Bottles
Winners
- Long Trail labels come off well and don't leave much residue
- Spaten Munchen Dunkel is a dream. The labels slip off in hot water, leaving almost no residue. One downside is that they're green bottles
- Palm, a Belgian beer, labels and foil neck ring slipped off after a night in cold water. No residue. A mild concern that the glass seems a bit thin
- Great Divide labels fall off really easily
- New Belgium labels also fall off really easily
DudsEDIT: Place your winners and duds (and notes if you like) in PJ's global breakdown.
- Harpoon labels are tough to get off
- Magic Hat come off fine, but leave a residue that, when scrubbed off, clouds the water and dirties the rest of the bottles
- Blue Point Toasted Lager labels are plastic and stuck on
- Sierra Nevada labels come off just fine, but leave a non-water-soluble goo
- Smithwicks eventually soak off, but even then the labels tear while being removed, leaving pulp (and therefore a vehicle for contamination) in the soak water
- Avery labels need to be soaked in an ammonium based solvent to get the labels off easily.
Soaking
An investment of $6 on some heavy-duty rubber gloves, and $2 on some light cotton gloves, which I wear inside them, has made a huge difference. The ability to work with hotter water means less elbow grease.
I read a recommendation to use StarSan for soaking. It made no difference. I used One-Step and it seems to make a big difference, especially in the scrubbing step.