Bottles and cases for bottles?? Plastic case?

Do they make a plastic bottle box?

When you buy a case of bottles it comes in a cardboard case. I'm looking for one that holds 12oz bottles but is plastic.

??

thanks
jake

milk crates

I've never found one made specifically for bottles, but there are no shortage of large plastic containers at your local big box, hardware, or department store. I call them giant Tupperwares, but you know what I'm talking about. Big, plastic, some are clear, some are opaque, some have detachable lids, some have hinged lids.

I've tried a lot of varieties, and I'll share some of the things I have learned:

-Somewhere around a 64 quart container is the right size to hold a 5 gallon batch in 12 oz. bottles

-Choose containers with sturdy lids that are designed to be stackable

-Big containers full of bottled beer get HEAVY

-Keep an eye on the lids over time. Stacking them 2 or 3 high will destroy the lids over time.

-They do not make these things with flat bottoms or straight sides. Very annoying when you start putting bottles in.

-When empty, these same containers are fantastic for cleaning and sanitizing.

-Label the damned things. It gets old, shuffling several heavy things around just to peek inside.

-they are also great for storing empties. Store them clean, close the lid tight, you save time on bottling day. (Still sanitize, of course)

Mine are # 2 dark blue plastic 10 gal. totes with lids. They are no particular brand, purchased at Menards, which is a Midwest version of Home Depot or Lowes (and I prefer it to either). These totes were about $6, as I recall, and will hold 32 12 oz. longnecks, and do it perfectly for my uses. For doing things in a 5 gal. batch, of necessity there will be space left over in one of the totes (about a dozen bottles worth). I just made up a dozen dummy bottles and capped them, so that when I'm moving that particular tote around, the dummies keep the filled bottles from falling over.
Actually, I only use these totes while bottling, and for the first two weeks of conditioning upstairs. As noted in the previous post, bottled beer is just too heavy to store and move around in anything larger. When I deem the beer adequately conditioned, I put the bottles into 6-pack carriers and put them on shelves in my "inventory" in the basement.

I also use milk crates, 25 bottles per crate, stackable etc. Also good for carrying carboys, mine were left at my house when I moved in, I'm not sure where you can buy real milk crates.

conpewter said:

..., I'm not sure where you can buy real milk crates.

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Commercial Milk Crate - Duluth Trading Company Kind of spendy, but the same quality as the dairy uses.

I've seen crates similar to milk crates at places like Home Depot before. Grolsch had some plastic cases as well, but not easy to come by.

German breweries distribute their bottles in plastic, stackable crates with built in dividers. Most hold 20 .5L bottles (2.5 gallons), but some (like grolsch) will hold 16 .5L bottles.

I have 14 cases of the 20 bottle type filled with flip-tops.

Here is a pic of one of the 20 bottle "kasten"

Those look very, very nice. And just where might one go to acquire these on this side of the pond?

I just found an ad on kijiji around here, guy selling 11 Grolsch Plastic cases with the Amber bottles Shipping would be a bit much to you though i'm sure..

rico567 said:

Those look very, very nice. And just where might one go to acquire these on this side of the pond?

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Post craigslist ads, call your local distributor, check online distributors that sell import beer, make friends with someone who travels to EU...