TL;DR: If you're looking for a high density flavor storage solution, try jewelry trays. See picture.
Once your collection grows past 50 flavors, it becomes a struggle to efficiently find the flavor you are looking for without a good organization. Until recently, I stored my flavors upright, next to each other, so I couldn't read the labels... You've probably all been there.
I thought long and hard how to improve the situation. "High density storage cabinet" and "flat file drawer" are interesting keywords in this context, but I found most of the solutions too expensive, too heavy, or over-engineered. All I really needed were "stackable trays", and jewelery trays seemed a good off the shelf solution. And they are relatively cheap, under $10 a piece, and conveniently available off of Amazon.
So I bought a couple and transferred my flavors. I'm quite happy with the results. Finding flavors is very quick, and when stacked, they don't take up much space. See here:
https://i.imgur.com/7MFLbNzr.jpg
Specifically, I bought trays with 1.5 inches depth (interior depth more like 1.3 inches) which seems ideal since they can also hold the bigger 15ml and 30ml bottles. 1 inch is enough for most 10ml flavors though. The cool thing is they can be mixed if from the same company, and these jewelry trays seem pretty standardized.
What do you think?
I'd be worried about leaks if they're going to be on their side like that. Especially the wizardlabs glass bottle on the left. I lost an entire bottle of bergamot that size due to a leak. I'll never get that scent out of my head.
But it looks like it's working. Maybe lay down a layer or two of paper towels just in case.
I am a little worried about leaks. Let's see how it goes.
I organize most of my flavors in a matrix style setup. The 10ml I keep in an old wooden box cover with cords stapled to the sides and labels from A-L on one side and 1-17 on the other. So every flavor has a uniquely identifiable spot that I track as location in the mixing software I use (http://www.diyjuicecalculator.com/). As the location can be shown for each flavor while mixing, finding a concentrate is fast. For 30ml I use small strips of carton to separate the compartments in a carton box, also with labels on both sides. This however requires the box to be nearly full (or you need to organize the bottles so that every row and column has at least 2 bottles) to be stable. The 100ml I keep in a lasercut box with holes for the bottles and small test tubes where I keep the pipettes for each bottle. Also with labels on both sides obviously. Maybe it gives you some inspiration :) I can post some pictures when I'm at home if you like.
I built my own wall rack out of 2 x 3/4” pine. I drilled 1” holes for the bottles with a Forstner bit.
I realize not every one has 4 feet of wall space in their basement to devote but it works for me. My current rack holds about 200 bottles.
Maaan, I wish I could dedicate a whole wall to my flavors lol.
I used to have them all inside a cabinet but I had way to many flavors for it to actually work.
I recently grabbed some pine boards and popped some shelves on the wall. Each flavor house has its own shelf and I keep all my duplicates in a storage box under my desk. This will probably suffice until my next flavor order.
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https://i.imgur.com/2bmqf6Z.png
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Nice pic! I went through four iterations of racks before arriving at this one.
It didn’t take me long to realize that I needed groups of flavors rather than just an alphabetical list. I know it doesn’t look it but I have about 15 different groups of flavors on this board.
To deal with duplicate bottles I have a box that holds the new bottle. When I get a flavor order I go through my existing bottles and put a black dot with a sharpie. It helps me know if I have another bottle waiting when I’m just mixing “what can I make “ recipes.
I also have a box I just started of seldom used flavors as I have no more wall space to expand.
I have more of these than my girlfriend. They work great, and not just for flavors, I have one for all my spools of wire, pliers and stuff for rebuilding.
Thanks for sharing this. I have been using lipstick racks for my 10Ml bottles for years, but as I have in the last few months transitioned over to buying a lot of stuff in 30 Ml bottles as my "customers" have narrowed to a few favourite blends, I am back to a shoe box and having to get everything out and lined up before I mix. I am going to give this a try as that will save loads of time in setup and breakdown.
I simply use Tupperware. As soon as I get a new flavor, I assign a number to it and use spot of masking tape to mark it on the cap. I then use that number in the name of the flavor in my recipe software. When I use a recipe, it gives me the ingredient and the number I assigned.