I need crates that will maximise my potential beer bottle storage

[markau]

I actually like beer in bottles, and although I would be happy to avoid the work involved with bottles and use kegs, it's just not a viable option for me right now.

A small house makes the logistics of bottles harder. I think we could be mostly self-sufficient for beer if we could solve the bottle storage issue.

So, does anyone know of any crates that are particularly suitable for beer bottles? The ideal thing for me would hold 24 bottles and be able to be stacked 3-4 high. I think 10 cartons of beer wouldn't take up much space, so 10 good crates shouldn't take up too much either. We could store both full and empty bottles in there. (Bonus points if I can get the same crate system in sizes for long necks and stubbies )

Cheers fellows.
Mark

 

[BeerNess]

Honestly this is a plague on all bottling homebrewers, cheapest option is 'rescued' milk crates. certainly not the most space efficient, but I can fit 25 330ml bottles in one crate and at least 16 500ml to a crate. I don't fill any 750's for myself anymore, only for giveaways, but 9 to 11 Longnecks per crate. Personally I'm in the process of gathering materials to make BDD's awesome Six Packs and from that will probably some larger frames or boxes based on them for static cellar storage.

The only other alternative I can think of is re-using the cardboard cases from whatever beer bottle brands you have and reinforcing them with lots of tape and contact, like used to do to school books, then never get them wet either....

 

[Midnight Brew]

Gday mark,

Milk crates are proberly the best option for you. Depending on what bottles you are using will depend on how many you need. A bottle like the coopers longneck should see you to 14 bottles per crate which is just over a carton of beer. Have a spot where you can get to them easy and stack upwards. So 2 piles of 5 milk crates should see you to 10 cartons of beer. Stubbies are a little less neat unless you have them all the same size. Should fit just short of a slab with stubbies but all up to you and how much cleaning you would like to do.

It's simple, stackable and can be used for dual purpose things in the brewery. Just dont get caught flogging them. Good place to get them is at night out the back alley of cafes or milk bars or small supermarkets (with no CCTV). But you didnt hear that from me.

 

[TidalPete]

These old buggers are remnants of my bottling days long gone & could be stacked in rows of three x three high to store 90 tallies in a small area but would be a PITA stacking\unstacking all the time.
Adding a fourth row would give you a rickety tower of 120 tall ones. Just made of 6mm ply + odds & sods & not hard to work out the sizes.
Making them to hold 15 each would give you 45 bottles a row & 135 stacked 3 rows high but would be heavy work shifting around.
Hope this helps?

 

[Black Devil Dog]

I picked up these from a former AHB member recently and they are perfect for large quantity storage of beer bottles.

The bottles are 500ml swing tops, each crate holds 20 bottles but the crates are designed to suit the Hacker-Pschorr bottles, so I'm not sure how you would go with other sizes.

If you live somewhere that has a German club nearby, it might be worth your time to pay them a visit, you might get lucky.

The only downside to these bottles is that the rubber/silicone seal can't be replaced easily as can be done with Grolsch swingtops.

 

[HardEight]

I use 50L tubs from Bunnings ($9 ea).. they hold 40 x 330ml bottles...

Also for longnecks the 57L tubs hold 24 each.. neatly stackable.

I think the good thing about the tubs (with lids) is you can store the bottles pre-sanitized, then fill them dry. Without worrying about dust.

 

[surly]

I use a lot of plastic crates like those above at work. We have found that they quickly become brittle and the lids collapse over long term storage (few years). Might be an issue, but they ARE cheap, so easily replaced..

 

[bum]

Boxes.

Crazy innit?

 

[unclebarrel]

Hey man,
Measure a slab carton, build one or two storage boxes every brew out of MDF or ply.
Not hard and when doing a couple every brew it will be sort of cost effective.
Before you know it you will have ten or more.

 

[bum]

Or use the cartons...

 

[Maheel]

i used to use these "hobby box" things and they held 16 tallies (OLD XXXX) and you could stack them easy

some of the newer ones i had bought would only hold 15 (three rows of 4 and one row 3)

 

[Dave70]

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[Rocker1986]

I use 50L tubs from Bunnings ($9 ea).. they hold 40 x 330ml bottles...


I think the good thing about the tubs (with lids) is you can store the bottles pre-sanitized, then fill them dry. Without worrying about dust.

I like this idea, it's not something I'd thought of before for storing empties. Might head down to Bunnings on Tuesday and pick some up. I normally just store my empties in the cartons, but these things would seem a better option for keeping out dust etc.

I'm lucky in that I have a large cupboard for storing the bottled beer in so space for storing empties and bottled beer isn't at as much of a premium as it was before I acquired that section of the cupboard.

 

[Black Devil Dog]

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[mrTbeer]

Noticed the local men's shed is knocking together timber crates $10 a pop. I wanted 20pints and their response no worries $10 a pop. Nambour, Qld.

 

[lael]

I picked up these from a former AHB member recently and they are perfect for large quantity storage of beer bottles.

The bottles are 500ml swing tops, each crate holds 20 bottles but the crates are designed to suit the Hacker-Pschorr bottles, so I'm not sure how you would go with other sizes.

If you live somewhere that has a German club nearby, it might be worth your time to pay them a visit, you might get lucky.

The only downside to these bottles is that the rubber/silicone seal can't be replaced easily as can be done with Grolsch swingtops.

I got a bunch of these as well - the marzen seems to come with a ceramic plug that has a seal fused to. Almost impossible to replace. The kellerbier was a 'normal' plastic plug and the seals can be easily swapped. +1 for awesome crates / bottles. I also looked up milk crates. You can buy them from a few places for about $10 ea if you want legit.

 

[markau]

Thanks for the ideas everyone! Got a couple of milk crates (legit ) to start with. I like some of the other ideas though....

 

[woodwormm]

For all the Adelaide folk... Paramounts are selling 2nd hand milk crates at $5 each.... no affiliation... not suggesting you buy them but it may be useful information.

"I bought them at Paramounts Your Honor, must've put the receipt through the wash"

 

[earle]

Boxes.Crazy innit?

I have found that tomato and mandarin cases from the local fruit shop or supermarket are great for 375ml bottles. Free, cheap to replace and the waxed or coated ones last quite a long time. Could probably use them for tallies as well.

 

[Stouter]

Someone else on here or another brewing site said they used old metal filing cabinets. Yes, convenient, sleek, stylish, yet fittingly industrial in my brew cave setting, must have.
I got all happy today at the local 2nd hand place when I saw 5 of them for $20 each. Initial measurements showed I might fit 2cartons of long necks in each of the 4 drawers, but I got disappointed real quick as standing them up and going to close the draw the top 5mm of the bottle (capless) hits the top frame. Don't want to lay them down, that just wouldn't be right. Bloody glad I didn't impulse buy without checking.
Must find a way, will return to this conundrum tomorrow after more careful thought.