How do you organise your bottled beer storage?

[coldlager]

Hey,

Now that i've got a bunch of bres under my belt, I am struggling to find an effective, easy, cheap way of storing my bottled beer for conidtioning (or waiting to be drunk).

I tend to do small batches (1-3 gallons) so experiment alot from different beer styles to small tweaks to the same wort etc. I've currently got two batches fermenting which use the same wort but different yeast colonies i've grown/re-used from previous fermentations.

Anyway, I want to store the bottles in an organised way so that in a couple months I won't be getting all mixed up when tasting/comapring the variations.

Anyone got any storage ideas such as cardboard boxes stacked or shelving with dividers of some sort etc. I live in a flat so no shed, garage and minimal storage space. The bottles are likely to be visible in the lounge/bedroom etc so a 'nice' way of storage would be good. I could label each bottle but that already sounds depressing lol

Pictures of your storage would be great, not so I can steal your ideas of course... :rofl:

Cheers

 

[alawlor66430]

find a cupboard and strictly organise it

 

[PD]

have a look through this thread. You might get a few ideas

viewtopic.php?f=36&t=24952&hilit=show+stash

 

[rpt]

The only guaranteed way to not mix up your beers is to label each bottle. I write on my bottles with a chalk pen (the name and the bottling date e.g. "Wherry 17/12/12"). It sounds like a pain but I haven't found writing on 40 bottles much of an ordeal. Your brews are shorter than that so it will be easy. The pen cost me £3 in a stationery store.

 

[Duncs]

The only guaranteed way to not mix up your beers is to label each bottle. I write on my bottles with a chalk pen (the name and the bottling date e.g. "Wherry 17/12/12"). It sounds like a pain but I haven't found writing on 40 bottles much of an ordeal. Your brews are shorter than that so it will be easy. The pen cost me £3 in a stationery store.

and if writing the name and bottling date on each bottle is too much for you, you could number each batch and just write the number on the bottle and the name/bottling date on a sheet of paper.

Personally, I like to make a label up and stick them on the bottles, it makes it look nicer when people come to sample my beer.

 

[alawlor66430]

You could also use different coloured caps, I don't know how many different colours there are but I'm sure there would be enough to cap each brew in a different colour then once one brews finished that frees up that colour again

 

[Moley]

You could also use different coloured caps, I don't know how many different colours there are but I'm sure there would be enough to cap each brew in a different colour

Malt Miller offers a choice of 7 colours - gold, black, white, yellow, orange, red and purple.

This is precisely what I do, different cap colours and brew number written on the cap with a permanent marker pen. I get my caps from my LHBS and alternate between gold, red, blue and green.

 

[alawlor66430]

I wish I could make my beer last long enough to have that problem, I think I may need to step up production

 

[rpt]

I have stocked up on different coloured caps but will use them to indicate a style rather than an individual brew. So I might have bitters in green, pale/blonde ales in gold, lager in yellow, stout in black etc.

 

[alawlor66430]

I have stocked up on different coloured caps but will use them to indicate a style rather than an individual brew. So I might have bitters in green, pale/blonde ales in gold, lager in yellow, stout in black etc.

That's a good idea to as you could then number your batches giving you the possibility of more variations without any hassle

 

[calumscott]

I just write the batch number on the cap. That corresponds to a spreadsheet I have with all my brews and will, eventually once I've copied all the history over, correspond to entries in my BeerSmith log.

 

[fbsf]

I label mine. For me it's the thing that finishes off the brew process. Plan-Mash-Sparge-Boil-Cool-Ferment-Prime-Bottle-Label.

It also means that I know instantly which bottle is which, but moreover it looks nice when I give them to other people. Most of the labels involve a pun of some kind, which is a very "me" thing to do, so it personalises it a bit more..

 

[Andyhull]

I fill 24 coopers plastic bottles and label the box, then with the remaining brew i fill glass bottles and label them individually with a nice label with beer type and date brewed.

I drink the plastic bottles first and keep the glass until last or to take to the brotherinlaws when we're going to have a session as they look nice and profesional all labeled up :thumb:

 

[mmaguy41]

Im thinking of the different colour bottle caps idea myself, at the moment i just pour it in a glass and try and guess what it is

 

[eggman]

You could also use different coloured caps, I don't know how many different colours there are but I'm sure there would be enough to cap each brew in a different colour

Malt Miller offers a choice of 7 colours - gold, black, white, yellow, orange, red and purple.

This is precisely what I do, different cap colours and brew number written on the cap with a permanent marker pen. I get my caps from my LHBS and alternate between gold, red, blue and green.

This is what I do too, i'm lucky that my lhbs will sell me mixed batches of caps so I don't need to buy a bag of 100 or 200 of the same colour :grin: I then just write the brew number on the cap
:

 

[Kinleycat]

I label my bottles with bottled date, name and abv.
For me it adds a bit of personality to each brew.

 

[bottler]

I use small white labels on the caps. As i work in a label making company, i have an endless supply.

 

[coldlager]

Some great ideas, thanks all.

I am very interested in the labelling approach a couple of people recommended:

Personally, I like to make a label up and stick them on the bottles, it makes it look nicer when people come to sample my beer.

I label mine. For me it's the thing that finishes off the brew process. Plan-Mash-Sparge-Boil-Cool-Ferment-Prime-Bottle-Label.

It also means that I know instantly which bottle is which, but moreover it looks nice when I give them to other people. Most of the labels involve a pun of some kind, which is a very "me" thing to do, so it personalises it a bit more..

Are these sugegstions referring to 'proper' labels? If so, how do you go about it, print off a label from computer or something? How do you stick the paper(?) to the bottles and does any ink run if the bottles are cooled in a fridge?

Cheers

 

[rpt]

As I said earlier I don't use labels. But you can use milk to stick paper labels to the bottle. However, I wouldn't try this unless you print them with a laser printer (which uses plastic toner powder). Ink from an ink jet will run.

 

[fbsf]

^^ What he said. Laser-printed paper which I cut to size, then either use a brush and paste them with milk, or use a pritt-stick. Pritt-stick is also good if you only have access to an inkjet printer. Just be aware that it might run if you take them out of the fridge on a warm day and condensation forms on the bottle!

Either way, both come back off far easier than printable labels (Avery etc), which can be a right PITA to get off.