When we moved last June, it was under less than optimal conditions. Recall that we were actually homeless for about two weeks while we waited for our new place to close. While it was really more like camping than being truly homeless, but we didn't actually have a home during that time... This unexpected turn of events led to a less than organized move - we had stuff squirreled away everywhere: my parents', my in-laws', three storage units. When we finally got to move into our house, we put most of our stuff into the garages.
The first garage to get cleaned out was the spare - the "shop". This was mostly because it was where the overflow went, and most of that was stuff that needed to go into the house (the main garage was full of yard tools, bikes, wagons, shelving units and stuff from our last garage). This is a bit of a sore subject with my wife: her Volvo is still parked outside, while all 4 motorcycles and my Landcruiser are in the spare garage. Hey, it just worked out that way, right?
Since Christmas, I have been gradually moving brewing stuff from the main garage into the spare, which will be a combination shop & brewing space (which my wife is calling my "man cave"). A couple of weeks ago, I inventoried most of my empty glassware an organized that onto shelves. At the same time, I reorganized all of my brewing bins, and got them stacked up neatly. And I cleaned out my kegerator (a converted chest freezer with a condensation/sweat problem - that will be another post entirely! ;-), and made a spot for it as well. Last weekend, I temporarily mounted the dartboards (one for adults and one for boys) on the back of a set of wall lockers.
I have been using the main garage for lagering, cold crashing, and conditioning my beers this winter... This is mostly because it is more convenient since I've mostly been brewing on my deck, and it has been chilly and I'm a bit lazy. And I have been using it for the cool storage of my drinking supply (also out of convenience/laziness). My wife would really like the treadmill and her car in the garage - which is totally fair (it would be a bit embarrassing to have lived here a year and not have her car in the garage). So tonight, I got the last of the beer stuff out of the main garage.
While the boys threw darts, I borrowed a wagon from them, and began carting stuff over. First, I moved 3 carboys (1x Classic American Pilsener, 1x American IPA, and 1x RyePA) and a couple of 1 gallon lager starters - that was 2 trips by wagon! The kids thought it was hilarious (I was muttering under my breath, because the wagon didn't turn or maneuver very well with all that heavy beer in it)! And they kept pretending like they were going to hit me with darts as I wheeled by.
That actually turned out to be the easy part... My "beer shelf" was full of a combination of beers and empties, and the floor around it also had quite a bit of beer. I found quite a few six packs that I've been aging (like 5 years worth of Sierra Nevada Bigfoot, 4 years of Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale, and several of my own homebrews). I organized my empties, and got them over - but I didn't want to mess up my inventory, so they're off to the side and not shelved. At this point, I realized that I hadn't checked the dinner - I ran in, and things were OK!
I tackled the beer from on and around the 7' shelf next, which took about 4 or 5 trips. There was quite an impressive pile around my kegerator... But it was time for dinner. We all took a break and headed in... After dinner I did get the shelf moved over, but I did not get it loaded up with beer because I need to move a few boxes of language materials first...
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