Label Making

[Lobsta]

hi guys,
lets assume for a second that i am a poor student and am unwilling to pay for proper labels to be done, nor do i have acess to a fancy colour laser printer, is there any other way for me to label my bottles that will stand up to condensation?

cheers

lobsta

 

[beernography]

hi guys,
lets assume for a second that i am a poor student and am unwilling to pay for proper labels to be done, nor do i have acess to a fancy colour laser printer, is there any other way for me to label my bottles that will stand up to condensation?

U can buy labels from Avery in all sizes and run them through your standard inkjet. Personally I can't be arsed making/applying/removing labels so I just initial the brew code onto the cap of the bottle. Try masking tape with writing on it or plain paper and sticky tape if you're that povo. Get creative

 

[brewgirl]

I'm sort of trying to figure out the label thing also...

I'm just going to pring them from my laser printer. I'm planing on trying out some different stick glues and stuff... may or may not work, I just want something that will wash of easily, other thing I was going to try was hot glue or double sided tape. Alot of labels on glass bottles use hot glue, so I'm going to give that ago coz I've aready got a glue gun.

My plan is just going to be the same as my beer making, have fun experimenting....



Brewgirl

 

[brewgirl]

Hey... Just made my first label... I attached it with double sided sticky tape... works pretty well.

 

[alexbrand]

The bottles I use at home are not labeled. For the giveaway bottles I often use a touch-up stick. Depends on the glass colour, but most of the time I use white or golden coloured metallic paint. Looks quite nice. Just name, alc.%, OG. Speciality beers get some extra text like style, ingredients or whatever.

Can't take a picture because all those bottles are gone over christmas...


Alex

 

[newguy]

I don't label my bottles, but I have friends who do. I've heard that either milk or egg whites (not mixed together) are supposed to work well and are easy to remove when you want to reuse the bottle. Glue sticks also work well, but are more difficult to remove. I've found that oxyclean is the best thing I've tried for removing commercial beer labels. Just put a tbsp of oxiclean in a sink of warm water and allow the bottles to soak for about 15 minutes. The labels will often simply fall off on their own.

Don't know if oxyclean is available in Australia. According to this, its main ingredient is sodium percarbonate.

 

[kabooby]

Dont label my bottles either. To much effort to make and to much effort to remove. I just label the bottle lids with a marker. If you want to stick something on the bottle to write on you could try white electrical tape. Comes of easier than marking tape.

Kabooby

 

[beernography]

Hey newguy,

I found the Cooper's sanitiser raped the labels off the bottles, after about half an hour's soaking they slid right off and the glue completely wiped off with a cloth. It was also percarbonate.

 

[petesbrew]

I usually print the labels at work then, using a basting brush, paint lite milk on the back of the labels and stick them on. A few fall off in the fridge, and they all fall off when in a tub of icy water, but its easy. I used full cream milk once, and the garage stunk of off milk for a few days!

Another thing is just getting a glue stick from Hot Dollar.

Note for young players, PET bottles don't like certain adhesive stickers. You'll never get them off.

 

[samhighley]

Orange based 'sticky-goo' removers are good for removing label residue.

 

[Adamt]

Permanent texta on the crown seals. Simple, effective. Though, you do get quite a bit of "Is this really Coopers Stout?" from people drinking a bottled bitter.

 

[kevnlis]

I also texta the bottle cap, all of my recipes are given a unique code and that code is then put on every bottle from that batch, then if I need to in the future find out what beer I am drinking I can just come to the PC and find it right away

 

[boingk]

I hear you on the poor student thing...and I've got a $5 solution for the problem - just go down to the local newsagents and get a pack of 'quick stick' self adhesive labels, they are about a centimeter and a half square and i just put them on the top of my bottles with an abbreviated name, eg: SP - Special Porter, HR - Heineken Ripoff, etc. The pack I bought says they are removable, but work quite well actually seeing as most of the time the bottles are in storage, and rarely in the fridge for a few days prior to drinking.

The pack has 900 labels. Thats like 30 brews worth? Hard to go past for $5!

Cheers - boingk

EDIT: They come off easy as pie at bottle-wash time too! Hot water and nothing else...

 

[warra48]

I do as others here do.
All my brews are numbered in my spreadsheet and on Beersmith.
I just put the brew number on the cap with a texta.
I have my beer cellar downstairs, as is my garage and brewery. It has a blackboard (well, it's green really) on the wall, and all my brews in stock are chalked on the blackboard with the number and the type of brew. Easy to remove once all consumed, and easy to add on when a new brew is crafted.
OT, I also use the blackboard to keep tabs on the best score I have on each hole of my golf course over the course of a year. Sort of like an eclectic competition with myself. At the end of each year, I have a total score that would make even Tiger jealous.

 

[EK]

I don't bother with labels, I just write an abbreviation on the bottle cap with a nikko. That way you can look down into a crate of bottles and easily see what each one is and you don't have to scrub a label off the side when you done with it.

 

[browndog]

Hi Lobsta,
If you want to get creative with your inkjet printer and want the labels to last, get yourself some clear contact paper from the news agent. Print your labels, then put the clear contact over the label and trim to size. This will give you a waterproof label that will last ages. UHU is good for sticking them to the bottle.

cheers

Browndog

 

[bonj]

If you only have a monochrome laser as I do, coloured paper works well. I stick them to the bottle with a Bostick gluestick. As Browndog said, UHU works too. Apparently, the coles brand gluesticks don't stand up as well.

 

[Lobsta]

yeah, i was more looking for ways to label the bottles with something fancy for the bottles that i give away to mates (assuming that they are drinkable )

 

[chovain]

I use Avery labels in an el-cheapo colour bubblejet. Paper stuck on with glue will probably be just as good, and cheaper.

Spend some time making your labels up in a combo of a graphics app (Gimp is free) and word (not too expensive for non-commercial use), and you should be able to get something looking pretty good.

If you're worried about the ink running with condensation, let the ink cure (Give it a day or two) before you put them on the bottles. It'll still run if you dunk it in water, but mine stay pretty good with normal wear and tear. If you want to go the extra mile, you could try contact (expensive), or perhaps a spray-on sealer of some sort.

 

[newguy]

...perhaps a spray-on sealer of some sort.

I've heard that a shot of hair spray is supposed to form a pretty good seal.