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Hey Brewnosers!

I was helping clean out my in-laws place the past couple of weekends and came across a nifty little collection of the old stubby beer bottles, all of them with the labels still attached. I've picked through and kept the ones with labels in better shape but nearly all of them are covered in layers of dust and dirt. Just wondering if anyone out there has come across a similar need, and how you went about cleaning the bottles while still preserving the labels. I've attached a before picture here so everyone can see what I'm talking about; all of these are the old Keith's stubbies.
Cheers, and happy brewing all!

-Tim

Cleaning those bottles and keeping the labels on is going to be tough. I was given hundreds years ago. I used a bunch for last years Brewnoser advent exchange and they need washed off outside and a long soak in pbw or oxiclean. I then rinsed and sanitized and rinsed again. Maybe you could find a way to cover the labels with tape of some sort. Good luck.

Thanks for the reply! I've been trying to come up with some way to seal the label to withstand at least a gentle scrubbing of the bottle; I'm only planning on having them on display in my man-cave.

What about cleaning the labels up a good as possible, and then hitting the label portion with some lacquer or varnish, that should hold up to cleaning the rest of the bottle

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If you only want to display the bottles. Cap them and gently clean the outside with the damp cloth.

Thanks folks! I'm thinking a few layers of a polyurethane over the labels should be enough to allow me to clean the outsides well enough for display. It would be nice to get the insides cleaned as well, but we'll see how it goes.

I actually don't think that will be a problem. Most of the dirt seems to be dust. That should wipe off with a wet cloth. I had a ton of old bottles that I used for brewing. The colours didn't run (which might not be the case with you) and unless the labels got so wet that the glue gave, would dry just fine. I am pretty sure I full on submerged mine and then just allowed them to dry up.