Making cuts in my newly finished basement--need a game plan!

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burntfoot

Member
Joined
Aug 6, 2017
Messages
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Location
Dirty Jersey
Hi guys

I am in the middle of finishing my basement to add additional living space in my townhouse. So as of now I have my whole cellar in boxes in the living room (wife loves it lol). My issue is that after seeing the layout I will have a lot less storage space for my bottles then what I had previously.

My questions are
Has any one had to downsize since starting a cellar?
How do you make "cuts"?
I bought most all stuff with the idea of enjoying it.

I also will be starting to keep track of what I have in my cellar ... I have heard of some programs like Cellar HQ, is that the best to use (I rather not do plan excel)

Any help would be great since I will have to start to come up with a game plan.

thanks!
 
Hi guys

I am in the middle of finishing my basement to add additional living space in my townhouse. So as of now I have my whole cellar in boxes in the living room (wife loves it lol). My issue is that after seeing the layout I will have a lot less storage space for my bottles then what I had previously.

My questions are
Has any one had to downsize since starting a cellar?
How do you make "cuts"?
I bought most all stuff with the idea of enjoying it.

I also will be starting to keep track of what I have in my cellar ... I have heard of some programs like Cellar HQ, is that the best to use (I rather not do plan excel)

Any help would be great since I will have to start to come up with a game plan.

thanks!
I'll be the first to tell you to start drinking. Best way to thin a cellar is to consume it. Seems pretty simple to me.
 
I had an all day BBQ with some friends, brought out a ton of bottles and we drank, some people took bottles home that they wanted to try and I was set.....then I won the 13 Run Pool and got 28 new boxes of beer....back to square one.

I bought a dining room buffet table that has a ton of storage underneath it, that's where my beer is going for now.
 
I'll be the first to tell you to start drinking. Best way to thin a cellar is to consume it. Seems pretty simple to me.
^ this, and be adamant about not buying another beer until you get it to the watermark you set for the cellar.

Did this earlier this year and I can safely say my cellar consists of a couple shelves in my beer fridge. Dats it.
 
I don't know how much you have, but start by earmarking a certain number of bottles (50 bottles, 100 bottles, 10 cases, whatever you realistically have space for) that have potential to age a little longer, or that you want to save.

Then take all of the others, and load up your fridge. Drink those, and stop worrying about saving every last beer for sharing or for a special occasion. And commit to not buying anymore beer until those are gone.
 
Hi guys

I am in the middle of finishing my basement to add additional living space in my townhouse. So as of now I have my whole cellar in boxes in the living room (wife loves it lol). My issue is that after seeing the layout I will have a lot less storage space for my bottles then what I had previously.

My questions are
Has any one had to downsize since starting a cellar?
How do you make "cuts"?
I bought most all stuff with the idea of enjoying it.

I also will be starting to keep track of what I have in my cellar ... I have heard of some programs like Cellar HQ, is that the best to use (I rather not do plan excel)

Any help would be great since I will have to start to come up with a game plan.

thanks!

I had an all day BBQ with some friends, brought out a ton of bottles and we drank, some people took bottles home that they wanted to try and I was set.....then I won the 13 Run Pool and got 28 new boxes of beer....back to square one.

I bought a dining room buffet table that has a ton of storage underneath it, that's where my beer is going for now.

I was so going to offer my services....but Jersey is to f'ing far away. Rock31, you should be running a constant .10 with all the beer you have.
 
I was so going to offer my services....but Jersey is to f'ing far away. Rock31, you should be running a constant .10 with all the beer you have.

I almost have it all unpacked in the new place, I will try and get a shot of the bottles once I am done.

All the cans are gone, that was a long, blurry two weeks, never drank so much in my life.
 
So when I started out with the whole craft beer thing I quickly realized that I didn't know what was good and what wasn't... To me

I went to a bottle shop and just bought a bunch of stuff to taste. Did that often. Then found out about bottle releases and limited offerings and what not. Bought all that I could. Started going to every release/event and bought stuff just age. It was great.

One day I realized my cellar wasn't big enough but kept on buying stuff because it was available. After that I started noticing I was "shaping" a palate and enjoyed saisons and sours more than anything else. By now though my cellar was 300+ bottles. My actual cellar holds about 100. I decided I had to get rid of all the bottles that kept getting pushed to back of the fridge time and time again.

I made a bunch of boxes containing 8-12 bottles and ran a BiF in a local facebook group. I asked for people who volunteer and could prove that they do to step up and claim a box. Brought the cellar to around 150 bottles which is where I try to keep it now. It felt good to do this and the people were really appreciative. Sure you could get wasted with your friends but you can do that anyway. I suggest you go for karma, it's quick and effective.

TL;DR Run a BiF man, feels good to make people happy and usually comes back to you tenfold
 
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