I'm in the middle of reorganizing my garage so I can move my car in there for the winter. I'm looking at two very large boxes of homebrew equipment. Bungs, tube, water additives, beer labels, carboys, and the like. I'm wondering if there is a better way to organize my brew gear than just in large boxes. How do you guys keep things organized. It's time for some of you type A brewers to show off some pics.
I'm not Type A, mostly lazy and sloppy, but I keep most of my stuff semi-organized. There is a heated back room between our garage and the boarding kennel that we own, with a set of non-used stairs (to M.I.L. apt). I stack pretty much everything on those stairs or hang it on hooks in the stairwell. I highly recommend hanging as much stuff as you can on hooks - almost no effort required, it's out of the way and you know where it is.
I'm fortunate to have a dedicated workshop for brewing in the basement that has loads of shelves, drawers, hooks, etc for equipment. It also has a dual sink and walk out double doors that lead right into the driveway where I brew.
I normally keep most stuff in either the boxed fermenting/ bottling buckets ( the box the came in when I got the kit) or one of a couple of Home Depot buckets. My pots nest nicely together (30qt talk, 32qt short and huge one.) Carboys and kegs live nearby, carboy live in milk crates for easier transport, and if I can devse a tie in attempt (or get around to it) they can stack on sides when not full.
I keep my equipment in a hopeless mess in the cellar. Finding things can be a major chore, but putting them away is easy.
Keggle, mash tun, burners sit on a shelf and/or mesh together when they can in the backyard shed. Hoses and other 'wet' stuff is stored in the Ale Pail. Ingredients are stored in cabinets behind the bar. Big Rubbermaid storage bin holds everything else - pump, mill, scale, stirrers, thermometers, etc. If I ever clear out the garage, I'd like to build a 'proper' brew house there. I should add that a checklist is absolutely essential when taking my brewery on the road - group brew sessions, Big Brew Day, for example.
I bought a deep, rectangular Rubbermaid bin at Home Depot (can't remember the size). It has a lid and I keep everything but fermenters, carboys or bottles in there. It also doubles as a "sanitation tank" on brew day.
