Bottle Harvesting: the way I do it

[professor_oak]

This is the first post I'm doing on this forum for the record

I thought it might be helpful if I shared my process for removing labels and recycling bottles for your own use. I'll start by saying if your like me you think that paying for bottles that don't have labels on them is just plain stupid, I mean what's the point of buying them new if your just going to have to clean them again anyway? So I've experimented for a while to find the best way to remove labels I've tried goof-off, I've tried soaking them in star-san, in vinagar and in bleach but nothing seemed to have any better effect than plain water. I'd also tried boiling them which worked but it took a long time and made a complete mess. But I've recently discovered that using just a splash of my favorite degreasing soap can take labels off with the adhesive about a 15min soak so here's my step by step process to efficiently cleaning and recycling used bottles.

Step 1: Drink Beer
We only drink non-alcoholic beer on a regular basis and I like the shape of the buckler bottle, it's got a little bit of the stubbier shape that you see with some pale ales but it still looks like a normal bottle.

Step 2: Soak

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I use a stainless steam table pan that I have for making maple syrup, you can really use anything as long as it's deep enough to take the air out of the bottle and lay it side ways.
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The next thing I do is fill the pan up with water (obviously) and put two splashes of "Super Clean" industrial degreaser in. They're other degreasers out there that will probably work but in my opinion nothing cleans as well as super clean it's a little pricy but it's super handy and a little goes a long way.
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In the first five minutes you should see the labels start to crinkle in the next ten to fifteen minutes they should be a breeze to peel off.


3. Peel and brush
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The labels should come off without much of a fight if they don't you might need either more time or more soap. I then dump the soapy water back into the steam table pan and brush any remaining adhesive or label residue off and soak them in plain water to get the soap out.
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4. Final Rinse and dry
I then give the bottles a thorough rinsing with hot water to make sure all the degreaser Is out, if you used too much soap this could be tedious.
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Then what I do is put an old dishwasher rack over some drying cloths and go watch tv. You could temporarily take the rack out of your dishwasher, I would recommend finding one if your going to be recycling bottles because bottle dryers are needlessly expensive and it works just as well.

If it's above freezing outside where you are it's probably easier to do step 2 in a plastic storage bin and just give it 24 hours but it's too cold for it where I'm at and doing it the way I did only took about 2 hours to do 50 bottles and it was a lot better than paying for them

 

[Baja_Brewer]

Excellent post. I've found that a soak with PBW or an Oxy based cleaner works well - only a few labels that it hasn't been able to take off (even with an overnight soak.)

Word of warning to anyone not familiar with that Super Clean de-greaser - its pretty intense stuff. I've used it to take several year old oil stains out of an untreated concrete floor.

 

[PADave]

+1 on PBW. Soak mine for a few hours, or sometimes days. Most labels are laying on the bottom of the bucket when I get back to them.

 

[day_trippr]

I thought this was going to be an entirely different topic...

Cheers! :smack:

 

[MaxStout]

Yeah, I thought it was going to be about harvesting yeast...

I manage to get labels off by soaking in hot water with a little Oxiclean. Soak overnight and the labels come right off. Some leave a layer of glue on the bottles, but I use a Dobie pad to scrub that off.

 

[professor_oak]

Excellent post. I've found that a soak with PBW or an Oxy based cleaner works well - only a few labels that it hasn't been able to take off (even with an overnight soak.)

Word of warning to anyone not familiar with that Super Clean de-greaser - its pretty intense stuff. I've used it to take several year old oil stains out of an untreated concrete floor.

You'll be amazed at how well it will take off adhesive from bottles

 

[Pantherjon]

I will have to see if it is available around here...I know from experience that there are some labels that are a major PITA to take off even after soaking overnight in a PBW bath, one being from Sierra Nevada, man, they use a BUNCH of adhesive on their labels! The labels will sometimes lift right off cleanly, but leave a bunch of glue behind..

 

[MaxStout]

Once in a while I encounter bottles with vinyl labels, sort of like bumper stickers. No soaking will remove those, as the adhesive is not water-based. I found that by filling the bottles with hot tap water and waiting for the glass to get warm, those labels will soften and I can peel them off with little or no adhesive residue remaining.

 

[Baja_Brewer]

You'll be amazed at how well it will take off adhesive from bottles

I bet. How about painted bottles, like Stone? I have some bombers that I'd like to clear off...

I will have to see if it is available around here...I know from experience that there are some labels that are a major PITA to take off even after soaking overnight in a PBW bath, one being from Sierra Nevada, man, they use a BUNCH of adhesive on their labels! The labels will sometimes lift right off cleanly, but leave a bunch of glue behind..

Overnight soak and a green scrubbie/scour pad for the SN adhesive. Done. About half my bottles are the SN or lagunitas stubby ones.

The bottles I won't touch any more are Southern Tier.

 

[TandemTails]

Have you tried this with other bottles though? It could be that your Buckler labels are just very easy to remove or the glue isn't really that strong.

I collect bottles and then after a brew day i'll keep all the starsan and oxyclean in a bucket and throw the bottles in. Some labels (Sam Adams) come off extremely quickly and easily, even after soaking for a few minutes. Other bottles are still a pain in the butt even after several days of soaking.

 

[PADave]

I will have to see if it is available around here...I know from experience that there are some labels that are a major PITA to take off even after soaking overnight in a PBW bath, one being from Sierra Nevada, man, they use a BUNCH of adhesive on their labels! The labels will sometimes lift right off cleanly, but leave a bunch of glue behind..

Rubs right off with your hand, and warm water rinse. If the label doesn't easily come off with a soak, to me its not worth the time getting it off.