Cellaring Wine

BillMac · Post by **BillMac** » Thu Aug 30, 2007 9:37 pm

This may be a bit long. :oops:

Any advice will be welcome.?

I have approximately 250 bottles of good quality wine. Probably 3/4 red of which most are good to high quality, no ultra premium. I expect this to grow over the next few years towards 400 - 500.
My problem is I do not have a "proper" cellar. :oops:

One that keeps wine in the dark, cool and away from vibrations. At the moment the wines are in an unused bedroom's built-in wardrobe. The wardrobes walls are internal. The temperatures last summer in the wardrobe varied between approx. 18 - 26C. I measured this on a min. - max. thermometer which is, according to all that I have read on cellaring wine, far too high.
An obvious solution would be to buy a wine cabinet or two that can hold up to 500 wines. At around $6K :roll:

I have decided to build a cellar in the corner of my garage.
It will be built like a large Esky.
The outward facing walls and ceiling will be 75mm stud wall with polyurethane insulation. (The highest R rating) The inward facing walls will have 40mm polystyrene batts sandwiched against the existing plasterboard walls. These will all be cladded with 13mm plasterbord lining and fully sealed with expanding foam or silicon. The door will be 40mm MDF with 25mm polystyrene batts used as internal insulation and rubber seals. The existing concrete floor will remain as a temperature control. Hopefully the concrete being away from any sunlight will be at the ground temperature (whatever that is) and cool the cellar.
Any thoughts, criticisms or advice will heartily received
Bill

Soft Tail · Post by **Soft Tail** » Thu Aug 30, 2007 11:59 pm

Hi Bill, I did a similar type of setup (less the concrete floor) under my stairs. I used 40mm high density polurathane insulation which is the same as alot of the food transport truck bodies. I lined all walls, roof, floor and door and then covered all insulation with 4mm mdf panels also sealing around door edges. What happended was that the temperature fluctuations slowed down meaning instead of fluctuating 6-8 degrees C in a day it woud take 5 days. As I have a few good wines I decided to get a wine fridge and use under the stairs for cheapies. Interested to hear how yours goes. Good luck. Dave

Ian S · Post by **Ian S** » Fri Aug 31, 2007 4:56 am

Bill
Whilst you're doing your planning, grab Tyson Stelzer's little book 'Cellaring Wine' for $10 and it may well give you some good ideas.
regards
Ian

GraemeG · Post by **GraemeG** » Fri Aug 31, 2007 8:44 am

It sounds like you're on the way, but I still think you'll need some kind of active cooling unit. I know the back of the IGT Wine magazine has a lot of ads from people selling such solutions. For what must be around $10k of wine you're justified in dropping a grand or two on a decent unit. Even the insulating material will cost a few $$$.
Plus, building a small 'room' will give you capacity to expand to something sensible - 800-1000 bottles. And you may be able to dismantle and take it with you if you move.
cheers,
Graeme

Craig(NZ) · Post by **Craig(NZ)** » Fri Aug 31, 2007 9:42 am

i think it totally depends on budget. in nz i went for the wine fridge option for my top 100ish bottles and the rest suffer in auckland ambient temp which isnt too bad most of the year. id rather spend the $$ on the wine where possible instead of storage. i can imagine in aussie summer it would be a bit more worrying than what i face

DJ · Post by DJ » Fri Aug 31, 2007 12:20 pm

I have something similar. My garage 3/4 underground so I hope the insulation works even better. I put 100mm polystrene against the walls, then built stud wall with R2 batts plus plasterboard in and out. I had bought a Fondis for my last cellar and brought it with me. The garage varies between about 0 and 32 degrees over the year. Cellar varies about 4 degrees over the year - it claims it jumps a degree if I'm in there too long. I decided on a Fondis over a wine fridge as it was c$3K too keep the whole cellar steady. My main challenge now is remembering to get the reds out earlier enough during winter so they have time to warm up.

BillMac · Post by **BillMac** » Fri Aug 31, 2007 8:03 pm

Thanks for all the advice above. I will keep you posted on whats going on.
Thanks Bill

Wizz · Post by **Wizz** » Fri Aug 31, 2007 9:19 pm

Bill I have an R3 insulated room at the back of the garage cooled by a standard split system airconditioner set to 18 degrees. I'm not trying for perfect cellaring conditions but I'm doing what I can to take the sting out of the Brisbane summer. I'd recommend a cooling system of some sort, even if its just a $300 in-wall system. As Ian suggests Tysons book should be a good place to start,

Cheers

Andrew

BillMac · Post by **BillMac** » Fri Aug 31, 2007 9:48 pm

Just ordered "Cellaring Wine" By Tyson Stelzer $14.90 delivered home :lol: