How To Remove Beer Labels

At Bottle Your Brand, we strive to accommodate our customers with custom beer labels in sizes that will suit most bottle applications. Our label size is designed for the home brewer; keeping in mind the application of your label on a new, blank bottle. However, if you are not inclined to brew your own beer and want to give a gift of beer with a custom label for special occasions, we offer the following explanation for removing existing beer labels.

We all know that when beer is served very cold, the labels come off easily, especially after the bottles have been soaking in ice water for hours. But beer experts are always looking for good methods to remove labels. Several methods, work well depending on how the labels were originally applied:

The Hot Soak
Some people prefer softening the glue before trying to remove the label. To do this, immerse the beer bottles in warm water that has some dishwasher liquid dissolved in it. Steaming the beer labels might also help soften any glue before you attempt to peel off the label.

The Cold Soak
You can also use a cold water soak, particularly if you have the patience to let bottles soak for several days. Begin with very hot water. As the water cools, it continues to penetrate the beer label so you can slide it right off.

Other Methods
Difficult-to-remove labels can be scraped off with a razor blade. This takes patience and is by no means fast. It helps to soak the bottles first, before you scrape them. For most glue, a commercial product, such as Oxi-Clean, which is designed to dissolve organic substances, works fairly well. Put the Oxi-Clean in a spray bottle and spray the beer labels with the liquid. They will peel off almost immediately.

Once you have thoroughly cleaned and dried the beer bottles, they are ready for application of your new custom beer labels from Bottle Your Brand.