for those who lable their beer

[Prodigital101]

I have some wine brewing for the wife (a condition of me getting the brew rig) She wants to put her images (http://www.artbycheri.net) (she is an artist) on her bottles of wine. What do you use? we have plenty of printing options, including a 44" epson printer. We can easily do something in Photoshop or Painter, but what media or labels stand up to cold wet bottles?

[dminnery]

I found that simple Avery labels work fine. I bought mine at Staples (3.33" x 4"). The catch is that after you print you need to varnish this ink to protect it, just like commercial printers do. I use an Acrylic sealer from Utrecht. The nice thing about the acrylic spray is that it does not yellow with time and sun exposure like a varnish will, but that should be fine as well.
The labels come 6 to a sheet. 8.5" x 11", they can handle a fair amount of ink as well, so I print at photo resolution on my canon printer.

I am still doing tests on beer bottles to see how they handle the cold and condensation, ink seems fixed, but I want to make sure the labels don't buckle.

good luck

[Prodigital101]

generally we finish our prints with SureGuard. That helps keep them "water resistant" and finger print resistant. The papers we use has some already built into them. I did not think of spraying Avery Labels...

THANKS

[dminnery]

FYI
The Avery labels did not hold up well.
Some slight buckling in the fridge.
Took out and as condensation formed on the bottle the label really began to buckle and the ink ran.

I have my printer friends looking at my option regarding paper that I can get readily and use at home.

Let me know if you find anything that works well.

[O2 Mash]

For wine bottles, I use inkjet paper and use Power Point to design the labels. After I cut out the labels, I spray them with the acrylic and glue them on the bottles with a glue stick. Seems to do fair in a semi-moist environment, but wouldn't hold up in an ice bucket for too long. The labels are pretty easy to take off when bottle cleaning too.

[Prodigital101]

I have an adhesive vinyal I am going to try...if it works, I will definately let you all know.

[SoxyinMO]

This batch of Ale was my first attempt at labels. I bought Label paper from my LHBS and, like 02 Mash, used Powerpoint to design the labels. I did not treat them this time (I was so excited to get them done!), but really liked the ease of wiping them with a wet cloth, and sticking them to the bottle.

02 Mash, what type of acrylic? Just everyday spray acrylic from the hardware store?


p.s. You have to make sure you get the labels going into the printer with the glue on the non-printing side. :rolleyes:

[brewmonkey]

Believe it or not this is a big issue for production breweries. They spend a lot of time designing labels and the adhesives for their beers. Tons of ways to make them go on, but not all stay. We went through this when we did our first label. It was done without my knowledge and printed and ended up having to be re-done. None of the labels would stick after filling, even drying the bottles did not help because they would condensate right away.

We ended up going to bottle conditioning and allowing the bottles to dry naturally and the applying the labels then.

[O2 Mash]

Originally posted by SoxyinMO


02 Mash, what type of acrylic? Just everyday spray acrylic from the hardware store?



Soxy:

Yes, it is just regular spray acrylic. The first can I bought was from an art store, but found it to be the same as the generic stuff, but 3X the price. It provides a nice barrier. You certainly want to use it, especially if you are using in INKJET printer.

If anyone has Powerpoint and wants to see my label templates, PM me and I'll email them.

[Prodigital101]

I just came up with my label....wada' think? I was out doing some camera testing and did this photo.

http://askdrdigital.com/image/beer-label_web.jpg

[SoxyinMO]

Prodigital! Cool-o label.

02 Mash : Thanks. I've always got the generic acrylic lying around for some project or other. My new computer didn't come with Office, so no power point until I get that. For the Maple Beer I just threw something together to glue onto the 6 packs until I get PP going.

[dminnery]

Prodigital-nice photo.

My most recent attempt at labels have been paper, spray with acrylic, then glue on with rubber cement. I spary both sides of the paper, otherwise condensation will penetrate the back of the label. So far this has given me the best results.

Here is my label for my first batch ever!

Freehand drawing, then Photoshop, and Illustrator.


http://home.earthlink.net/~dminnery/

Also, the rubber cement comes of extremely easy.

[SoxyinMO]

Very nice, dminnery! Here's my humble effort. As you can see, I'm just getting started at all of this! I really appreciate all of the advice, though.

[chazwicke]

Nice work on both of your labels. I am also interested in how your labeling works out.

[dminnery]

Tested out my new procedure, acrylic spray on both sides with rubber cement to adhere the label, the results...................

Fantastic! just what I wanted.

No bleeding and the label easily peels off, with no residue.

[Tom C]

This was my latest label for a baby brew. I just used microsoft word and avery labels but am intererested in trying the acrylic spray trick to it as well.