I’ve been looking around for a crate I can use to store my 12 oz. bottles, whether empty or full. I was hoping to find something that looked kind of cool, was stackable, and wouldn’t degrade if it got wet. Some of the other forums cited the C&W crate, but I didn’t really like the way it looked or that it didn’t interlock when stacking.
I’m a hobbyist woodworker also, and came up with an idea for a crate that would interlock when stacking, could get wet, and still look kind of nice. I added a chalkboard for labeling the bottles (like type of beer, or if they’re dirty, etc…).
From what I was finding on the forums it seemed like people were looking for the same sort of things I was looking for, so I thought I would put it up here and see what people thought.
Yeah, sorry about that. I’ve been trying to figure out how to post the image so it shows up in the post rather than just a link, the [img] tag isn’t working for some reason. I moved the file around thinking it was in the wrong place, and then gave up without realizing the link was no longer valid.
That’s awesome! Thanks! I need to make a couple more for myself this weekend and then I should be able to figure out better how long it will take, and hence, what it would cost. The first one took me a while to build cause I was figuring everything out, and since then I thought of a few ways to make it go quicker/easier/more efficient.
Check back on this thread and I’ll post pictures of the new ones stacking and all that, and I should have a better idea of cost, if people are interested maybe I’ll put up a website and start a little side business!
I found this one too on one of the other forums, when I was looking around for one to buy. Actually, I think after looking at this one, I decided to design my own. I figured if I was going to go to the trouble of making box joints for the corners, I might as well put more woodworking elements in like dados and slatted bottom, and routed handles on all 4 sides.
I also wanted to show off the bottles some. I like think of it like “functional art”, I can stack them in the corner, they look good and show off my homebrew, which starts conversations when people come to our house.
Thanks for adding to the thread. I don’t usually write on the forums, but the interaction is pretty cool when people give their input! :cheers:
These look awesome - I can see how they would make a cool conversation piece in the corner. What does the inside look like? Looks like you have two layers of spaced laths in there? And how heavy is one of these, empty vs. full of beer?
Have you looked at making some for bombers? Fantastic work.
I forgot to take a picture of the inside. I’ll try to do that and post it up.
I’ll also weigh them. I did weigh one of them full, so I could do some testing and make sure the bottom was strong enough to hold plenty of weight, but I can’t remember what it ended up weighing full. I do remember I took that weight and bumped it up some for the testing. I put two 20lb kettlebells in one of them and the bottom gave me no indication of weakness, so I called it good.
I am thinking about making some for 22oz bottles, but I haven’t ventured that way yet.
I’ve gotten enough positive response on this forum and a couple others, that I’m thinking of making some and selling them.
I mean not everyone has a woodshop in their garage, and that doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t have access to high quality storage options! Am I right?!!!
Those are the sweetest bottle crates I have ever seen! Really nicely done and excellent design. I made 30 crates about 10 years ago (pics and details on my website) but these are so much nicer. Well done. :cheers:
I looked at your website, and I’ve seen pictures of your crates before. Those aren’t bad either.
Kudos on the basement bar by the way, that’s pretty cool. I was just saying that because we don’t have basements in California we miss out on the cool things to do with them.
So I decided to make and sell some crates if people want them, but I have to warn you they’re expensive - only because they do take a lot of work to make. I guess it’s like anything nice, takes time, costs money, etc…
For those of you though that have the tools and would rather do them yourselves I put together a plan including Sketchup drawing, cutlist, and assembly instructions. I also made one for 22oz bottles.
If you’d like the plan or to have some crates made, you can get them on my website:
Yeah, I hate to ask that much, but it really does take a lot of work to make them. I actually got a quote from a woodshop to make 4 of them, just to see if I could outsource the construction because I knew my wife would kill me if I spent all my leisure time making crates. He apologized too when he quoted me $380 per crate. Needless to say, that wasn’t an option.
I think the best option, for those that have the gear to make them at least, is to get the plan. It makes for a fun weekend project in the workshop!
I’d really like to make a couple of these, but I guess I’m just not willing to pay for the plans. In my opinion, posting a DIY project and then not giving instructions goes against the whole point of this site.
The NB forum is all about sharing knowledge and helping other brewers out, not making money. If you look at any of the other DIY projects here, you will see that none of them are for sale. I certainly appreciate the work that went into designing these cool crates, but again, this is not a site for sales.
I’m wondering if the OP has seen many sales of his plans. And was the purpose of posting this to make money, or was it to share a cool project? If you intended to share this project with other brewers, why don’t you offer us plans too?
