here's my latest creation. What ya think?

Noob here so hopefully i'm not doing something that may compromise the quality of my homebrew. Let me know what u think about this.

By no means am i claiming this is the cheapest most effective way of making something like this but I already had the storage bin at home and wasn't using it for anything. Anyway this is my bottle drainer/dryer that i made out of a 30 gallon storage bin (to save $36 from buying a bottle tree). I used my 1-3/4" holesaw with my drill to make the holes and then cleaned any leftover plastic burrs with a small sharp pearing knife. Unfortunately I only had enough space to get 45 bottle spaces drilled but i brew 5 gallon batches so i will only have to drain/dry 5-10 more bottles at most in a different location. I spray the top and bottom sides of the lid with star sans prior to placing bottles to make sure its sanitized.

I like it...well done.

thanks hopheaded

Awesome idea!

I use the same bin as my sanitizing tub, but unfortunately, I ditched the top awhile ago. I would have copied this idea from you!

yeah thats exactly what i do as well. I usually make up a couple gallons star sans in my cleaned glass carboy then rack with auto siphon(to sanitize tubes and siphon) into the storage bin for sanitizing all other equipment. its an all-in-one sanitizing bottle draining/drying station. thanks airborneguy!

Looks great and is a great idea. Well done!

Wondering if you could get 7 - 8 more holes per side by using the raised portion of the lid on the longer sides? Or would destroy the structural integrity of the lid?

i think i'm gonna try that now that u mentioned it. thanks for the input and great idea as it will then accommodate enough bottles for a 5 gallon batch.

Thats Sweet.! If was to bottle, I would take your idea and do it too. Great Job .

Brilliant-amundo.
I'm headed for Walley-World right now to get a tub and start cutting holes.

nice! I'm glad everyone seems to like this idea

i just seen that both wal-mart and home depot have the 30-35 gallon storage bins on christmas clearance for around $20. As long as u dont mind the christmas color its a cheap way to make an all-in-one equipment sanitizing bucket/bottle drainer.

WalMart has 50 gallon bins for $15.

I did something very similar to what the OP did to make a cricket brooder.

oh cool yeah thats a great price and will be big enough to accommodate enough bottle holes for a 5-gallon batch if not more. The one thing to be aware of (If you are gonna use the bin for sanitizing as well) is that the bigger size tubs requires more sanitizing liquid to raise it to a level that is sufficient for sanitizing equipment. If u are using star san made with distilled water then it doesnt matter as much as u can save it for re-use at a later date.

je52rm said:

oh cool yeah thats a great price and will be big enough to accommodate enough bottle holes for a 5-gallon batch if not more.

Click to expand...

Or, in my case, enough to house about 5000 crickets.

Very clever!