labeling homebrew

J343MY · Post by **J343MY** » Sat Nov 09, 2013 8:57 pm

anybody label their beers? How do you do the labels? Do you have them printed somewhere or print them yourself?

icemachine · Post by **icemachine** » Sun Nov 10, 2013 1:12 am

Clip art off a laser printer with milk as my glue - I know it's ghetto, but it works well enough for me

ritzkiss · Post by **ritzkiss** » Sun Nov 10, 2013 9:17 am

I do labels for most of my beers, design them myself in Photoshop. I figure if I'm going to put the time and effort into making a really awesome beer to share with others, why not take equal care with the labels to make it look good? I just enjoy tinkering around with them, really. Here's a couple recent examples...

And you should be able to see the rest here: https://www.facebook.com/eric.ritskes/m ... 250&type=3

I also just print them off with a laser printer on regular paper & apply with milk. Works like a charm and is easy to remove the labels when you're done.

J343MY · Post by **J343MY** » Sun Nov 10, 2013 10:39 am

ritzkiss wrote:I do labels for most of my beers, design them myself in Photoshop. I figure if I'm going to put the time and effort into making a really awesome beer to share with others, why not take equal care with the labels to make it look good? I just enjoy tinkering around with them, really. Here's a couple recent examples...

I also just print them off with a laser printer on regular paper & apply with milk. Works like a charm and is easy to remove the labels when you're done.

Those are very cool. How do they turn out from a laser printer?

My friend designed me a pretty badass logo and I want to get at least a small amount printed out as professionally as possible, mostly just for him.

JerCraigs · Post by **JerCraigs** » Sun Nov 10, 2013 10:49 am

I used to do some nice labels for mine but haven't had the time to brew lately let alone make labels! Nice job on those ones Ritzkiss!

ritzkiss · Post by **ritzkiss** » Sun Nov 10, 2013 11:12 am

J343MY wrote:
ritzkiss wrote:I do labels for most of my beers, design them myself in Photoshop. I figure if I'm going to put the time and effort into making a really awesome beer to share with others, why not take equal care with the labels to make it look good? I just enjoy tinkering around with them, really. Here's a couple recent examples...

I also just print them off with a laser printer on regular paper & apply with milk. Works like a charm and is easy to remove the labels when you're done.
Those are very cool. How do they turn out from a laser printer?

My friend designed me a pretty badass logo and I want to get at least a small amount printed out as professionally as possible, mostly just for him.

I think they turn out pretty good, or at least good enough for me, though they're not 'professional' grade:

Another option might be, if you have just a logo you want printed, to find somewhere to print them as professional glossy stickers that you can apply to the bottles, that could be cool.

grub · Post by **grub** » Mon Nov 11, 2013 8:56 am

I do labels for a decent percentage of our brews. Some of them remain strictly digital, others actually get printed and attached to bottles - mostly for the special and cellarable. Colour laser printer (so it doesn't run/bleed when wet like an inkjet) on heavy duty paper, attached with some super 88 spray adhesive. I lay out a bunch of newspaper on top of the dryer, line up a bunch of labels face-down, then lightly spray the lot. wait 30sec or so for it to tack up and apply. usually peels off all in one piece when it's time to reuse. I have a buddy who does graphic design and years back he gathered up a bunch of different adhesives and tried them all out to evaluate stick and how easy they were removed. stuff like milk lost out as they can come off in the cooler and such. he pointed me to super 77 / super 88 and I've been using it happily since.

In the past I've printed them myself at work, but the new colour laser doesn't like me and refuses to print from my current laptop. I've been considering having fedex/kinkos print them but haven't got around to investigating yet. mostly i'd want to make sure it's on heavy paper.

lister · Post by **lister** » Mon Nov 11, 2013 9:47 am

I got tired of writing on masking tape so I bought a pack of small Avery labels and use their online program to put the label together. Nothing fancy. Just an appropriate graphic with the beer name, ABV and date. I print them out on a colour laser printer at work.

J343MY · Post by **J343MY** » Mon Nov 11, 2013 8:01 pm

alright, thanks for all the suggestions guys. I think I'm going to give the colour laser thing a try first and see how they turn out.

J343MY · Post by **J343MY** » Thu Dec 05, 2013 9:39 pm

I did up a few today, printed on glossy paper on a colour laser at work. They turned out quite well. The label still need a bit of work though.