What to do now?

Welshie · Feb 10, 2015

We have all seen the pics of everyone's carboys and the like but I have a problem that I haven't seen addressed. How does everyone store all their bottles? I started with a small 24 bottle wine rack and I have quickly outgrown it. My storage space is limited and I am trying to find a nice space saving way to safely store bottles of mead/wine. Does anyone here on the forum have a solution to this problem? If so, I'd love to hear about it or see some pics of what you came up with. Thanks for listening.

bathtub brewer · Feb 10, 2015

I have this trouble too. Hopefully I will start my garage this summer, but until it is finished I make my mead in the spare bathroom. I keep every thing in the bath tub stall and have shelves on every wall. (It really isn't a bathroom any more its my beer and mead room.) My bath tub has 2 wine racks on one end the other end has 2 kegs for beer and then I can have 2 carboys going in there as well. I also have a place for a 3rd carboy on one of the shelves. The rest of the shelves are covered with bottles and growlers and all the other various equipment needed. It is all about making the most of what you have. Since I only have space for 3 carboys working at a time I tend to stick to the "one month" type mead. (I am also not very patient.)

WVMJack · Feb 11, 2015

When we built our house in 2000 we had already started making wine and meads, so the wife designed a room in the basement that we finished ourselves with 6 inch thick wall of insulation. At first we were using corks so everything had to go on its sides in racks, not very effective, so we got rid off all but one of those kinds of racks and got a bunch of those metal resturant shelving units that adjust just high enough for each shelf to put in bottles standing up, we have 3 of those with 6 shelves and one we made a big shelf in the middle for bulk aging carboys. We use 3 others outside the room to store empties and carboys of wine or mead. There is a lot of yakkity yak about cork vs all other closures. We cork one or two bottles of each batch and stick it in the conventional rack to age traditionally and the rest get zorks, nylon corks or beer caps or screw caps, none with any problem due to the closure so we can get many more bottles standing up than laying on their sides. WVMJ

PitBull · Feb 11, 2015

What do you think of this one?

Here's one that I use.

It holds 144 bottles and is available from a number of merchants. Google "wire lattice wine rack". It is NOT free-standing so it must be wall-mounted. Then again, any wine rack takes up a wall. This one is just not moveable. It will not accommodate 1.5 liters magnums nor some very thick 750 ml bottles (which I put on the rack's top shelf).

I works very well and is relatively inexpensive for the number of bottles that it holds. The price is around $100.

smertz001 · Feb 11, 2015

Here's the rack I bought and use: http://www.winecellarinnovations.com/redwood-wine-rack-bottle-grid.htm

I like that it holds all bottles I've thrown at it. From 375ml to 1500ml (they can sit on the very top.)

The only problem was putting it together. You have to pre-drill all the holes yourself before you screw it together with about 50-60 screws. Took 2 hours to get it built.

mannye · Feb 12, 2015

I use the same wire restaurant racks that Jack uses. I think there are some pictures in the TARDIS thread. I got mine from Craigslist cheeeeeeeep. 20 bucks. Those shelves hold a ton of bottles and 4 carboys each. They can also hold a few hundred pounds safely which 20 gallons of mead weighs. I don't know if it's more or less than water...assuming more... and water is 8.3 lbs a gallon... so... yeah.

pokerfacepablo · Feb 12, 2015

Nice, are they pretty heavy since they're so durable? I built one out of pvc pipe and wood. Heavy as hell and tired of moving it. Would be nice for something light weight.

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Chevette Girl · Feb 13, 2015

I stack wine boxes on their sides. If you only go two or three high (I have my shelf height adjusted for this) they're pretty stable until you start using bottles from the bottom box. For the 375 ml bottles, I copied the dimensions on the box dividers from the box they came in and turned a sheet of 1/4" plywood into a 4' long shelf for them.

theDREWery · Feb 13, 2015

I've been using wine boxes as well, but I've been putting them on some cheap shelving from Aldi. Two cases per shelf @ five shelves, 120 bottles per rack with some loose bottles tucked here and there. The shelves were $30 each and the wine boxes I've been getting for free whenever I run into the people that stock the wine at the grocery.

PitBull · Feb 13, 2015

mannye said:
I don't know if it's more or less than water...assuming more... and water is 8.3 lbs a gallon... so... yeah.

Water has a S.G. = 1.000, so if you start out at a gravity of 1.100, your must weighs 9.1 lbs. per gallon. So indeed, your rack is sturdy.

edblanford · Feb 13, 2015

Finished mead (regardless of the SG) should weigh about the same as water (a little more if sweeter, or a little less if dry), as the FG is usually close to 1.000. Water weight should be fine in determining the capacity of a rack, plus the weight of bottles, corks or caps, etc.

PitBull · Feb 14, 2015

edblanford said:
Finished mead (regardless of the SG) should weigh about the same as water (a little more if sweeter, or a little less if dry), as the FG is usually close to 1.000. Water weight should be fine in determining the capacity of a rack, plus the weight of bottles, corks or caps, etc.

You are correct about the gravity of finished mead. But one should get a rack that will accommodate the heaviest items upon it. Since the rack discussed is actually a shelving unit, then there is a possibility that the primary fermenters will sit upon those shelves. I have shelving units for my fermenters. Yes, most heavy duty shelving units will be more than adequate. But if you are going to include the weight of the corks, why would you ignore the additional 16+ pounds for the 20 gallons of must?

This 6' x 3' x 1.5' unit is the one I use for fermenters. It's rated at 800 lbs./per shelf, but I'd never go that high. I remove shelves #2 and #4 to accommodate both primary and secondary fermenters. Top shelf for carboy storage. I also store 1.5 liter bottles in one of these units without shelves removed.

edblanford · Feb 14, 2015

I guess I am lucky with space to keep finished mead separate from carboys, fermenters, etc. I have read that bottles, especially corked ones should not be subjected to vibration, so separate storage is my choice. I am aware that not all are as fortunate as I am (CG, for example). One day (hopefully soon, when I finish the Taj Mahal [so named by my neighbor's sister] which I am now insulating for year round use, it is heated as well) I will post pictures of my mead area. It consists of two barn style storage buildings, one 10 by 16 feet (now known as the Mini Taj, which is completely insulated, heated and air conditioned), shared with my wife who uses it as an art/painting space, and the Taj Mahal which I am finishing now, that is 14 by 20 feet. Both have storage lofts (two 14 by 6 feet in the Taj Mahal and one 10 by 8 feet in the Mini Taj.) Since I had to Google "Tardis" in the beginning, I am more comfortable with the current designations! lol

joemirando · Feb 14, 2015

Everyone's ignoring the obvious: DRINK MORE MEAD!

Welshie · Feb 15, 2015

Thanks for all the suggestions. My issue is more with finished corked bottle storage. Need to store them on their sides to keep the corks moist and all. I have a wire bakers rack and I think I will make wooden storage racks for its shelves. I also have a 5 shelf bookcase that I am eyeing to add wooden storage racks to in order to make it useful. The question then becomes the weight limit of the wood.

PitBull · Feb 15, 2015

Books are fairly heavy, so your bookcase will likely be a good start for something as heavy as full wine bottles. The main thing is that if your shelves have a long span, you will likely need to reinforce the center of the shelves with some sort of vertical support and cross brace.

Welshie · Feb 17, 2015

Well, this weekend I dove into some amateur carpentry and made some shelves for the wire bakers rack. Holds a nice amount of bottles. I have some single and double racks and I am working on a triple rack right now. They slide right onto the shelf of the bakers rack and hold the bottles nicely. The design leaves me room to store my equipment behind the racks so it has a dual purpose. I think I will still modify the bookcase and turn it into a wine rack. I put a dent in my bottle count but I still have a ways to go.

Welshie · Feb 18, 2015

While I will revisit Mannye's T.A.R.D.I.S.(got to spell it right people!;-}) thread, I have a question for Mannye as well. Since you have used the wire bakers rack for bottle storage, any insight as to exactly what you used or made to safely store them on it? Any blueprints, templates, golden disc when placed on a staff that will reveal the exact location on a scale replica of the city, etc?? Thanks, Welshie.

ostensibly · Feb 18, 2015

I have two of these and the only issue I have is the uneven floor in my garage that even the leveller feet can't completely compensate for. They're attached to the walls though, so nbd. https://www.sevilleclassics.com/wine_rack_zinc_SHE16473Z

When I redo my workshop this summer I'll build something like this into one wall, maybe repurpose the seville racks for beer.

Welshie · Feb 18, 2015

The rack I have does not have the depressions in the shelves to secure wine bottles. Mine are flat. I looked at the webite you linked to but I lack the tools and carpentry know-how to pull anything of merit off. Maybe some of the simpler designs, but even those are a maybe.

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