Home Brew: A DIY Beer Brewing Organizer

Beerganized: Organizing a Home Brew Kit

AWESOME NEWS ALERT: My brother-in-law works for Dogfish Head and ROBERT PLANT went on a tour there yesterday! He actually got to meet him! Plant’s son, Logan, has a brewery in the UK called Beavertown Brewery, so they were checking out some craft brewing stateside. (Note the Captain America tee shirt!) I’m hoping it inspires Dogfish to make a craft brew in their honor! Seriously, there are so many great options for beer names: Golden God, Hed Zeppelin, Led Hopplin, Dogfish Led — or what about incorporating Beavertown’s branding? Beaver Head, Dam Fine Dogfish, Off-Centered Left Fielder — SO MUCH WIN!

Here’s a screenshot from their Instagram & Twitter feeds:

Craft brewing is awesome. We live near a ton of fantastic craft breweries, including Dogfish Head (of course!), 16 Mile, Iron Hill, and Fordham. We also love experimenting with recipes and brewing our own beer at home!

You know what we DON’T love?

The mess!! Brewing at home takes up a ton of space, and between the equipment, utensils, and ingredients, it can start to take over your whole house!

We needed an organizing solution that could:

• store all of our home brew stuff in one place
• withstand exposure to water & wet brewing tools
• give a visual reminder that we had all of our gear
• give us a designated place to keep our tools while we were using them or when we put them away
• keep everything safe & protected
• travel with us when we brew at a friend’s house

Our plan:

• Create a storage board to organize all of the little odds and ends
• Figure out how to fit everything into one plastic tub

Here’s what we made:

We measured out a piece of plexiglass to use as our storage board.  I wanted to attach everything with elastic bands, so I placed all of the brewing utensils on the board & decided where I wanted to attach the bands.

We drilled holes & cut up the elastic hair ties, tying the ends to hold them in place. Make sure you test your elastic to make sure the instruments fit through before you tie them off!

In order to make it SUPER easy to see where each piece belongs when we take it out, I added labels & traced the shape around each piece. Now everything is in one place & is easy to keep organized, and nothing is banging around in there when we travel.

Another space-saving tip? When you’re picking out your home brew containers, make sure that your carboy, fermenting bucket, and stainless steel brewing pot can all stack together!

So now, ALL of this:

Fits into THIS:

Problem. Solved.  We are BEERGANIZED!! (See what I did there?)

Total Cost to “Beerganize”: $15  (We already had the plexiglass, and it was $11 for the 35 gallon tub and $4 for the elastic hair bands.)

Bonus Tip: If you don’t have the space to keg your beer, save yourself some time when bottling.

• These flip-top Grolsch bottles eliminate the need for a capper altogether!
• Don’t have any swing tops? You can still save time on capping. Dogfish Head 750ml bottles are great because the labels come off easily & they hold a LOT more beer per bottle, which means fewer bottles need caps! Besides, a home brew is always better when you share it

How do you guys organize equipment for your hobbies?

P.S. I shared my link at OrgJunkie , The 36th Avenue , and here