Removing labels from used bottles

I save myself a lot of money by using used bottles for my home brew. I either buy a 12 pk of bottles that comes with free beer inside or collect bottles from friends to clean and use these to bottle my home brew. If I buy commercial beer for bottles I make sure they are pop tops and not twist offs. I tend to lean toward Sam Adams and Sierra Nevada, because the beer is good, the bottles are pop offs and the labels seem to fall off. Here is what you will need to successfully remove labels from bottles.

Bucket-5gallon is about the perfect size. I got mine from Lowes for about 3 bucks. You do this in the sink as well or any other vessel that will hold water.

Oxy Clean Free- "Free" is important so you don't get any dyes or scents.

Vegetable peeler-You may want to use an old one or buy your wife a new one. This is pretty hard on the peeler.

Empty bottles with labels attached

My process begins with getting the water as hot as possible and start filling my bucket. When you get the bucket filled a bit throw about 2 tablespoon of Oxyclean Free in the bucket and mix or swirl the water to dissolve the powder.

Fill the bucket with about 4 gallons or so of hot water. Then throw your bottles in. It may be easier to fill the bucket with the bottles if the bottles are filled with water first so they will sink. Then just wait for 15-30 minutes. The time isn't exact but don't let them sit too long, I have found that if you use to much Oxyclean Free or allow the bottles to sit for to long then they will get a gritty film on the outside that is hard to remove. If you do get the grit then soak the bottles in Starsan.

After they sit for what you determine to be long enough for the labels to be soaked through then you can start removing them. You may find that some of the labels have floated off the bottle. This is particularly true with Sam Adams and Sierra Nevada bottles. Reach in a grab a bottle and scrap the label and glue from the bottle with the vegetable peeler, dunk back into the Oxyclean to remove the scrapings. Then make sure you rinse your bottles with fresh water after the labels are removed. Now your ready to either sanitize and bottle or let them dry and store until your ready to use them.