Small Wine Room Project

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another great feature of foam is seals all the cracks which will keep your cold air in there.

A little late but, the more liquid/mass you have in there the more stable the temps will be...so more bottles, carboys, water jugs, trash cans...once that mass stabilizes the temps will be very steady. I would add foam board on the door too.
 
Hopefully, once you forget about what a messy, costly, PIA it was to install, you'll be glad it's there.

John, you captured my thoughts exactly. Plus I'll add one, being dressed up in a full Tyvek suit, goggles, mask, gloves and with the heat from the foam reactions plus our humidity yesterday it felt like I was spraying in a steam bath dark cave. That didn't help me or my attitude much as I was doing it.

I think my biggest lesson learned was that I moved too fast with the fan tip, but I couldn't see well enough to know that I wasn't getting the coverage I should have put down. Live and learn.
 
another great feature of foam is seals all the cracks which will keep your cold air in there.

A little late but, the more liquid/mass you have in there the more stable the temps will be...so more bottles, carboys, water jugs, trash cans...once that mass stabilizes the temps will be very steady. I would add foam board on the door too.

I think the sealing feature of spray foam is the biggest advantage. Aside from around the AC there shouldn't be any air leaks. And as you say, once I get the thermal mass of wine in there the temp should stay quite steady.

I'll be using an exterior insulated door and once I get it in I'll check my clearances and probably add an inch or two of foam board to the inside face. But I'll think about that at the make it pretty stage of the project, next week.

About the only uncertainty for me know is how to make the 43 year old basement floor look better without using a floor covering since I'm hoping for the concrete to provide the cooling effect for most of the year. Time to study up on concrete paint and hope I don't need to scrub the floor with muriatic acid first.
 
Another benefit of the room, I know where I'm going to go when we get our next Tornado Warning. Hopefully it will have plenty of wine in it by then.
 
I think the sealing feature of spray foam is the biggest advantage. Aside from around the AC there shouldn't be any air leaks. And as you say, once I get the thermal mass of wine in there the temp should stay quite steady.

I'll be using an exterior insulated door and once I get it in I'll check my clearances and probably add an inch or two of foam board to the inside face. But I'll think about that at the make it pretty stage of the project, next week.

About the only uncertainty for me know is how to make the 43 year old basement floor look better without using a floor covering since I'm hoping for the concrete to provide the cooling effect for most of the year. Time to study up on concrete paint and hope I don't need to scrub the floor with muriatic acid first.

As a commercial contractor, we do a lot of retail work and in that work, lots of polished concrete floors. You'd be amazed how much an old concrete floor can be polished and sealed to look really good. It's probably not a DIY project, but perhaps,you could consider it.........
 
I've completed my third coat of mud on the room, so now I wait. Hopefully tomorrow I can sand, prime and paint. I really want to get to putting the door on and AC unit in and seeing what happens. Soon.

While waiting for the mud to dry today I went ahead and modified the AC unit. Pic one is the front of the AC as it looks out of the box. I removed the two knobs and two screws holding the front of the unit on. Pic two shows the inside. Notice the wire going across. If my information is correct that is a temperature sensitive probe that will shut down the AC when the room hits somewhere in the low 60s. That's more than fine, but I want better control and if the AC doesn't run too much I may take her down to the promised land of 55.

I didn't want to remove the temperature sensor completely, just in case I'm wrong and need to put it back in place. So I unhooked it from the front fins (Pic 3) and repositioned it along the outside of the AC unit (Pic 4) taking advantage of a space in the frame where I can put the front on and not crimp the wire. As you can see I laid it across the left side of the chassis and then taped in place.

The theory for doing this is that by putting the probe outside the room the temp will never get cold enough for the switch to shut down the AC. Now I can plug the AC into my controller and use it to control the power to the unit. Since the AC will be, hopefully, in an always on mode then my controller will provide power to the AC when the temp is higher than my set range.

We shall see.

AC Mode Step 1 new AC.jpeg

AC Mod Step 2 showing thermo as received.jpeg

AC Mod Step 3 no thermostat.jpeg

AC Mod Step 4 thermo run to side.jpeg
 
Mike, thanks for sharing that. Good to have confirmation that this is the way to work it. Fortunately my probe wire is plenty long to get it out of the way.
 
Yesterday I got the drywall plaster sanded and cleaned up. Primed the room (first time using drywall primer, what great stuff that is). Then painted inside and out. Hook up the electrical, put the door on, installed the AC shelf and put the AC in. I tentatively fired it up just to make sure it's all working and the controller works well and the AC hums like a champ. Now I'm letting it air out for a couple days.

Next will be a test to see how long it takes to go from ambient to 65, then 60, and hopefully 55. Next phase of the test is to see how long it will hold that temp before the AC kicks in again. Of course the holding time should be much better once I get the wine moved in.

All that's left is trimming and cleaning up. Should be ready for wine by the weekend. As I said at the beginning, this isn't a fancy one and isn't meant to be. Just a functional walk in wine cooler that could hold 800 or so bottles and my wine barrel. I would love to do something like John is doing, he's doing some awesome work. But when you don't have the space you don't have the space. So it's industrial racks for me to maximize bottle count.

I hope this helps anyone else who is thinking of such a project. Final pics once I trim it and clean it up.
 
I did something like this in my basement, converting a 12 x 15 storage closet / sump pump room into my micro winery. You can see a walk through at https://youtu.be/O8PX3WJkFpg. I live in IL with 100 degree summers, but the basement is always 65 - 68 degrees without much need for AC.

My fermenters are a combination of 32 gallon Speidel, 18 gallon Tuff Tank, and some glass 5-6 gallon carboys. I can easily fit 250 gallons of fermenting capacity because I built up a top shelf that is tall enough to stack the 32 gallon fermenters above each other (makes gravity racking really easy). I can also fit 100 gallons under the stairwell pretty easily.

I used some nice vinyl sheet for flooring, which is pretty soft and super easy to clean. I'm way behind on my TTB license and all that, so for now I'm just giving wine away and drinking way to much :)
 
I ran a cooling test this evening. Ambient started at 70.4. It took 16 minutes to get to 60, and another 10 minutes to hit 55. Great to know that 55 is possible, but I will decide later if 55 or 60 is going to be my long term temp. 55 would probably require me to run the AC a bit in winter where 60 may not. Not sure if the difference is significant for aging as much as constancy throughout the year.

But that's for later. Right now I'm just happy that it's all working as planned.
 
I ran a cooling test this evening. Ambient started at 70.4. It took 16 minutes to get to 60, and another 10 minutes to hit 55. Great to know that 55 is possible, but I will decide later if 55 or 60 is going to be my long term temp. 55 would probably require me to run the AC a bit in winter where 60 may not. Not sure if the difference is significant for aging as much as constancy throughout the year.

But that's for later. Right now I'm just happy that it's all working as planned.

Glad to hear she went right down there! I was in the same place with my refrig. system, finally settled on 60, both for electricity cost as well as humidity. Room stays right around 70% at 60.
 
Last 'construction' piece was framing in and insulating the AC unit. I used window casing to make a slightly larger frame, rimmed the inside with foam tape for a friction fit and it fits perfectly. Then I filled the gaps with 2 layers of pipe insulation foam and she's ready for the racks and wine.

I made the window gap big on purpose in case I ever need to replace the unit.

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My wine room is finished. This weekend I built a shelf unit for my barrel and carboys and that finishes the job. Overall, I’m very pleased with it. The air conditioning and the controller seem to be working well and are maintaining a good temperature with only a few minutes an hour of run time. The Seville Wine Racks are a great way to store a lot of wine in a small space. My wooden bottle rack let’s me highlight those bottles I want to see the labels on and are in the queue for drinking. I’m also very happy with the shelves I build for my carboys. They can hold six, which means somewhere around 360 pounds. That’s something I don’t want to have come crashing down so I over designed it and like how it turned out. This room will also change how I make my wine. Now, as soon as I get them properly degassed and cleared I can get the carboys into the cooler while they await their turn in the Vadai rather than spending a year in the basement under airlock. But degassing is another story.

Since these threads stick around for a while I figure somebody may have a similar notion down the road. If you do, here is some information about the project.

The finished room is 5’ x 7’ inside, 2x4 construction on five sides, open concrete basement for thermal cooling on the floor. Insulation was spray closed cell foam. Mold resistant green board inside. An LED light with about 120W of light for 43W. Cheap 5K BTU window air conditioner, modified to avoid it turning itself off at cool temps, and controlled by a temperature controller that lets me set the target temperature and the number of degrees leeway I want it to have before it kicks on again. I added an indoor/outdoor thermometer by the door to keep me from going in and checking it all the time. I figure that this can hold about 500 bottles and 6 carboys.

The total cost was about $2,000. Insulation was the largest expense at $750. Aside from the controller, thermometer and Insulation kit, everything was purchased at Lowes or Home Depot. Here’s a gross breakdown:

AC: $135
Controller: $ 40
Insulation Kit: $750
30” Ex Door: $175
Lumber, drywall, electrical, paint etc: $600
2 Seville Racks: $200
Wood for carboy shelf: $100

The project took 4 weekends, and two weeks of evening work and I did it alone. For now, about the only change I would make would be to look harder to get a cost estimate from a professional insulation company. I didn’t do it this time because I was in hurry to get it done and didn’t know when I’d be ready for it and I thought I could do it well enough with a kit. I did an okay job, but I think a pro would do it much better, though I don’t know the cost and how many would do such a small project. Other than that I’m pleased with it. It’s certainly isn’t a showcase piece, but it’s functional and suits my space. If things ever change, the room becomes: 1., Tornado Shelter, 2., walk in closet, 3., indoor green house, 4., fancy indoor storage shed. Multipurpose :)

I hope this helps someone who was wondering about their options for storing wine.

outside door.jpg

center aisle inside.jpg

right side inside.jpg

left side inside.jpg

Controller.jpg

Thermometer.jpg
 
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I think we are using the same AC unit. I notice that while mine doesn't drip it does seem to collect water in the bottom of the pan and the fan seems to splash it a bit when it first comes on but nothing ever splashes out. Not sure if this is ok or not. Experienced anything similar?
 
I haven't noticed that, but mine's also in a place I don't hang around much. I also have my basement dehumidifier just a couple feet away from it so I imagine that it keeps the water in the tray pretty controlled.
 
AZMBTed...this has flung a urge on me. My "winery" is taking over my office space! I have an area attached to my shop that I could convert...think I would wind up with an area roughly 12 wide x 6 deep...maybe 8' if my wife's much loved riding mower will still fit! Part of me says do it now...the other part says wait until you retire and just convert the office...which is right next to a bathroom and I could have hot/cold water too.

Have great area upstairs that already has an A/C installed...I just don't want to be humping stuff up and down stairs in my old age!
 
AZMBTed...this has flung a urge on me. My "winery" is taking over my office space! I have an area attached to my shop that I could convert...think I would wind up with an area roughly 12 wide x 6 deep...maybe 8' if my wife's much loved riding mower will still fit! Part of me says do it now...the other part says wait until you retire and just convert the office...which is right next to a bathroom and I could have hot/cold water too.

Have great area upstairs that already has an A/C installed...I just don't want to be humping stuff up and down stairs in my old age!

I'm glad it gave you some ideas. Good luck deciding which way you want to go. I certainly agree that lugging carboys up and down stairs is not a pleasant thought, especially as we get older. 6x8 would be a great size. You could even have fancy display wall in a room that size.

Thinking about it and planning is half the fun.

Ted
 
Just an update on AC electrical costs. My cellar has about 300 bottles in it now along with 2 23L Vadai's and 2 6 gallon carboys. The basement temp is staying about 70 and 57% humidity. I have the cellar AC set at 59 with a 3 degree variance, so at 62 the AC comes on until the room gets back to 59. I also put in an ultrasonic humidifier, which is keeping the room at 60% humidity.

The AC runs about 3 minutes every 65 minutes. This model runs at 500W, so by my calculations with electrical and distribution costs of $.13/KW I calculate that my AC is using about $.07 in electricity a day. This is my early fall cost.

My late summer cost was about $.13 a day. The basement temp was about 76 degrees then. Also, with the AC running more in the summer my humidifier was keeping it at 53%. With less AC time now the humidity is able to build up more and less is drawn out in the few minutes the AC runs.

I'm expecting my winter costs to drop below $.05.

So far I'm very happy with the cellar and haven't thought of anything I would change in the design.
 
I'm 14 months into my wine cellar and I wouldn't change a thing. The window AC unit and Inkbird are a fantastic combination. I've got over 400 bottles in it now along with 2 full vadai 23L barrels and 5 carboys.

My wine making spree of the last 2 years has paid off and I'm at the point where I'm starting to open my daily drinkers with 18-21 months of age on them. I've got to say, something magical seems to happen to wine at that age. At least for me that's where my Eclipse Reds really change and take on a full fledge wine taste and feel, and even a decent bit of nose.

If your cellaring needs are anything like mine, I heartily recommend a small window AC unit and inkbird.
 

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