Wine celler/ beer fermentor??

[captainl]

Damn Texas is too hot for these hobbies. My last Wit beer tastes like banana's(due to too high fermentation temps) and this wine forum has me paranoid of my wine going bad in a year or so. So I need something that is practical for wine and beer. I was thinking of building a chamber in my garage: 4x4 x up to 10 feet high?? Temperatures vary from 100 to 30 in the garage yearly. Due to the wine aging I will be keeping it at a stable temperature. I was thinking of using a window ac unit to keep it somewhere between 60 and 65 degrees. I have no intention of making any lagers any time soon. And I have no intention of worrying about the humidity %. I have been reading a lot on the forums and internet. couple of questions:

1. Is the temperature control on a window AC unit sufficient for this or should I get a seperate temperature controller? Maybe depends on the model?

2. Whats the best way to make a door for walking into the chamber????

3. If i built it into the corner of the garage would I need to remove drywall and add vapor barrier? Maybe it would be best as a stand alone chamber?

4. 2x4 frame, fiberglass insulation. Any ideas for interior walls? Don't think drywall will be good...some sort of plastic sheeting? Dry wall or plywood exterior?


I'm planning on having a built in wine rack along the back probably up to 8 feet high or so. I only have 4 carboys and 2 fermentors and don't plan on getting anymore. My main goals are to have something stable for the wine and somewhere to ferment beer at a reasonable temperature. I'm not too concerned with making it the prettiest wine cellar out there.


I might be overlooking some things too....so any tips, tricks, or links are appreciated!



Mike.

 

[Rocky]

Captainl, a couple of responses to your questions:

1. I would get an A/C unit with a thermostat or buy a thermostat and wire the A/C unit through it. That way, you can set your temperature and the unit will turn on and off as needed.

2. If you have the room. build an air lock. It would take two doors instead of one and you would enter through the first door, close it behind you and then enter the wine area. This would keep a lot of hot air from rushing into the wine area from the garage. You could store supplies in the air lock. Make sure you put sweeps on the bottoms of the doors to keep air from moving into or out of the areas.

3. I would leave the drywall up on the garage corner, add plastic as a vapor barrier and then cover the inside walls with plywood for additional insulation.

4. Interior and exterior walls would be plywood (same reason as above) with plastic between the fiberglass and plywood on the inside walls.

Sounds like a fun project. Good luck.