disassembly of a bottle tree.

Hey gang! I bought a bunch of used equipment, and am excited to start brewing. I've got a question though.

I've managed to clean most of the equipment that I'll be using for the process. I'll begin sanitation procedures at the proper times, but I'm having a little trouble with this stinkin' bottle tree. It is one of the nice ones with the swivel base (I believe it's supposed to be 90 bottles but there's only 9 limbs with 9 bottles on each) so for now it's an 81 bottle bottle tree.

My question is this? Is there a way to disassmeble this puppy. I've managed to get the top 2 limbs off, but the bottom 7 are really stuck on there. Is there something that I'm missing for getting these things off. This equipment looks like it's been sitting in a shed for about 2 years. There's dirt in every nook and cranny and i would love to get this thing in pieces to assist in the cleaning process.

Good luck. I've got the same tree and never fully snapped it together because it is a pain to separate even if it has only been compressed with a bit of bottle weight.

I would say twist to get it off, but there is a notch to make sure that the layers are staggered, so that will be a no go. I would try a hot water soak to soften the plastic a bit.