removing labels from beer/wine bottles

[Thesquirrelslinger]

my neighbor makes his own beer and wine. I helped him remove the labels from about 50 wine bottles, and about 100 beer bottles.
He soaks them overnight in a large tub filled with an oxyclean(an oxygen bleach) and water. The wine bottle labels can be scraped off, then scrubbed with steel wool. The beer bottles pretty much just fall off.
It seems rather a ton of work to do a few hundred bottles(he said that each batch of beer will fill from 45 to 50 bottles, and he makes multiple batches at a time)... expecially the wine bottles. Is there a better way?

[Olanigw (Pekane)]

No.  When you try to do it without oxyclean, you will understand that it is the biggest miracle to happen to homebrewers since malt extract.

You should ask for his rejects to knap points out of. 

[Thesquirrelslinger]

No.  When you try to do it without oxyclean, you will understand that it is the biggest miracle to happen to homebrewers since malt extract.

You should ask for his rejects to knap points out of.

I help him strip labels, he gives me beer bottles.
He gave me about a dozen to make points out of already(he says they are too short...) and I am going to help him tommorow as well. he has a box of rejects he gives me. But here is the problem- how on earth do you get the bottom without smashing the bottle and getting glass everywhere? If I can get the bottoms without doing that, it will massively simplify cleanup. Also... what is malt extract? I know you make beer from barley, hops, and something else..

[osage outlaw]

drop a 16 penny nail head first in the bottle.  Put one hand on the bottom and the other over the top.  Shake it a few times and the bottom should pop right off. 

[bubby]

drop a 16 penny nail head first in the bottle.  Put one hand on the bottom and the other over the top.  Shake it a few times and the bottom should pop right off. 

that's how I do it but I put the bottle in a plastic bag and don't hold the bottom, bag keeps the glass from going everywhere and the bottom don't hit the ground

[PEARL DRUMS]

Goof Off label remover works great.

[Dharma]

White vinegar removes glue and labels pretty quick.

[Ed Brooks]

here is a video, she shows how to remove the bottom with a nail. Ed
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xh7pc2Q6XFI

[Thesquirrelslinger]

Thanks.
I don't think goo off would work on a few hundred bottles.
white vinger... Hm.. Ill mention it.

[Patches]

I use lighter fluid to clean labels off glass jars for my wife.  Not sure you want that around a bottle you are going to put drinks in but it works for me.  I soak the jars in water, scrape off as much of the label as possible, the just soak a litttle cotton cloth with lighter fluid and rub it over the sticky areas.

[YosemiteBen]

I just use really hot water/steam - labels come off pretty easy and then the glue rolls up with the roll of a thumb.