Plastic Beer Crates Used In Germany & Belgian

[Brew Matt]

I got my first plastic beer crate that was shipped from the Belgian Beer shop recently. Just wondering if someone can advise if these crates are universally stackable in the same way that milk crates in Australia are?

ie. Are they all the same dimensions, and can they be mixed & matched to for better storage of beer & bottles.

If I can collect enough of these over time, they are so much stronger & more solid than any milk crate I have ever come across!

I am guessing that the brewerys expect these to come back to them, and not be shipped overseas?

 

[Mardoo]

What did you order that you got that!?!?!? I know the ones you're talking about and they're awesome!

 

[Brew Matt]

What did you order that you got that!?!?!? I know the ones you're talking about and they're awesome!

I ordered 24 different stubbies, and it came with this included for protection. Did the trick.

 

[lukiep8]

I got my first plastic beer crate that was shipped from the Belgian Beer shop recently. Just wondering if someone can advise if these crates are universally stackable in the same way that milk crates in Australia are?

ie. Are they all the same dimensions, and can they be mixed & matched to for better storage of beer & bottles.

If I can collect enough of these over time, they are so much stronger & more solid than any milk crate I have ever come across!

I am guessing that the brewerys expect these to come back to them, and not be shipped overseas?

Most will stack on top of each other. There are generally three shapes. 750ml size, fat stubby size (Duvel, La Chouffe), and everything else. To answer the last part of your question, it is not exactly true. We have a massive Belgian shipment coming into the shop in a week, and pretty much everything is usually in these plastic crates. Once we are done with them, we put them on the verge for the local home brewers (or whomever), to take.

 

[mwd]

You mean these

 

[Florian]

These crates get sold with a deposit, in germany it's a few euros, I think 3, plus 8cents per bottle. You pay it once, then bring your old crate with the bottles back to any shop and swap for a full one and only pay the price of the beer.
Or bring it back and collect your deposit. Or run around the city with a bike packed with twenty plastic bags full with bottles from the bin, streets, or 'given' by people.
In berlin there is now actually a service where you can call a homeless person via phone to collect your empty bottles from your home, he keeps the deposit and you don't need to carry them back to the shop.

The belgian shop ships in those crates as they sell their beer for about 20 times more what it actually costs them, so they don't care about the deposit.