Brown Bottles advice sought

[Frisp]

All of my AG brewing to date has made it into either PET bottles or cornies..
I have decided with my latest creation to go for the more elegant brown beer bottle route.
Two questions arise.

How the heck does wan get the labels off successfully, the labels themselves come off fairly easy, its the flippin glue thats doing my nut in.

How much headspace to leave in the bottle

 

[crouchy]

hey. i just fill up my bath with hot water an leave them all to soak under the water for a while.
the labels fall of an the glue should come off when you rub your hand round the bottles.

As for the space i leave at the top of the bottle. I normaly leave about 2 inches.
working for me so far.

 

[Frisp]

hot water an leave them all to soak under the water for a while.
the labels fall of an the glue should come off when you rub your hand round the bottles.

Tried that but I cant get the glue to come off, the only ones that did that were the green Bulmers Cider bottles.
I take it different brands means different glue. If so what brands are easy to clean? My local pub will let me rummage in their bottle bin as much as I like.

 

[falafael]

i like the brown magners bottles, and most of the hobgoblin type bottles, i soak them in lukewarm water for a bit, and they either peel of or a green kitchen scourer finishes it of...about the glue, the WORST glue i have ever had is from the clear WKD bottles with the clear labels, i just could not get that glue off, bin they went in the end.!!

 

[crouchy]

(quote=)
Tried that but I cant get the glue to come off, the only ones that did that were the green Bulmers Cider bottles.
I take it different brands means different glue. If so what brands are easy to clean? My local pub will let me rummage in their bottle bin as much as I like.[/quote]


i use stella bottles,carlsberg export and gaymers cider bottles. the glue came off all of these easy enough.

 

[Wez]

Frisp - I use one of those metal scourer thingies, rub them like feck and run them under warm water - works every time :thumb:

 

[Frisp]

You mean something like a brillo pad Wez?

 

[Wez]

No they're like a silver ball made up of coils of metal. Dead cheap from the super market, i'll try to get a link.

 

[Wez]

They look like this..

http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/20513 ... ourer.html

:thumb:

 

[Frisp]

Ok know what you mean now.
Incidentally wez how much headspace do you leave when you bottle up?

 

[Wez]

I leave around 1/2" :thumb:

 

[Frisp]

Then so shall I... Thanks for that

 

[Aleman]

I use Bernard Cerne Pivo Swingtop bottles and just a short soak in hot water and the labels fall off . . . wipe with a green scrubby and they come clean completely.

Bulmers and Gaymers cider bottles . . . a soak in hot Antiformin sorts the labels out . . . wipe with the green scrubby to remove the glue . . . The same applies to Bud Minis and Landlord Bottles.

Theakstons bottles and be a bit of a bastard, but a longer soak in hot antiformin usually sorts it out.

Self adhesive Labels are a nightmare such as used on Nick Staffords White Horse Brewery Bottles, these need filling with hot water which softens the Glue, the label can then be pulled off, and I use Sticky Stuff glue remover (Or something like Glu Gone) to clean the adhesive remnant from the bottle . . . . Maplin do a cheap clone in a spray clan.

 

[Wez]

Aleman is that the stuff that stinks of oranges?

 

[Aleman]

Yep, the limonlene . . . bloody nasty stuff . . . but does the job

 

[BrewStew]

i soak the gayner's bottles i get from the pub in a hot videne solution for 5 mins... the labels then peel off with fingers in one go, the foil differs bottle to bottle, but most of the time is comes of with the blunt edge of a knife without trouble... for the glue i use a metal scourer. the videne gets them literally squeaky clean and rests my mind of any nasties that may have lurked in there :thumb:

 

[Jonnyv]

For tough adhesive residue, use lighter fluid. Squirt it on, leave for a few seconds and any glue will come off easily using some kitchen paper.

Do it in a well ventilated area though :)