How do you organize your gear?

My gear is all stored in a couple of buckets and loose around my house. My goal tomorrow is to come up with a way to put it all in one spot that makes sense. So how did you all do it? Feel free to share pics of your setup too!

A big plastic tote is a good starting point. Then build a shelf to hold your totes. Then build an addition to add more shelves and totes....

lschiavo said:

A big plastic tote is a good starting point. Then build a shelf to hold your totes. Then build an addition to add more shelves and totes....

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Yep then build a new bedroom to sleep in!

Lol, I have all my gear inside a pantry in my garage. I try to keep all hoses and anything that can trap dust covered.

I'd love to know how other apartment dwellers are storing their stuff. SWMBO is starting to insist that I figure out how to hide everything.

I stupidly responded to empty out her closet and I could hide it in there…:smack:

Moving all my gear (for brewing) into the basement (most is already in there). Some goes into the finished room, others into the unfinished side (concrete, so it's good). Getting my brewery built in the unfinished side (should be online by middle of next week). Having it all down there will make it far easier to both brew, clean up (getting a sink installed) and then ferment (I do that down there now). Next place, I'm planning on putting a bar into the basement too. That way, if I have people over, we can both brew, and have home brew at the same time... With no damned stairs to deal with in between. :rockin:

Spare bedroom.. my girlfriend is not a fan.

InityBrew said:

Spare bedroom.. my girlfriend is not a fan.

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Get some plastic rubbermaid storage containers. She might consider that. Let her pick out the color? Lol, make it somewhat her "decision" on the matter.

I have the Ultimate Man Cave. I have a barn (2500 sq ft). I have a Cool Room(12 x 13) with a CoolBot that I can get to 50 in the winter, A Rack where I brew and keep the BK,MLT, HLT1, and HLT 2. I have an equipment Room (12 x 10) where I store hoses and other hardware. No GIRLS allowed as it is part of the He Man Women Haters Club. (BTW Married 42 years and counting)

Picked up one of these on sale from harbor freight and added some drawer organizers for all my small brew day stuff. I just toss pots, chillers, bucket sanitizer on the bottom. When not in use I put a tarp over it to keep off dust and cats. I even rigged an 13" tv and a DVD player to have a movie one while brewing.

oakbarn said:

I have the Ultimate Man Cave. I have a barn (2500 sq ft). I have a Cool Room(12 x 13) with a CoolBot that I can get to 50 in the winter, A Rack where I brew and keep the BK,MLT, HLT1, and HLT 2. I have an equipment Room (12 x 10) where I store hoses and other hardware. No GIRLS allowed as it is part of the He Man Women Haters Club. (BTW Married 42 years and counting)

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Congrats! I just got married last week! BTW, I love your setup

I have 99% of my gear in a little tykes wagon. It's there and the kid don't use it anymore. I hang all of my hoses from a hook on the closet door.

Here is what you may end up with if you become obsessed like me. Luckily I had a 16x24 garage to start with. Nothing fancy but it has everything I need. Hope the panoramic shots work out...It's a bit of a mess right now.

Apartment dweller here. Most of my cold-side stuff fits in this: http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/00158731/

The top shelf is perfectly sized for carboys/alepails, and the drawers on the bottom hold all other gubbins.

Hot-side stuff fits in my kettle, which sits on top of my fridge.

Everything is here in my brewing closet. There's a 4th shelf at the top (not in pic) that has small storage drawers for spices, dry yeast, etc. Behind the bins is where I keep a bunch of other stuff like my portable control panel, etc. This closet is unique in that it has doors on both sides, so I can maximize shelf usage that way (very deep shelves).

I've got one of those huge rubbermaid storage sheds outside for all the large brewing gear. I brew out there, so it never comes in the house (only perishables inside).

I built a 10 X 10 shed...

lschiavo said:

Here is what you may end up with if you become obsessed like me. Luckily I had a 16x24 garage to start with. Nothing fancy but it has everything I need. Hope the panoramic shots work out...It's a bit of a mess right now.

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My obsession level is already outgrowing my available space. SWMBO and I have agreed that when we buy a house, it must have an unfinished basement or external building for me to convert into a brewery. Right now, I have the closet in my office as storage and that's it (besides the keezer which is in the dining room until I can move it into the office with me).

I love seeing everyone's storage solution. It's neat to see the difference in those with a dedicated building/space versus those trying to eke out just enough room to keep their SO from murdering them.

Here's how it looks after a trip to walmart (before on the left, after on the right):



I'm happy with how it turned out. Now I just need a label maker so I can remember what the heck I put in the drawers. :smack:

I use a crash cart from work. Holds everything but the pot and bucket and wort chiller, etc. etc, etc,

I've recently dedicated a room in my basement to my new electric brewery. I have two Gladiator Garageworks mobile storage "GearBoxes" (66"H x 36"W x 18"D) that I keep most of my gear in. I'm also using Gladiator flooring, work benches and shelving.





The room is far from complete but I've brewed a few batches down there and having one room dedicated to brewing makes the process a million times easier and more fun.

passedpawn said:

Everything is here in my brewing closet. There's a 4th shelf at the top (not in pic) that has small storage drawers for spices, dry yeast, etc. Behind the bins is where I keep a bunch of other stuff like my portable control panel, etc. This closet is unique in that it has doors on both sides, so I can maximize shelf usage that way (very deep shelves).

I've got one of those huge rubbermaid storage sheds outside for all the large brewing gear. I brew out there, so it never comes in the house (only perishables inside).

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Do you ever worry about your ingredients going stale?

Monster Mash said:

I built a 10 X 10 shed...

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Don't mean to hijack but what are those SS containers and where did you get them?

They look like big kegs. Send him a pm.

I use two of these shelves in my basement (I rent so I wanted to be able to move them easily) and they hold all of my supplies (4 5gal carboys, 2 6.5 gallon buckets, 1 6.5 gallon bucket, and misc cleaning stuff). As the shelves can be built in any way you like, I one as a 6 shelf system and the other shelf split in half for a bench. This gives me room to rack and bottle, but also storage when everything is cleaned. Soon I will be building a fermenting shelf that will also have built in carboy dryers and a mount for my bottle capper.

Pilcrow said:

Do you ever worry about your ingredients going stale?

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I used to. Years ago when I started doing this. But I can tell you that it isn't a problem if they are unmilled. Grain weevils is the only issue I've had, but except for the spousal anguish this wasn't really a problem.

I keep everything in the guestroom under a table and desk and managed to hijack closet space around the apartment for fermentation. A small spare fridge with freezer for hops and yeast definetly saved me some complaints from the wife.

Ill post a pic in a few years when I buy a house and get an awesome man cave like the ones Ive seen in this thread.

A shelf... ya know those wire ones that you can adjust real well, I store the TALL STUFF on the top and take it all the way to the ceiling...

Monster Mash said:

I built a 10 X 10 shed...

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Wow, now that's a stack of kegs. One hell of a space.

Yeah and the cornies are nice too. I gotta get me one of those posters

lschiavo said:

Yeah and the cornies are nice too. I gotta get me one of those posters

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Me too!