DIY Monster Bottle Tree w/ pics

There are some things I'd rather try to make myself than buy from someone else. So when I started looking for a bottle tree and saw how much they cost, I decided to build my own. Here's some pics:



I bought a pvc pipe and used some extra drywall screws I had laying around, pre-drilled some holes and put the scews in at a 45 degrees. I spaced them from top to bottom using a couple of bottles so they wouldn't be too close or too far apart. I use four screws per level at 12, 3, 6, and 9 o'clock. Oh...and there's my faithful assistant, Luke, working hard, as usual.



Then I took hollow pvc tubeing I bought and cut them to size to put over the screws to hold the bottles. I scubbed the printing off of them before i used them. I like that i am able to pull these tubes off because i can wash them and store them until i need to use them again. I made the stand out of some left over 2x4's. the pvc pipe just slides in and out, again this is great for storage purposes when not in use.



As you can see it works great... in it's current form it holds 60 bottles, but it's tall enough to hold 80 bottles if i added more screws and tubes to it! :rockin:

oh yeah, total cost to build.....under $12.00 with the extra stuff i had. $16.00 tops if I would have had to buy everything.

What do you think?

sweet! I love DIY stuff and for some reason I never thought about building my own bottle tree. This is freaking sweet.

Simple
Functional
Cheap

Good work

How much space is between the screws? Looks like 3 or 4 inches in the picture, but it's tough to tell.

Awesome tree! It's cheap, and it works. You don't really need much else from a bottling tree.

Nicely Done.

Looking good! I don't know why I didn't think of that a long time ago.

Too Cool!!! Good Job!!

Holy Cow! I have a crap load of PVC sitting in my garage and have grown tired of only being able to stick 12 bottles at a time in my sink-drainer. Thanks for the idea!

Nice job, what do you use to catch the run off when the bottles drain?

That is awesome but I do think it needs a drain pan, easier for cleanup. :rockin:

Do the screws try to bend or shear off at all?

I was just getting ready to post about people making their own bottles trees after I found out they are $50+ Nice work. So how do you sanatize it? Just wash each PVC part in sanatizer before using it? I guess I know what I am working on this weekend although mine won't be as big as yours, I don't think.

Now you got me thinking about building a bottle washer tree: Stick all your bottles on, hook tree up to hose in back yard, turn it on to blast em clean, then turn it off to let em drip dry. Probably end up being more trouble than it's worth...

pizzaman said:

Now you got me thinking about building a bottle washer tree: Stick all your bottles on, hook tree up to hose in back yard, turn it on to blast em clean, then turn it off to let em drip dry. Probably end up being more trouble than it's worth...

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Haha, make sure you secure the bottles, otherwise I can see that going all bad...

pizzaman said:

Now you got me thinking about building a bottle washer tree: Stick all your bottles on, hook tree up to hose in back yard, turn it on to blast em clean, then turn it off to let em drip dry. Probably end up being more trouble than it's worth...

Click to expand...

I thought about that with mine. Run a small water line into each tube that holds a bottle. Seemed like a lot of work though, and I didn't feel like dealing with 64 small water lines. Mine's similar, but I used an epoxy not screws to hold the pegs on. To get the distance between bottles, I attached a peg, put a bottle on it, the held another bottle to the tree to see how much distance it needed. I got 8 bottles per layer with 8 layers on a 2 foot tall tree (my PVC is a larger diameter than the one above).

pizzaman said:

Now you got me thinking about building a bottle washer tree:

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An alternative would be to build a sanitizer tree - stick a ton of bottles on, pump some starsan through & sanitize 64 bottles at once...SWEET

Just put one of those saucer sleds underneath it

There are some definite questions on this project. If you can get them answered, I'm sure this will be one of the more popular DIY projects. Maybe edit the initial post to give specific steps, measurements, etc. Some things that should be addressed are below.

LET US KNOW!

bigjohnmilford said:

Nice job, what do you use to catch the run off when the bottles drain?

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Runyank said:

Do the screws try to bend or shear off at all?

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bigjohnmilford said:

Nice job, what do you use to catch the run off when the bottles drain?

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good question...The floor...LOL..I didn't think about that when i built it. :cross: I think I'll put a towel under in the next time.

STAD said:

There are some definite questions on this project. If you can get them answered, I'm sure this will be one of the more popular DIY projects. Maybe edit the initial post to give specific steps, measurements, etc. Some things that should be addressed are below.

LET US KNOW!

Click to expand...

Give me a couple of days...I'm working nights right now, but i will edit the original post with more specific information

pizzaman said:

Now you got me thinking about building a bottle washer tree: Stick all your bottles on, hook tree up to hose in back yard, turn it on to blast em clean, then turn it off to let em drip dry. Probably end up being more trouble than it's worth...

Click to expand...

Watch your water pressure...or maybe not!! Water propelled multiple beer bottle rocket launcher!!! INCOMING!!!! :rockin:

Runyank said:

Do the screws try to bend or shear off at all?

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Nope, the pvc pipe is thick and hard enough to hold the screws in there very tightly

I would be a bit concerned about the drywall screws. I am always breaking them. I already have a bottle tree, but if I were going to attempt this, I would think about using some heavier gauge screws. Stainless screws are pricey, but 80 of them would probably add $5 to the cost, and would be worth it in my opinion. I have a bunch of heavy bottles (1L fliptops e.g.).

One other thing, if you staggered the pegs 45 degrees on each row, you could fit a lot more in there by cutting your vertical spacing. You might think 60 or 80 bottles is enough, but I guarantee you it will be filled at some point .

As far as the drip tray....why not a water heater pan. You know the cheap aluminum one that catch the water in case you water heater leaks.... Great project!!!

Are those 2" drywall screws or bigger ones?

Good idea. The only things I would change are:
1) Use SS screws instead of drywall screws
2) Add some type of dip tray
3) Stagger the screws in the main post ( you will be able to fit more this way)
4) And possibly use a larger diameter PVC central tube so you don't have a 6 foot bottle tree when you want to bottle two batches at once

Here are some more pictures and details on this build:



The "trunk" of the tree is 5 foot long PVC pipe 1/8 inch thick, 1 and 5/8 inches outside diameter ( I ended up cutting the trunk down to 4 foot 2 inches, 5 foot is too tall). The "branches" are 10 foot long pvc tubing 1/2 inch diameter. The hole in the tubing should be big enough to slide over the drywall screws



I bought three 10 foot lengths of this tubing and cut them into 6 inch sections. 60 branches for 60 bottles.



The screws are 2 inch drywall screws with a tight thread (screw theads close together) and they are about two inches apart. I predrilled the holes for the screws at a 45 degree angle. I broke two drill bits doing this because I started drilling with small bits. Use a bit that is as close to, but smaller than, the drywall screw diameter as possible and you should be ok. I screwed them into the pipe just far enough to where they were in there good and tight, but not too far in because they still need to support the tubes and bottles.



I started the screws 6 inches from the bottom to leave room for the stand, which is just 1 foot long 2x4s nailed together..see next post for picture at my limit of 4 pics for this post

Here's the base...I just placed four 1 foot long 2 x 4s around the pipe and nailed them together. the pipe slides in and out for easy transport and storage



I cut my "trunk" down to 4 foot 2 inches. I could cut it shorter. It holds sixty bottles now and its still tall enough for me to add another 24 bottles if i wanted to. I only got 49 bottles out of my first 5 gallon batch, so i dont think i'll be adding any more. I do like the room I have left at the top because i can pick up the whole thing and move it around bottles and all.




I hope I covered all your questions, so far. If not just let me know. Hope to see your own bottle tree DIY project pictures on this thread!!

I'm going to start this build tomorrow as I have a ton of 4" and 2" pvc left over from a plumbing job. I think the only thing I'll add is some Gorilla glue or epoxy to the screws before I place them in for extra strength as I use the 16oz flip top bottles. Great DYI!!!! :rockin:

spitfire said:

I was just getting ready to post about people making their own bottles trees after I found out they are $50+ Nice work. So how do you sanatize it? Just wash each PVC part in sanatizer before using it? I guess I know what I am working on this weekend although mine won't be as big as yours, I don't think.

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I washed the tubes and soaked them in star san for a minute before I put them on the tree to dry

Hammy71 said:

As far as the drip tray....why not a water heater pan. You know the cheap aluminum one that catch the water in case you water heater leaks.... Great project!!!

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now there's a good idead.Or maybe one of those aluminum oven drip trays they sell... like you use when you bake a turkey

s3n8 said:

I would be a bit concerned about the drywall screws. I am always breaking them. I already have a bottle tree, but if I were going to attempt this, I would think about using some heavier gauge screws. Stainless screws are pricey, but 80 of them would probably add $5 to the cost, and would be worth it in my opinion. I have a bunch of heavy bottles (1L fliptops e.g.).

One other thing, if you staggered the pegs 45 degrees on each row, you could fit a lot more in there by cutting your vertical spacing. You might think 60 or 80 bottles is enough, but I guarantee you it will be filled at some point .

Click to expand...

Another good idea...like a spiral staircase. cool

Almost anything would work for the dip tray. You could use the lid to those rubbermaid storage containers. They have a lip on them and it would hold all the water in, that's what I will be using.

As far as the drywall screws, they are fine, really no reason to upgrade to SS screws. I would say it would be better to use a longer drywall screw than upgrade to SS

Alright I was able to put together this bottle tree based on knightshift's design. The only difference was that I used a 5ft piece of 4" pipe (already had such a big pipe laying around), extended the base 2x4's by a foot and placed the screws in a descending spiral. I spaced them far enough apart to accomodate both 12oz and 16oz bottles and was able to place 90 pegs.

Total time 2 hrs.

Thanks for the idea knightshift!!!

https://cdn.homebrewtalk.com/gallery/data/1/medium/tree_002.jpg


https://cdn.homebrewtalk.com/gallery/data/1/medium/tree_001.jpg

donshizzles said:

Alright I was able to put together this bottle tree based on knightshift's design. The only difference was that I used a 5ft piece of 4" pipe (already had such a big pipe laying around), extended the base 2x4's by a foot and placed the screws in a descending spiral. I spaced them far enough apart to accomodate both 12oz and 16oz bottles and was able to place 90 pegs.

Total time 2 hrs.

Thanks for the idea knightshift!!!

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You're welcome!

donshizzles said:

https://cdn.homebrewtalk.com/gallery/data/1/medium/tree_002.jpg


https://cdn.homebrewtalk.com/gallery/data/1/medium/tree_001.jpg

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Now all you need are some "branches" and "leaves" on your tree!

Thanks for posting this, great setup.

knightshift said:

Now all you need are some "branches" and "leaves" on your tree!

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Yeah I'm heading to Lowes today to pick up some 1/2" pvc. The have 10' for $.89 so the total cost to me for this build......$2.93!!!! :rockin:

Great idea.

What if you were to bond the branches to the main trunk and cap the top of the trunk? You could place the entire thing in a deep drip pan, get a cheap sump pump from harbor freight and pump sanitizer through the branches. It would drain through the bottles and back into the pan and circulate itself. I may try this myself... You could even cap the branches and perforate them so the sanitizer sprays inside the bottles.

I am currently building mine. Note to anyone planning on building there own. I bought 1/2 in pvc. I cut it all up with out testing to see if the bottles would fit over it. So now i have 80 6 inch pieces of 1/2 I.D. pvc. So you need to make sure that the pvc you buy has an O.D. of 1/2 inch.

Oh well that's why i should have checked before i cut. Back to the hardware store.