General homebrew discussion, tips and help on kit and malt extract brewing, and talk about equipment. Queries on sourcing supplies and equipment should go in The Store.
Hi everyone,
My first brew should be ready to bottle sunday morning. I plan to bottle in some old longnecks (I work at a recycling centre, so no shortage of them!) but I am having a really hard time removing glue and grime from the outside of the bottles. I am certain the insides are clean which is the main thing, but just wondering how you guys do it.
The glue/grime is a white colour. I have tried soaking bottles in a bleach solution, followed scrubbing in boiling water with a scourer pad (and then repeated the whole process!) yet I can't get rid of it.
I realise that if bleach and scrubbing can't get it off, and it's only on the outside that it won't harm my brew but it would be nice to have bottles that don't look like I found them at the dump. Besides replacing my old bottles with new ones as I get them (new coopers crown seal longnecks might be the way to go if they are thick enough?) is there any other way to clean them?
Just keep soaking them. Overnight or longer between scrubbings. For label removing etc, I use a water, bleach & dishwashing liquid solution.
Persistence will pay off with great looking bottles.
I just soak my bottles in water for at least 24 hours. Most of the labels come off with no trouble and those that don't come off no troubles with a light rub with a metal scourer (this also seems to remove the left over sticky stuff as well)
I soak bottles overnight in a sink of hot water and dishwasher detergent. Wear gloves - the dishwasher detergent is quite caustic. The only kind of bottle that presents any problem at all with that treatment are Crown Lager bottles, and even then most of the lables come right off.
I soaked in bleach solution overnight, the labels themselves came off really easy but I just have a ring of scum around where the label was. I will try eucalyptus oil in the morning and see if it works.
"Listening to someone who brews their own beer is like listening to a religous fanatic talk about the day he saw the light" Ross Murray, Montreal Gazette
The only bottle labels that give me trouble are the Crown Lager labels. All the rest peel off easy with a soak in hot water and a wipe of the cloth to get the residue off. To get off Crown labels I give them a soak in hot water an while it is still hot I use the blade of a butter knife and scrape as much of the label off as I can. I then use a metal scourer to do the rest. Perfectly clean after that.
I have come to the conclusion that they are not getting any cleaner than they already are. Eucalyptus Oil didnt work, bleach didnt work, soaking in hot water did not work.
Perhaps it is because these are fairly old bottles and probabbly have a few scratches etc on the outside harbouring the glue.
Solution: As I get new bottles I will phase these old ones out.
Try some isopropyl alcohol wipes. That what the label companies use to remove label glue.....or so the missus tells me and she works for a label manufacturer.
