Homebrew Labels - A Great Glue Recipe

posted by Anne Daymut

It seems I am now known as “The Glue Girl”.  I have been called worse and I feel honored that so many of you appreciate the hours I spent researching the best method to affix homemade labels to your homebrew.  Well, I feel that our beer deserves the best.  After all, we have spent an incredible amount of time, effort, and money contemplating our next recipe, collecting equipment and ingredients, brewing into the wee hours of the night once the kids are in bed, tending to our fermenters like they are part of the family, and cleaning and filling bottles until our fingers hurt.  In truth, I had very little to do with this glue recipe, I just extracted it from the Home Brew Talk Forum after much reading.  (If you haven’t visited this forum, I recommend stopping by).

You can't buy this glue already made, but the ingredients are easy to find and it keeps well.  (A couple of us should go into business making this glue and selling it online!)  It is great because it won't come off in an icy cold cooler but peels right off without residue in hot soapy water.  

You can design your own labels using computer software such as Microsoft Publisher or Adobe Photoshop, but there are also websites where you can design your own labels for free, or almost free (future article, maybe).  Or, if you are particularly artistically inclined, draw something unique freehand (it is craft beer, isn’t it?)  I have found that creating a label for my beer and seeing the reaction on the faces of those I share it with, is almost as enjoyable as making the beer itself.  I have had a lot of good times asking friends and family to pitch in ideas for names and label designs for my next concoction.

When labels are printed using an ink jet printer, the colors will run.  If you don't have access to a laser color printer, just take a copy of what you printed using your ink jet to a copy center and ask for color copies, which are only 0.25 per sheet with 6 labels per sheet.  Actually, many copy centers will allow you to email a digital copy of your art to them so you don’t even have to waste your own ink.  Well, I could go on forever but, let’s get to the recipe.

Recipe for Glue (makes enough for at least 4 cases of beer)

6 Tbsp water

2 packets unflavored gelatin (1/2 oz each) found in jello section at grocery store

1 Tbsp white vinegar

2 tsp glycerin (skin care section of pharmacy)

Bring water to boil.  Remove from heat and stir in gelatin until dissolved.  Add vinegar and glycerin.  Let mixture cool slightly and pour into jar with tight fitting lid.  Use a brush to apply to paper while warm.  (I use a silicon food basting brush because it cleans so easily.)  Transfer unused glue to a glass jar with tight fitting lid.  Glue becomes a gel when cool.  To reuse, place jar in warm water bath until liquid.

Alternatively, you can skip this glue and dunk your bottles in milk and slap your labels on.  However, the milk "glue" method doesn't hold up in the cooler with ice.