Bottles - ----------- Winners - **Long Trail** labels come off well and don't leave residue - **Spaten Munchen Dunkel** is a dream. The labels slip off in hot water, leaving almost no residue. The only 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. Duds: - **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** are hard to get off 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. I'm going to be trying out Barkeeper's Friend for a batch soon. Will update.