If you have 10 cases of 12’s and 12 cases of 17’s stored somewhere, = you have room for a keg system![/quote]
Nope, does not work that way for me. They are spread around. 4 conditioning in a corner of the kitchen (they are only allowed to stay there till carbed) plus 2 assortments under the buffet, storing 4 for a big weekend in June in 1 spot in the basement, empties on a shelf in the basement plus a couple on the floor. There there is the stash of 6 packs set aside for special people.
I’d need 9 kegs just for the current stash - 3 lagers, 1 IPA, 1 Patersbier, 2 Cider, 1 Dubbel, 1 winter warmer. Then I have 3 more in carboys, a pilsner, hefe and porter. 7 of these are a Bad Dog Brew series I started in the fall. They are the features for the June weekend, 1 case of each.
With only a 950 sq ft house, there is no room. The basement is not visitor friendly - only a 5’ 7" clearance. I’ve learned where to duck after 23 yrs. there. Although I did shave the uneven beams and put up white panels above ‘my brewery’. Gained 2" doing that!!
[quote=“jleiii”][quote=“JMcK”]
Google for Ferrari bottle tree replacement.[/quote]
Found the $4 one on ebay with $11 shipping. Ouch! Clearly shipping is a profit center for this seller.
Buying a whole one and selling the other 4 for $5 to HB club members would be much cheaper.[/quote]
Ouch!
Now that you mention it, I think the place we ordered from had some silly minimum shipping too, but we ordered a couple canisters of PBW or maybe Star San and the overall total became more reasonable. I forget the exact site, but I’m pretty sure it was not ebay.
[quote=“Lytnin”]1. Empty bottle
2. Rinse out well and turn upside down to dry
3. Store in box upside down
4. Night before bottling day throw all bottles into a dishwasher. Hot water wash, no soap or jet dry, heated dry (optional)
5. Done, except for maybe picking some of the label paper out of the bottom of the dishwasher.[/quote]
…sure, but most folks don’t have the luxury of a sanitizing dishwasher like you and I have; in which case, if you do, your dishwasher is all you need for sanitation. Steam sanitize, and the bottles are ready to fill.
If you don’t have a totally-rad-bitchin’-cool dishwasher, then sanitize with star-san, iodophor, et. al. and rinse-rinse-rinse! That is all you need to do.
A few years ago my dishwasher broke, so as I was at Lowes shopping for a new one, I ended up basically trying to select one strictly on if it had a sanitizer mode/setting. :lol:
We have since moved, and I am in an ok house, not the biggest exactly, BUT it does have a lower level bonus room type thing with a small bar AND a second dish washer. just happened to be a feature of the house. I am in 7th heaven - that one doesn’t get used for anything except bottle sanitation then I bottle down there too. plus when I do drink commercial pry tops they get rinsed really well 2-3 times then tossed in there to dry.
+1 on shooting a couple of squirts of Star San into each bottle for sanitation. It’s embarrassing how long it took me to think about doing that after I moved from Idophor to Star San. Removed one of the major pain points from bottling.
