Compact Circular Beer Carrier

thingiverse

I don't have much space for storage at home, so I've always hated the bulkiness of traditional beer trays. Recently, while I was bored and thirsty at the same time, I decided to design a more compact version. This new tray holds bottles by gripping them around their necks just below the head. Since the bottle heads typically have a larger diameter than the sections right below them, the bottles can't slip out downwards. The clamps are spaced far enough apart so that there's air between each bottle body. Not all beer bottles are created equal, of course. I'm focusing on 0.5-liter bottles and aiming to cover the most common shapes in Germany: longneck type (Beck's, Warsteiner, Jever), NRW type (Franziskaner), and Euro type (Augustiner). The longneck type fits safely with some extra room, while the NRW type fits tightly. Unfortunately, the Euro type doesn't fit at all. I've tried modifying the design to accommodate those bottles, but getting them out of the clamps without breaking the seal is impossible. Your mileage may vary with other brands and sizes. When loading the tray with fewer than six bottles, make sure to balance their positioning as much as possible. For example, if you load three bottles, leave an empty clamp between each one. With two bottles, load them on opposite sides of the tray. The easiest way to load bottles is to push them straight through the clamps from the bottom up. To unload them, grab the bottle body and pull it outwards like a lever. As a German who's also an engineer designing something related to beer, I'm fulfilling a lot of clichés here. But oh well. Cheers!