DIY Empty Bottle Rack, not quite a "tree"!!

I was originally going to build a "tree" style rack, but this seemed a little easier. Im only slightly handy, and this is pretty much a hack job, but it will work for my needs!

Pic 1 - a simple base
Pic 2 - small cleats to hold the bottle rails
Pic 3 - uprights for the bottle rails
Pic 4 - drilling the holes
Pic 5 - first try - done!

I quickly saw that I had plenty of room between the bottling rails, so I doubbled up!

Pic 1 - double the number of rails, and I made the base a little smaller. Oh, and I stole some casters off an old computer desk that was collecting dust in the basement
Pic 2 - some cheap stain-and-poly-in-one coating
Pic 3 - holding the goods
Pic 4 - close up of the bottles

I will try and answer a few questions before they pop up:
I can provide actual specs if you want, but it was kind of a hack job. the bottle rails are 3' long. Holes are 1.5", 3" apart on the rails. Uprights are about 4"? The angle of the rails is 45 degrees, they are 5" apart I believe. Base is like 3'3" by 2"ish.

My plan to catch the drips? lay a towel on the floor. Nothing fancy. OK, so its wood, am I worried about the longevity? Nope. Its not like I am dunking it in water constantly. Im sure it will be fine. The regular long-neck bottles drip well away from the wood. Only the shorties actually drip onto the wood rail below. Total cost? was around 45 bucks or so. Would have been less but I bought 2 new boxes of screws cuz I my stash was low.

Hope it inspires someone to build a better one!

Wow - nice rack! (Sorry, I couldn't resist! Burrp....)

Well done. How much do you think it weighs full?

Empty it is maybe 10 pounds. The pic with the bottles (rack is just over half full) still moves really easy on those cheap plastic casters. Maybe another 10 lbs with the bottles??

Cool build. Any idea what angle you've built the shelves at? Will the liquid in bottle be able to clear the "hump" before the the neck?

The angle is 45 degrees. Hmm, I never even gave that "hump" a thought. I ran down and looked at it, its close.

I have already given thought to "tilting" the entire tower on an angle for better drainage. I may have to do that now for sure! Good call!

Nice Job ! made me think about a hanging version

jasonkeithscott said:

Cool build. Any idea what angle you've built the shelves at? Will the liquid in bottle be able to clear the "hump" before the the neck?

Click to expand...

That was my concern too!

It looks like there would be a small puddle of liquid remaining in the bottle at that angle!

Good idea!

I've been using old dishwasher racks I got for free at a garage sale to drip dry my bottles prior to sanitizing and bottling. I can fit exactly 48 bottles on each rack so 2 racks usually gets me done for a 10 gallon batch.

Your DIY rack looks better though.

I will test the water drainage when I get back to town (traveling for work, in Wisconsin, ive got to find me some Spotted Cow!) and let everyone know what the verdict is. I know when I washed a test batch there was a lot of water drainage but I will do a better job at actually looking in the bottles after a given period of time.

I think you guys were right about the angle. I am going to have to modify it a bit. For now I am just tipping it until they dry.

Kicker is that I got a kegging system for xmass :smack: oh well, I plan on bottling a few from each batch anyway so it wont go to waste!!

Here it is a little fuller

This would be an awesome buld built against a wall of a homebrew shack about waist high

This is a great idea. I would like to offer a design suggestion that is fashioned after those book shelves you see that lean against the wall.

1. move your vertical pieces to the front of your bottom frame.
2. fashion 2 more vertical pieces to attach to the rear corners of your bottom frame.
3. lean your original vertical pieces containing the shelves back and attach their tops to the tops of the new vertical pieces.

This might get your bottles at the correct angle for them to drain completely. It might also give your rack more stability - especially when fully loaded.

Thanks for the idea,
Keith

That will have other advantages too - the bottles wont drip on each other as they dry. Next time I am feeling crafty I will modify it and post some new pics!

Does that hold 99 bottles of beer on the wall Looks great, think I'll do something similar.

Very nice design. Might have to do something like that, I keg but would like a better way to do my bottles... If/when I use them.