beer labels, finally a solution

My gripe with stick-on labels is that they're so freaking difficult to take off when you're ready to bottle your next brew. My favorite method is to use ordinary 8.5 x 11 printer paper (I can fit 6 labels per page), cut the labels with a good old paper slicer, and then attach with a glue stick. The labels stay on if the bottle sweats a little (unless you peel them off on purpose), but they come off without any trouble at all when you soak the bottles in water.

Other kinds of labels, I end up using a paint scraper or razor blade to get all the stickers off, which is a royal pain in the ass. Even if you soak the bottles for a few hours, some labels are still very stubborn and require a lot of manual labor to remove. And then a lot of times, you can't get all the adhesive off, so you scrape even harder, or try Goo-Gone, and it still doesn't work real well..... Who wants to waste their time with all that? Just use a glue stick on regular paper and you're good to go.

I currently use the avery .75" round labels for my own beer bottles. The problem I have with these is that they come on such a small sheet of paper. I recently discovered a company offering full sheets though and plan to purchase some next time I run out. here is their link:

I forwarded to the company who creates the discus software what I had discovered in labels and they wrote back saying the same thing everyone has said here, that we need easily removable labels. I'm still hoping they will jump in at some point and offer a few templates with their software.

Dave

For bottles I intend to give away, I use regular 8.5 x 11 inch paper that, after printing my labels on, I cut into three 3.5 x 8.5 inch strips. These strips I wrap completely around the bottle overlap the ends and glue the together with a glue stick. A very small amount of glue on the bottle prevents the label from sliding off. Come cleaning time (If I get the bottles back) you only have to clean the small portion of label end glue still attached to the bottle. (This works with 12oz bottles, just don't have the heart to give away 22's yet.)

Dave I go 1 step further. I spray a clear coat of photo spray [any clear spray can]. This was it will protect the label from running.

I'm personally a big fan of numbering my batches on the bottle cap with a good old-fashioned Sharpie marker. It's the quickest and cheapest way I've found...seems kinda silly to go through the trouble of labelling beer bottles unless you're presenting them as gifts. I only actually print labels for wine, and for those I use Avery 5168

Jason

I tried using a steadler marker to write the bottling date and type of beer on the cap, but found it difficult to do (and ended up illegible). The marker didn't write well and I couldn't write straight. So I switched to labels, just print, cut, and stick.

That makes sense too. To each his own, I suppose. I keep the info on the cap to a mere number, and if I don't recall what it is I just check my notebook. To date I have only bottled 26 batches, so it's not that hard to remember what is what.

Jason

I use a number & a rubber date stamp & pad which i use to 'stamp' a two digit number onto the ( small round about 1 cm diameter) label. I use notepad to make notes about each brew #. Prolly re-use each cap 3 to 5 times,'til signs of rust. Labels can be coloured -orange, red, yellow, green, etc.

Sob, if I only have one beer down / run out etc I dont bother numbering. [ but i still keep records of the brew # etc ].

Ian