Bottle Dryer - Holds 54 bottles <$10.00

This is a bottle dryer I made back in December of 2012 that holds 54 12oz. bottles. I uploaded the photos into the image area but I thought more people would see it here. I didn't like the idea of the bottle tree, and I thought others may agree. The cost was estimated at less than $10.00 because this was actually made from scrap wood in my garage. It is nearly the exact size of my towels in the kitchen, so I place one underneath to absorb any drainage from the bottles. The bottles stand perfectly along with the spacing. The following are the dimensions and material that I used.

1/2" Plywood Sanded dimensions are 22 1/2" x 15"
4 - 1" x 3" cut to 2" length for legs
Neck holes are 1 1/4" with 2 1/2" spacing on center
Finishing is optional but highly recommended to prevent absorption of moisture. Personally I painted the bottom black, and stained the top along with a two coats of polyurethane.
In addition you could also use UHMW, if you have the means to work with it.

Wow. That is stupid simple. I like it.

Some kind of cookie sheet / tray to capture the drips would make this a commercial ready product. Great idea.

Cyclman said:

Some kind of cookie sheet / tray to capture the drips would make this a commercial ready product. Great idea.

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I saw something like this at Austin Homebrew. http://homebrew.thefastrack.ca/

ChandlerBang said:

Wow. That is stupid simple. I like it.

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I'm with Chandler on this one. Stupid simple and stackable if needed. I can see having 2 or maybe 3 stacks. One washed, one sanitized and one for empties to drain before washing. Just throw another sheet on when one sheet fills up and keep right on going. I wash my bottles in the dishwasher after I remove the labels then samitize with star-san and fill. extra bottles would remain inverted ready for a shot of sanitizer and ready to fil on the next batch. Cheap, easy. no lost parts not much better!!!!

Wheelchair Bob

Looks similar, but a lot more professionally made than the one I have been using:

Good idea, might be a nice project for what's left of winter. I could use something just like that.

I have one like that that holds 66. Only because that was how the math worked out for the sheet of plywood I had lying around.

I am working on making a couple of these for a few friends. There is nothing like lending a helping hand to another persons pursuit of happiness.

Not a bad solution.

Mind blown. I'm going to build one to hang from the ceiling.

I got crates from here http://www.cwcrate.com/aboutus.asp , they also have inverted "T"s
that you can get. Sanitize the Ts, invert your bottles, done deal. Great for storing bottles upside down with the necks of the bottom of the crate.

Simplicity sometimes is perfection...

I'll probably use rigid erector set type pieces for stability. I'll do one with larger holes for the 1gallon carboys and add cross pieces to keep them from falling over and tumbling onto the floor. Wow thanks for the great idea!

Awesome! simply awesome. Great job, might have to make one or a few of these myself.

Very nice! An easy upgrade would be to try and pick up a scrap piece of corian or similar solid surface countertop material to eliminate any water absorption concerns.

Absolutely adamreef, that is why I had mentioned the UHMW as an alternative. Any material that can be easily machined would be a great alternative. I would imagine the sink cutout from a counter top would be a perfect piece to use.

They are both fantastic and simple design items,
but what if you made it out of polyprope (chopping board )
that way you can use it on a home made bottle washer,
and only have to handle the bottles as a whole not individually.
and the upside to that would be it wont rot like timber would.

scooner my friend, as I mentioned in the original posting the possibility of using UHMW. I should have been more specific, as to the UHMW being Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene (UHMWPE). That is what some chopping boards you mentioned are made of, and alternatively HDPE, which is High Density Polyethylene. The difference is the length of the molecular chains.

Nice work. I love the feet on yours. That is what is missing on mine...

Made the same thing for 18 bottles out of MDF and covered it with two coats of linseed oil. No water absorption at all.. my only tip and something I am going to try on my next one is using a step drill bit to tapper the hole and see if it holds the bottle a bit tighter... I know moving the bottles around they would get a little wobbly even using 3/4" MDF.