[Steve]

My wife and have to move in a two of months. My wife found a place on the other side of town with a great detached garage with electricity and water.  She knew that she could sell it to me by calling the garage a brewery.  When we moved into our present house 5 years ago I brewed with simple equipment and one carboy.  Since then I've accumulated more and more equipment and stock.

I need some advice as to the best way to pack up the home brewery so that a moving company can schlep it (and the rest of our stuff) to the new house.  I have some ideas, but I'd love to get a range of suggestions to make this episode smarter, safer and smoother.

[phillamb168]

My wife and have to move in a two of months. My wife found a place on the other side of town with a great detached garage with electricity and water.  She knew that she could sell it to me by calling the garage a brewery.  When we moved into our present house 5 years ago I brewed with simple equipment and one carboy.  Since then I've accumulated more and more equipment and stock.

I need some advice as to the best way to pack up the home brewery so that a moving company can schlep it (and the rest of our stuff) to the new house.  I have some ideas, but I'd love to get a range of suggestions to make this episode smarter, safer and smoother.

Seems like the hardest thing to move will be the grain. What I've done is, what's not in 25 kilo sacks has been put into dogfood containers. Those would fit nicely in a couple cardboard boxes I'd guess. Do you bottle? If so then that's another thing entirely.

[tschmidlin]

When we moved ~30 minutes away I moved the brewing stuff myself, along with some other valuable/breakable stuff.  I'm sure they'd probably pay to replace anything they broke - as long as you notice that it is broken before it's too late to file a claim.

[dbarber]

When we moved we did it ourselves (only 20 minutes away), but all glass items (bottles, carboys, etc.) I put in the car, everything else went in the truck.  I made sure bottled beer went in the first load, and were put in the fridge for later trips. 

[Steve]

Seems like the hardest thing to move will be the grain. What I've done is, what's not in 25 kilo sacks has been put into dogfood containers. Those would fit nicely in a couple cardboard boxes I'd guess. Do you bottle? If so then that's another thing entirely.

I do bottle.  I thought of getting the new plastic corrogated boxes from C&W Crate, which I saw in BYO Mag. they can be wrapped in blankets and put on the truck, both empty and full. Hopefully the "full" inventory will be depelted by the move.  My move is looking to be 5 miles away.  Luckily, I've used up all but a few pounds all of my grain inventory so that's not a problem.  When I found out we needed to move, I halted any thought of grain replenishment.

With my new educational program, (restarting my career by going to Culinary shcool at Johnson & Wales in Providence, RI) I don't have the time to move anything myself. The move and the first week of classes will probably happen at the same time. My wife's schedule is hariy to with her business.  To aid in her sanity, I want to go compeletly with an insured mover who can replace any broken items.  I'll get quotes that will cover any of the breakage that could occur.

[bonjour]

They are capable of packing and moving everything.  I've even seen the Garbage (foodwaste) packed, wrapped, and moved.

[richardt]

Try visiting your local grocery store--they have tons of cardboard boxes.  I find the apple boxes to be perfect for moves as the size is more manuverable and the weight manageable (<30-40 lbs, even with textbooks).  Do try to get identical boxes, if possible--it makes them easier to stack and identify.

[Slowbrew]

The last time we moved (pre-brewery, pre-kids but state to state) we raided a printing company's dock before they broke down the copier paper boxes, with their permission of course.  I've never had such an easy time packing a moving van.  Almost every box exactly the same size.

Make sure an inform the moving company that they will be moving alcohol.  They may have issues with it (I don't know that they will but movers have weird rules about some things).

Pack everything well and label it fragile, if appropriate.  They won't pay for damage to glass items if you didn't label the boxes as fragile.

Good luck with the move and school.

Paul

[Will's Swill]

I've moved my gear many times, only losing one racking cane along the way.  Regular beer cases with dividers from your local beer shop will work fine for empty bottles, and you can get carboy boxes from your LHBS.  If you don't have a LHBS, just wrap the carboys in heavy bubble wrap made for moving.  I've done both, both work great, even with REALLY cheap movers.

[Jimmy K]

She knew that she could sell it to me by calling the garage a brewery. 

Get this written into the purchase contract.

[tankdeer]

Last year I moved from San Diego to Portland, ~1100 miles. This included moving my entire brewery, and lots of beer (full bottles, kegs, and yes, even full carboys). We ended up going with PODs, which means that we packed and loaded everything ourselves. Everything arrived completely unscathed. It's really not all that difficult to pack this stuff. Bottles went into normal cases, after all, that's how the distributors move beer. Empty carboys were wrapped in towels and placed in a secure spot where they wound't move. Full carboys were placed into empty buckets, carboy boxes, or milk crates, and packed with towels or other padding. Basically as long as none of this stuff is dropped, it should be fine.

I know you say you're busy, but take the extra time to pack this stuff yourself, and safely. Don't rely on the moving company to pack specialized items (brewery stuff, or otherwise). I'm sure you'll be driving to you new place more than a single time, and it's really not too difficult to place your more fragile stuff in the back seat of your car when you do. Hardly takes any time and gives you the extra piece of mind.