

Here's a pic of a few of my brews in clear bottles:

(Just to keep this relevant to the OP, I used a metal BBQ cleaning brush to scrub clean some of the bottles that had that pesky glue)

 

[roosiecharm]

Nice one, cheers booya. As a fairly new brewer, I might try that idea of your - to make sure atleast one of every brew is in a clear bottle for observational purposes. Very nice.

Thanks again

 

[Wolfy]

Does it matter if the bottles have labels? I don't really care if mine come off or stay on with the exception of neck labels on stubbies.

I think so, it's all about presentation, especially if you are sharing/serving/giving samples to other people.
Ratty-tatty bottles with daggy labels that are half on and half off simply don't look as clean, neat and tidy as bottles with labels removed, if you don't care how it looks then who's to say you care what is inside.
Having said that I just soak mine in Sodium Percarb and they come off easily, so it's not like its any additional work with how I do things.

 

[Yeastie Beastie]

Soak the bottles in a bleach solution, wait about 10mins and the labels should lift off easily.

Make sure you rinse the bottles throughly in cold water immediately after, don't want any nasty chlorine flavours in your beer!

+1

 

[Hatchy]

I think so, it's all about presentation, especially if you are sharing/serving/giving samples to other people.
Ratty-tatty bottles with daggy labels that are half on and half off simply don't look as clean, neat and tidy as bottles with labels removed, if you don't care how it looks then who's to say you care what is inside.
Having said that I just soak mine in Sodium Percarb and they come off easily, so it's not like its any additional work with how I do things.

I forgot to mention earlier, the labels that are crooked or the one where I ended up with a squires label on a coopers bottle are my favourites. Most of the people that drink my beer are aware of how much care I take with the inside of the bottles so aren't likely to care about the outside. Yr right about the sodium percarbonate though, labels don't stand a chance against that stuff.

As far as skunking, I use green & clear bottles for ginger beer & cider. No hops = no skunking right?

 

[O'Henry]

...As far as skunking, I use green & clear bottles for ginger beer & cider. No hops = no skunking right?

Yep. Need iso-alpha acids to be present for skunking to occur.