Aging Temperature

[hannabarn]

I have a large soda cooler, the one where you open the door and remove the cans. It holds about 150 wine bottles. The highest temp I could set it at was about 40 degrees. I bought a temp controller that you plug the cooler into and now I have it set at about 55 degrees. Is this the right temp to age wine in the bottle?

 

[smurfe]

Temp is fine. What is the humidity. It should be between 60-70%.

 

[scubaman2151]

I dont know that answer but that is pretty cool your using one of those pop machines. Is it like a vending machine?


Scuba

 

[hannabarn]

It is a help yourself and pay at the door!!!

 

[scubaman2151]

Pics?

 

[hannabarn]

I will check humidity and take some pics tomorrow. Then hope I can upload them!!!

 

[hannabarn]

Temp is holding good at 55. Before when it was on it was 40 and when it was off it fluxuated between 60 and 70

 

[Waldo]

What brand/type of temp controlled did you get hanna........been thinking of getting one for an old refrigrator I have in my shop.

 

[hannabarn]

Waldo, I couldn't find one from George so I ordered it from Barkingside Co. in Minneapolis MN. It is a Johnson Control Refrigerator thermostat for $52.95 plus shipping. www.barkingside.com

 

[mtstarr]

You can get these at most beer brewing shops since most guys turn freezers into kegorators. One thing, when they fail, they close the circuit If you are using a freeze and regulating it like a fridge it goes back to a freezer. In a long life of brewing beer I have only one fail and you end up with frozen beer in your keg. It is great that your box temp can be set high enough not to freeze your wine if this control fails. It would bea shame to have 150 frozen (broken)bottles of wine.

 

[hannabarn]

That is true if you are using a freezer. However, most refrigerators won't normally get cold enough to freeze in the cooling compartment. I have mine in a soda cooler so it doesn't freeze even at the lowest setting. It is 22 degrees below zero this morning and my wine is stored in the cooler in a building about 1/4 mile away so I'm not checking it today!!!

 

[hannabarn]

 

[hannabarn]

This was my first attempt at posting pictures! I couldn't get the message with the picture. This is my wine storage cooler!

 

[grapeman]

Now you have me thinking to the future. I have a four door cooler/freezer like that I got about 10 years ago and never set up. As my vines get to really bearing I am going to have a lot of wine. I could hook that up and store a few hundred bottles in it. The insulation would keep the temps pretty stable.

 

[NorthernWinos]

"Cool"