I don't know how you guys do it...

[chiguire]

Today I have been consolidating my bottled brews into the back of a closet for aging and for the sake of putting them out-of-the-way.

I don't really brew that often (I normally have a batch of beer or mead in the fermenter, sometimes I have two batches going)

I am running out of space. I have a fair amount of mead that is going to be sitting for a year or so, and I have a good amount of beer that is reading to drink right now.

I have no idea how you guys with many batches going at a time keep up with your brew and find room to store the excess...

 

[YogiBearMead726]

Honestly...I can't. Since starting my mead addiction, I have stumbled across many of my early attempts that I kind of forgot about (save for my brewlog). It's fun, but I'm in a similar position with well over 7 batches of beer bottles cluttering up the storage/aging closet. I'm thinking of sticking things up in the rafters of the garage until I forget about/stumble across them again.

It sure is taking up a lot of space though, and my liver can't keep pace. Thank goodness for garden parties where I can have friends help drain the "cellar reserve".

 

[gray]

I definitely don't have space. I've got a tiny apartment... and a wife and child take up part of that space . My mead is currently occupying nooks and crannies in the living-room, kitchen, bedroom, and the other room my wife uses as her art studio. I dream of luxury spaces like "garages" and "rafters"

 

[icedmetal]

My wife and I have a spare bedroom dedicated to meadmaking and beekeeping, but with as much as we make, we still tend to spill out of the room. For instance, the 20 cases of cleaned bottles in the shed, the 14 cases cleaned and stacked against the wall in the home theater room, and the 15 or so cases of dirties piling up in the garage. Gotta bottle the stuff to share it, so I guess it's a necessary evil.

Note: you can use space vertically in a closet if you get one of those industrial racks Like this, 'cept, in the closet...

LOL if you look closely, you can see strawberry chunks on the ceiling.

 

[YogiBearMead726]

My wife and I have a spare bedroom dedicated to meadmaking and beekeeping, but with as much as we make, we still tend to spill out of the room. For instance, the 20 cases of cleaned bottles in the shed, the 14 cases cleaned and stacked against the wall in the home theater room, and the 15 or so cases of dirties piling up in the garage. Gotta bottle the stuff to share it, so I guess it's a necessary evil.

Note: you can use space vertically in a closet if you get one of those industrial racks Like this, 'cept, in the closet...

LOL if you look closely, you can see strawberry chunks on the ceiling.

Wow, that is beautiful. ;D

 

[mccann51]

Well, in the spirit of community, I am more than willing to accept any excess product you have.

 

[chiguire]

My wife and I have a spare bedroom dedicated to meadmaking and beekeeping, but with as much as we make, we still tend to spill out of the room. For instance, the 20 cases of cleaned bottles in the shed, the 14 cases cleaned and stacked against the wall in the home theater room, and the 15 or so cases of dirties piling up in the garage. Gotta bottle the stuff to share it, so I guess it's a necessary evil.

Holy smokes, icedmetal. That's the insanity that I am talking about!
Beautiful set up! I don't know how you manage that much brew !?!

 

[oldwhiskers]

WOW, I'm at a loss for words after looking at that stash.

 

[icedmetal]

I don't know how you manage that much brew !?!

Well, we follow the the paradigm of not bottling until it tastes good. So, meads don't get bottled before they're over a year old typically, and in some cases, 2+ years old. Given that, they tend to sit around and age in bulk. Management-wise, we just rack when there's sediment. And I don't have another hobby at all during the winter, so they get their fair share of attention. During the summer I help my wife with the hive, but that's slow times for meadmaking anyway!

And to be fair, I think four or five of the carboys in that picture are cider, not mead. ;D

 

[Chevette Girl]

I love your tethers, do you live in a quake zone?

Previously I've had over 60 gallons of wine on the go at once in the corner of my crappy little kitchen (it's long and narrow and the end was wasted anyway) but now I'm moving everything to the basement where I'm doubling my shelf space... I also took inventory recently and have some ridiculous number of bottles aging but I've got racks set up on more shelves (when we bought our house we found strong shelving on sale so we blew $500 so the whole basement is lined with 5' tall metal shelves, that was before I started making wine) and not all of them are convenient to get to (I have to move my whole wine processing station to get to the reds rack).

Imaginative consolidation... that's how I do it.

 

[chiguire]

I love your tethers, do you live in a quake zone?

Previously I've had over 60 gallons of wine on the go at once in the corner of my crappy little kitchen (it's long and narrow and the end was wasted anyway) but now I'm moving everything to the basement where I'm doubling my shelf space... I also took inventory recently and have some ridiculous number of bottles aging but I've got racks set up on more shelves (when we bought our house we found strong shelving on sale so we blew $500 so the whole basement is lined with 5' tall metal shelves, that was before I started making wine) and not all of them are convenient to get to (I have to move my whole wine processing station to get to the reds rack).

Imaginative consolidation... that's how I do it.

Dedication indeed!

 

[Golddiggie]

I plan on moving soon, so as I look at places, I'll be thinking of how my brewing/mead making will benefit from the new surroundings. I'll be looking for areas that I can allocate for aging, places that seem to be more thermally stable, and such. I hope that I can find a place with basement storage that I'll be able to get to after being there for a while (can't get to my space now thanks to the packrat/asshole LL)... I'll also be looking to get a place on the ground floor. That way, I can use a propane burner and not need to carry hot wort up a set of stairs...

 

[Dan McFeeley]

The rectangular shaped furniture pieces with cubicles
spaced off inside make great storage spots for mead
and/or wine, and it'll go with the living room set up.
You can get these relatively cheap at places like
Target, Menards, ect.

--

 

[icedmetal]

I love your tethers, do you live in a quake zone?

No quakes here to speak of, but I'd rather not experience one unprepared. With 100 gallons of liquid sitting around in glass containers, I'm guessing there'd be quite a mess if the sh!t hits the fan. So we strap them all down, and place a bit of foam in between each so they can't bounce into one another. The shelving itself is secured to the wall as well.

The scientists say we're overdue for a big one 'round these parts...

 

[wildoates]

My wife and I have a spare bedroom dedicated to meadmaking and beekeeping, but with as much as we make, we still tend to spill out of the room. For instance, the 20 cases of cleaned bottles in the shed, the 14 cases cleaned and stacked against the wall in the home theater room, and the 15 or so cases of dirties piling up in the garage. Gotta bottle the stuff to share it, so I guess it's a necessary evil.

Note: you can use space vertically in a closet if you get one of those industrial racks Like this, 'cept, in the closet...

LOL if you look closely, you can see strawberry chunks on the ceiling.

Awesome, but I could never get a full carboy up as high as the middle shelf, let alone the top.

 

[Chevette Girl]

Awesome, but I could never get a full carboy up as high as the middle shelf, let alone the top.

Ugh, yeah, me either... the bottom shelf is for 5-gal and 3-gal carboys, the middle for jugs with proper airlocks and the top enclosed shelf is storage/jugs without proper airlocks, then the top of the whole unit will be for storage of other stuff, I think empty carboys will fit between the top of the shelf and the ceiling...

 

[akueck]

I'm in a tiny apartment, so mostly I follow the "I can't start a batch unless I have a place to put it" rule. I've had the same number of bottles in the pool of "full or available to be filled" for about 4 years now (5 cases of 12 oz and 2 cases of 750 ml). For bulk aging I only have space for two 5+ gallon carboys and about five 1 gallon jugs, so that keeps that end of things down as well. Short beer fermentations I'll leave more out and in the way; I have two of those going right now. But, they'll fill all my empty bottle space in a few weeks and then I can't make more until I drink it or give it away.

You'll notice most of my batches are smaller, maybe 1.5-2.5 gallons. I could make more, but I'd rather make smaller batches and have room to do something else without waiting for the first batch to disappear.

However, we'll be moving to...somewhere else in another year or so and we already have plans for expanded brewing space. I have CAD files.

 

[Tannin Boy]

I can't make more until I drink it or give it away.

I have CAD files.

Same here!
I do give a lot away until I hit the point that consumption will resolve the remainder. ;D

I also use a CAD program for business, However the old axiom applies to this!
I believe it says " Best laid plans of mice and men?

TB

 

[Dan McFeeley]

Ditto on the give aways -- I live alone, just myself and my aging rescue hound, and give away most of what I make.

Not that space limitations would make much difference. Even if I had a huge temperature controlled wine cellar to sock away everything I make, I'd still be giving away bottles. I think a lot of folk who brew/vint/mead their own are like this, getting together with friends, sharing and swapping.

--

 

[gray]

Yeah, I think give aways are the key. It frees up space, lets you share your passion, and you get feedback.

I've started giving away bottles to friends specifically to have them give to other people I don't even know so I can expand my feedback circle. It works great and nobody doesn't appreciate a free bottle of wine. Most are even kind enough to return the empty for reuse.