Second fermentation, Storage

[Jarrd]

Just getting started with brewing,  where does everyone store their beer bottles after the brewing is finished and it’s secondary time especially in winter as needs to be within a certain temp 

[Captain 3 Droids]

13 hours ago, Jarrd said:

Just getting started with brewing,  where does everyone store their beer bottles after the brewing is finished and it’s secondary time especially in winter as needs to be within a certain temp 

I stored mine in milk crates or card board boxes. It’s good if you can maintain an ambient temperature of 16C to 20C however high temperatures won’t hurt but kept under 24C whilst secondary carbonation (generally 2 weeks) occurs.

If the area where the bottles are stored is very cold you can store in a cupboard or put a blanket over the crates/boxes.

[Thagomizer]

I store my bottles in sturdy plastic file crates designed for hanging folders.  They are designed to accommodate ether letter-size or legal-size documents.  You will need to cut some cardboard dividers to separate the bottles.  These crates will accommodate 740 ml PET bottles or 500 ml (one pint) swing-top bottles. (However, I cap my swing-top bottles.)  I stack them up to six crates high.  So far, 12 crates in two stacks.

I have included a photo of a loaded file crate with capped swing-top bottles and a file with instructions for cutting the partitions.  (Sorry, the measurements are in inches rather than centimeters.)

I hope this helps.

[Captain 3 Droids]

Here in Australia those crates are called “milk crates”. It’s what milk bottles/cartons are delivered in to stores etc.

Thanks for partition info.

[Thagomizer]

You may wonder why the cardboard partitions?  Although I have not had a priming-sugar mishap in over 50 years, I wanted to assure that the potential results of such an event would be mitigated.

That ancient event occurred when my bride and I were starving graduate students living in cheap university housing.  I had bottled a 5-gallon batch of hard cider in recycled screw-top beer bottles (big mistake).  We then went on a three-day holiday to visit my family in South Texas.  We turned off the expensive (and inefficient) air cooling system on the house and then travelled to enjoy our visit.  This was in the Texas summer with 100F (38C) temperatures.  

On our return, I noticed a pungent aroma of fermented apple juice.  And then heard a dull thud of a bottle explosion.  The bottled cider was stored in a walk-in pantry.  I quickly realized what had happened but was afraid to open the door to the pantry.  I turned up the air conditioning to lower the temperature as much as I could, but the muffled explosions continued.

After a few hours, I dared to open the pantry and started mopping.  We salvaged what possessions we could.  Actually, there was little of value in that pantry due to our then meager finances.

A few years later, I graduated and released the property back to the university.  On the exit inspection, I pointed out that the embedded glass shards in the sheet rock walls of the pantry were a nice decoration.  They glowed when light was shined upon them.