Bottle Storage

UnknownSpecies

Hi folks,

I've been looking for better ways to store my finished brews for conditioning, ageing and storage. 20 x 500ml stackable plastic crates would be absolutely perfect as my process is set for either 20 or 40 bottle batches.

Only problem is that these crates are like hens teeth, I can't find them for love nor money. I've asked all my local offies and supermarkets and nada. Postage from the UK too is miles too high and I can't find any Irish company that will sell them at a reasonable price.

I'm going to look into building wooden crates too but it's an awful lot of effort and it won't exactly be cheap either!

Any advice or information for me? Don't say kegging because it isn't an option for me right now

BeerNut

UnknownSpecies wrote: »

Only problem is that these crates are like hens teeth, I can't find them for love nor money. I've asked all my local offies and supermarkets and nada.

Surprised to hear this. Lots of German beers come in great plastic crates that AFAIK aren't returnable so offies throw them out. That's how I got mine, which are Paulaner, Hacker-Pschorr, Jever, Unertl, Früh, Löwenbräu and a few others. Do the offies you checked stock much German beer?

UnknownSpecies

BeerNut wrote: »

Surprised to hear this. Lots of German beers come in great plastic crates that AFAIK aren't returnable so offies throw them out. That's how I got mine, which are Paulaner, Hacker-Pschorr, Jever, Unertl, Früh, Löwenbräu and a few others. Do the offies you checked stock much German beer?

One of them definitely does tonnes of German beers but he mentioned they use them for storage themselves unfortunately. The supermarkets have a lot of German beers but they told me they had nothing either. I'll have to keep trying although I'm almost out of Kilkenny off licenses to try!

BeerNut

UnknownSpecies wrote: »

One of them definitely does tonnes of German beers but he mentioned they use them for storage themselves unfortunately.

Frustrating but understandable. I'm sure supermarkets have an efficient waste-management system that means they wouldn't have crates lying around for disposal.

As well as the independent offies, the small ads and freecycling sites would also be worth checking.

neoanto

You can always make some wooden crates yourself.
i made some. Not too much work involved.

UnknownSpecies

neoanto wrote: »

You can always make some wooden crates yourself.
i made some. Not too much work involved.

How much did the lumber end up costing you? I'd be looking to make 5-6 of these I'd say, possibly more. Are yours stackable?

neoanto

yea i made stackable ones.
hmm i think it was about €13 for two long lengths of about 3"x1".
I got one crate out of a length of it. I can get 20 bottles in a crate.

irish_goat

BeerNut wrote: »

Surprised to hear this. Lots of German beers come in great plastic crates that AFAIK aren't returnable so offies throw them out. That's how I got mine, which are Paulaner, Hacker-Pschorr, Jever, Unertl, Früh, Löwenbräu and a few others. Do the offies you checked stock much German beer?

They are returnable but the distributor is a little less diligent at retrieving them than the likes of Diageo/Magner's. The bottles as well carry a deposit on them but they've obviously no hope of getting them back either.

I've found crates all over the place, picked up one at the beach, found one lying beside the River Foyle. Clocked one sitting in a car park near my apartment yesterday which I might go retrieve today. Keep an eye out and you never know when you'll spot one.

BeerNut

irish_goat wrote: »

They are returnable but the distributor is a little less diligent at retrieving them than the likes of Diageo/Magner's.

Makes sense. Yeah, I understand the grey pint-bottle 12-crates have a €5 deposit on them.

xbox gamer

I use cardboard boxes from work which i can fit about 25 bottles into but they don't seem too dependable but they'll do for now. If you wanted to splash out, i seen these in Ikea. I'm not too sure if they are capable of storing a 500ml bottle. Might be worth investigating

http://www.ikea.com/ie/en/products/storage-organising/storage-boxes-baskets/skogsta-storage-crate-acacia-art-60297951/

blueshed

some crates and plenty of bottles going pretty cheap here http://www.nationalhomebrewclub.ie/forum/index.php/topic,15445.0.html

UnknownSpecies

blueshed wrote: »

some crates and plenty of bottles going pretty cheap here http://www.nationalhomebrewclub.ie/forum/index.php/topic,15445.0.html

Sound, I actually agreed to buy all that lot but when I realised they weren't stackable, I left it off. Plaguing off licenses and building my own seem the likeliest options for now.

Mesrine65

http://www.for-sale.ie/plastic-beer-crates