My newly discovered bottle storage unit...

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-TH-

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is a legal size filing cabinet. It fits 10 6-packs per drawer perfectly for a grand total of 240 bottles per cabinet. This one is an old Steelcase of good quality so it handles the weight of full bottles quite well. I love the fact I can store so many bottles in such a small footprint but also have good access to any of my batches.

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EDIT 1-12-10:

Just picked up this 3-drawer 42" wide lateral file at the Herman Miller factory outlet store for a STEAL at $40. Works awesome!

Of course my boy Frankie just had to get in the pictures...

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If I did something like that and was working from home, I could only imagine the look on my customer's face when I opened up a file cabinet only to produce bottles and bottles of homebrew...
 
Great idea!

Question: Did you attach it to the wall behind the cabinet? I have had cabinets that get tippy when the top drawer is heavy and opened to the full extent. I think many cabinets have mounting holes in the back that can be accessed when the top drawer is opened or removed.

It was really suck to have it tip over full o' bottle (empty or full).
 
Great idea!

Question: Did you attach it to the wall behind the cabinet? I have had cabinets that get tippy when the top drawer is heavy and opened to the full extent. I think many cabinets have mounting holes in the back that can be accessed when the top drawer is opened or removed.

It was really suck to have it tip over full o' bottle (empty or full).

No I didn't but thats a good idea. My thought was to make sure that atleast two drawers have full bottles in them at all times - just one more reason to keep the pipeline full! :rockin:

IrregularP, I'll check the interior drawer height tonight. How tall is a 22oz'er?

Evil, "Bomb Shelter" - I like it!
 
Cool. But you've rendered your pencil sharpener useless. :D

Yes! I have to move the filing cabinet over to the Brewery side of the room! It was in here because it got booted from the other room (new fridge) so I was going to use it for tools/home supplies. I never put anything in it, I even had some batches of beer on top in boxes until one day I decided to see how they would fit in the drawers - HELLO!

When looking for one, keep in mind this is a LEGAL size cabinet, not letter size like most of them are. They might work too but I don't know how many the bottles will fit.

I will measure the drawers tonight, I actually have 6 legal filing cabinets total of various mfr's so I will measure them all and report back.
 
Here are the INSIDE drawer measurements of my Steelcase:

15-3/8"W x 26-1/2"D x 10-5/8"H

I don't have any 22 oz bottles but I'm guessing that would not be tall enough.

The other 5 legal filing cab's that I have (HON, Shaw Walker, another Steelcase, and 2 unknown) all measure approx. the same, except the HON was only 15" wide and I would say 15-1/4 is the minimum needed to hold 2 six packs side by side the long way.
 
Mine was headed out the door, already had the drawers primed for the garbage. Thank god garbage day is Monday. Codoes! :rockin::rockin::mug::ban:
 
Oh yeah! That's great. The UNC campus near me has a monthly surplus sale and I'm sure I can pick up one of these cheap! That would totally clear up my reloading bench again.
 
And they lock, perfect for those of us with roommates and/or children that might want to get their hands on a few brews.
 
Pretty soon someone will be lining it with styrofoam & piping in some chilled air. I can see it now "DIY file cabinet fridge"
 
Pretty soon someone will be lining it with styrofoam & piping in some chilled air. I can see it now "DIY file cabinet fridge"


No doubt. I wonder if maybe a fire safe would work well for this - probably wouldn't need additional insulation.
 
Very nice. I see "Office Themed Microbrewpubs" in the future...people sitting at tables that look like desks, servers in sexy officewear, beer in refrigerated file cabinets...
 
Nice! I am going straight to Craigslist.

And it sets a goal, I must fill a filing cabinet with beer.
 
Not fortunate enough to have the four drawer unit, but I do have two, two drawer cabinets in the basement holding some wire and misc. stuff that will now be removed to replaced with BEER! :ban:

Thing is, I have not bottled any beer to date. Guess it's time to start huh!

Salute! :mug:
 
Thanks TH. Took me all of 3 days to acquire one for nothing. Mine came for the hospital. I mentioned your idea to the wife and she said "hey, we have 2 to get rid of". Lucky me. Mine's a hair smaller, but I can fit full cases (24-16 oz returnable in the box) in each drawer with wiggle room. and it's just as deep as the fridge it sits next too. Great space saver.
 
I had to bump this post as a reminder for everyone that has a hard time finding room to store bottles. Last week our guest bedroom was full of rubbermaid totes. Each one only able to hold 1 case of bottles, and the lids not strong enough to stack totes on top of each other.

This week, we have one filing cabinet (4 drawers tall) holding 6 cases of booze! This is saving us so much space. And I've got 2 more cabinets in the garage waiting to be filled.

Great idea -TH-!!
 
Yeah i have been trying to find them in the free section on craigslist. they always go quick, i think people are scrapping them.

I really need one.
 
Interesting--- a couple of 2 drawer file cabinets and an old hollow core door and a guy would have a nice little brewing workbench.
 
That is an awesome idea. I know my equipement and finished products been slowly taking over our walk in closet.

I wonder if my wife could get rid of some of her clothes? lol
 
I love this idea! This cabinet isn't legal sized, but was only $15 on Craigslist and located just a few blocks away from my house. My only regret is that 22oz bombers won't fit. No biggie, most of my bottles are 16 or 16.9 oz anyhow. My tall flip-tops squeak by with about 1/8" of clearance!

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