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i love my bottle tree and it loves me. but the best solution otherwise is the old plyboard with appropriate sized holes.

dead easy and cheap as....

A few scrap bits of pine with holes drilled in it works fine for me.
Holds 33 bottles.
Cheap, easy to make, can be carried full of bottles & stores easy.
This thing has now been stained & varnished for protection.

Redsticks,

You've got some nice longnecks there. Are they the old CUB crown seals?

Oliver

yeah mate, they're the only kind I use.
Allways on the look out for the old ones to up my collection.
Last year I found about 30 of the old VB stubbies too up the bush. Just starting to scrub, soak, scrub, soak them & they're comming up great.

On the way to see Geoff down the Surf Coast one weekend we pulled off the freeway for a toilet stop for the dog and me. As I was standing there doing what blokes do I noticed two of the old crown seal CUB bottles, as pictured above, in the bushes. Needless to say, I hopped over the fence and grabbed them.

God knows how long they'd been there. I'd estimate those bottles haven't been used for at least 15, and maybe 20 years?

But with a soak and a scrub they were like new.

Cheers,

Oliver

Sorry for what might be an obvious question from NZ...

Do you guys in AUS not get the crates of 12 x 750ml 'swappa' bottles?

They look a lot like the longnecks you mention?

And are perfect for HB, thick glass, crown seal and readilly available for at most $5 for 12 in the wooden crate... can often be picked up for less!

I've never heard of 'swappa' bottles...

$5 for 12 in a crate is great.
Turn them upside down in the crate & you won't need a drying tree/rack

Yep exactly, I just clean and invert in the crate on a clean tea towel:

This link shows a decent photo of what they are...

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Home-living/Li ... 645543.htm

One downside is having to buy some average NZ beer (lion red etc) to get them at $30+$4 deposit for the bottles (for 12)...

However its easy to find them empty elsewhere for $free or $5 or so a crate... perfect.... might cost a bit for you guys to ship to AUS though!

Kind of makes up for the limited ammount of HB supplies available in NZ!

Cheers

SUBREW

Subrew,

We used to have these refillable bottles here in Oz but, alas, they now just crush up old bottles them up and make new ones out of them. You could never buy them though (except on the sly).

In the final days of the XXXX crown seal bottles in the mid 1990s you used to be able to return a box of empty bottles to the bottleshop and get a discount off your next carton.

South Australia is the only state, to my knowledge, that has a refund system on bottles whereby you pay an extra 5c per bottle then get that money back if you can be bothered returning it to a recycling centre.

Cheers,

Oliver

sorry to hijack the thread, but SUBREW, have you tried any of the macs kits?

i brought one back from my trip to NZ and is one of the best kits i have made.

Tripple Malt Dark was the one i got...only made 11 litres which made me a sad panda. But tasted bloody brilliant

You can somtimes find a bottle tree on E-bay, search, homebrew, and lots of nice things can be found.

Agree with Daron, Chris & BeerFrenzy. The orange plastic bottle tree is fantastic. Bought one in Kingaroy (QLD) last week & used it at the weekend. Very very convenient, something I am willing to spill out a bit of dosh for.

No space for kegging, so have to bottle. The easier this becomes, the better, and the bottle tree certainly contributes.