how to store cleaned bottles

How and where do people store their cleaned empty bottles between batches? I've been storing mine inverted in 6 pack carriers in my closet. I suppose if they were upright and just got some dust or dirt in them it isn't a huge deal because they will be washed out when I dunk them in sanitizer.

Eventually I hope to collect some office paper boxes with a lid to prevent dust collection, but in the meantime, any suggestions?

When I used to bottle I would store my clean empties upside down in beer bottle cases.

I "cap" my bottles with a piece of foil and autoclave them . This way whenever I have 30 min free I can fire up the autoclave and sterilize my bottles/starters whatever, and keep them around for a while.

Come bottle time, remove foil cap and save for reuse. Apply beer and real cap.

My guess is you could do the same with the oven-tek.

Leaf does it the same way I do, foil cap and all. Well, except that I don't have an autoclave. I do 350 degrees for 90 minutes in the oven and let them cool overnight. Blog post detailing the processes coming soon.

I store mine in milk crates (which will hold 24-25 bottles) covered with a piece of cardboard cut out to just fit in the crate, resting on the bottles.

I used to store upside down in boxes, now they just go into old boxes on the stair well going downstairs. The plus side is they off the cat a bridge to get over the baby gate (he's fat and clumsy)

when i bottled i stored them upside down in 24 pk boxes

+1 for storage in the milk crates (the container store sells these). I put 25 bottles in upside down to prevent a majority of the dust from getting in them, then I stack them. The other nice thing, is after cleaning, the milk crate allows the liquid out while the botttles are drying too.

I'm a huge fan of the milk crate setup. They are sturdy, hold 25 so basically 2 crates / batch is about perfect, and you can stack them.

I also put my bottles beers back in these for storage as well (just not upside down )

After I empty a bottle I rinse it out, give it a spray of Starsan and put it on the bottle tree. When the tree is getting about half full I start my next brew.
When it's time to bottle I look in each one and after a quick hot water rinse and a few pumps on the vinator with starsan I fill and cap them.

bosco

This is the blog post I prommised:
http://woodlandbrew.blogspot.com/2012/10/not-just-sanitized-but-sterilized.html

It's a very quick read.

I wash bottles as I empty them, dry them on a bottle tree, then they go upside down into 6-pack holders that are in plastic carry all bins. Keeps them clean enough until bottling day, when they get a star san rinse prior to filling.

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone! I talked to some grocery store managers and asked if I could buy/take some milk crates but they now recycle the crates by sending them back to be reused by the milk company. After some searching, Walmart has 6 storage crates for ~$20. I got them in this past weekend and moved all of my clean bottles over. I can fit 28 bottles per crate and they all stack up nicely! They are nowhere near as sturdy as real milk crates but they do the job, even with the weight of fully bottles. I put some cardboard in the bottom to keep the bottles from catching an edge on the rather large grated holes at the bottom. I also used the folded six pack carriers to place on top of the bottles to (help) prevent dust and other stuff from floating in the clean bottles.

Here is the link to the crates if anyone is interested in picking them up: http://www.walmart.com/ip/Sterilite-File-Crates-Set-of-6/14138976