Noob Getting Labels Off (Again) And Screw Tops With Corks......

hi jim! re Q #1 : we've used a trisodium phoshate (TSP) cleaner as a soak-off with reasonable success. HOWEVER, real TSP may or maynot be available to you. In boston, our EPA now only allows us faux TSP which is somewhat OK. Otherwise, repeated hot water soaks and a single edged razorblade to follow will take them off with some effort. follow up with an acetone wipe to remove glue residue. Nail polish remover is reasonably cheap!

Re: #2: we've had no real experience w/ screwtops except to drink from them ( nostra culpa) but 3 out of 4 of us feel that you may be flirtin' with disaster, vis a vis shattered bottles. HTH regards, bob.

Thanks Bob. I sense eventually my corking thin necks with fat corks is going to result in a casualty. I'm a bottle-tramp, I get given as many screw top bottles as corked :S and it's hard to refuse them when they've worked so far. The first litre wasted will probably cure me of that way of thinking. Thanks for the advise on corking I will try to take it ;)

Brutal as it sounds, the wallpaper scraper or broad chisel is great for getting the gross paper off. If nail polish remover is good for getting the glue residue off, that's a fairly cheap route - and it feels so much safer than petrol, heh heh.

Cheers for the advice, Jim

soak-off with reasonable success. HOWEVER, real

faux TSP which is somewhat OK.

will take them off with some effort.

reasonably cheap!

nostra culpa) but 3 out of 4 of us feel

regards, bob.

from the world over, old world and new

available in the UK) are good at removing

Others seem to resist my nails, chisel

solvent cleaning spray I have but its very

carefully or something would be the

bottles? I have corked a dozen or so

seems to be thinner. I am using a

larger than some of the home bottling corks.

Hi, Jim. For #1 - I have found ammonia added to the water will soak off 30-40% of the labels if soaked for 24 hours - just floating next to the bottle.

30% come off easily with a razor blade (like you scrap painted windows with), and 30% still take some effort, but much easier than just with water.

Hope that helps.

#2 - I haven't tried corking a screw top, just throw the bottle away, though I realize over time, more and more will be screw tops. sigh. i'll watch for others to reply.

DAve

jim wrote:

from the world over, old world and new

available in the UK) are good at removing

Others seem to resist my nails, chisel (!)

cleaning spray I have but its very

carefully or something would be the optimum

bottles? I have corked a dozen or so bottles

be thinner. I am using a portuguese

of the home bottling corks. I was

Jim, there is another wine label glue that is made with white, latex glue. I have dubbed it; 'the wine label glue from hell'. Labels simply do not soak off. If I remember correctly (it's been a long time since I did this),; 1. set your oven to 250 Fahrenheit, no higher and no lower. Those engineers out there can convert this temp for you, if you need help. 2. place empty, uncorked bottles on rack in your oven. Allow about 10-15 minutes to heat. Remove from oven with oven mitt (yes, I have to say this as some guy out there once asked me!). 3. while holding wine bottle with oven mitt, use a small paring knife to remove label. It should peal off easily. 4. allow wine bottle to completely cool, to the touch. Do _NOT_ put immediately into water. Unless you like crackle finishes on your bottles, and don't mind fragility.

If somebody out there could do a search of the archives and double-check on the temperature setting and time in the oven, I would appreciate it.

Joanne - amidst the tumbleweeds of Arizona

Jim:

1) Commercial wine labels. I HATE 'EM . Basically the solution perseverance. Everybody had good suggestions, BUT some labels...mutter mutter. Buy new!!! Support your local retailer (especially if you live near my store).

2) Screw top bottles. I hate 'em (note not capitalized). Nearly all screw top bottles can be corked. I run a Brew on Premises and I see lots of different bottles, including screw tops. So far only one has broken when being corked. Many more cork finish bottles have broken. But that just represents the ratio of cork finish to screw top.

There seem to be three sizes of mouth openings on screw top bottles. a) a good size - most bottles that I see b) slightly larger - probably less than 10% of the bottles - corks fit but I worry about how good a seal c) very large opening - these are easy to spot. I have only seen 3 or

4 of these bottles in 5 years.

I DO NOT USE screw top bottles for my personal wine. WHY? Because I'm not convinced that you will get a good seal with a cork or a used screw top.

If the wine will be consumed short term (less than 3 months?), go for it.

Lastly...bottles break, Doesn't matter which ones they are.

Steve

Steve, I have been growing grapes and making wine for more than 55 years. I crush between 1 and 4 tons per year.

2 X 55 = 110 tons 110 X 150 = 16500 gals 16500 X 5 = 82500 bottles I use an old, old Italian corker. I have dropped my share of bottles, but I don't ever remember of breaking a bottle while driving a cork. Lum Del Mar, California, USA

I keep a plastic pail filled with water on the back porch. It will hold about 4 bottles. I fill the bottles with hot water to help loosen the label initially and to keep the bottles from floating, hand cork them and let them soak for a few days in the pail. I scrape the labels off with a stainless steel scraper. Most of the labels usually scrape off easily, some require extra effort.

I cork the random screw top bottles that I get with 9x1.75 corks with no problems to date.

Steve

Thanks everyone for the tips!

Joanne, that white label glue is my worst enemy too. I do not have a proper oven at the moment (its a long story about a tiny kitchen and postponed renovations), I'll try it at someone else's house or in a few months!

Cheers again, Jim

dubbed it; 'the wine label glue from

long time since I did this),;

out there can convert this temp for you,

minutes to heat. Remove from oven with oven

remove label. It should peal off easily.

immediately into water. Unless you like crackle

the temperature setting and time in the

from the world over, old world and new

available in the UK) are good at removing

Others seem to resist my nails, chisel

solvent cleaning spray I have but its very

carefully or something would be the

bottles? I have corked a dozen or so

seems to be thinner. I am using a

larger than some of the home bottling corks.

Joanne, how can one tell if the label was attached with the latex glue?

Thx,

Pp

ahhh -- but the REAL question Lum; how much wine do you DRINK every year?

2 x 150 = 300 gallons 300 x 5 = 1500 bottles

4 bottles a day.

Love your style .....

Ric, My kids seldom help with the making, but they always help with the drinking. Lum

Lum:

Presumably you are careful with your bottles. Customers in a BOP are not always that careful. Several bottles have been caught prior to corking that were cracked in the neck area. I am certain that inserting the cork would have caused the crack to open up. WHY am I certain? Cause I've seen several that it has happened to. The crack usually looks like a hair hanging down. FYI, these were cork finish bottles.

BTW I run a small BOP. Bottle probably over 50 batches a month for 5 years now. 50 x 30 X 12 X 5 = 90,000 bottles. using a compressed air driven corker.

As always glass is breakable. Take care of your bottles (as Lum does) and you will have no problems.

BTW, none of the broken bottles were my personal bottles. Unless you count the empty I dropped on the concrete floor

Steve

P, in good light, hold the bottle so that the front label is away from you. Look through the glass at the glue backing on the label. If you see "lines" of glue, then it is a "soaker" and the label should come off in hot water. If the glue is uniformly throughout the back of the label, chances are it is coated with the wine-label-glue-from-hell. Also, after pealing off the label and letting the bottle cool, you can use an orange-based product called goo-gone to get rid of any residue left on the bottle. I then wash the exterior in warm sudsy water. After that process is finished, I wash in cleaner/sanitizer product.

Joanne - amidst the tumbleweeds of Ari(d)zona

Good point Steve. Thanks, Lum

Thanks again for all the ideas. I used WD40 on the outside of the bottles today and cleaned glue off 19 bottles in about 35 minutes. They already had the label paper scratched off and had been soaked for 12 hours. I washed them off outside and in then dried them off with an old towel.

Pretty good results and no taint inside bottle - though I know its not the ultimate solution. It seems to work on the hard glue and latex types. The odd extra squirt helps clean the gunge off.

Jim

4 bottles. I fill the bottles with hot

floating, hand cork them