Closet Cellar Advice Needed

[Calamity Cellars]

We recently moved our winery from the garage to a much larger facility. This is fantastic news on all fronts except.....I lost my temperature controlled garage and now have nowhere to store our personal wine collection of about 150 bottles. Please don't cry for me, I will be OK.

I have decided to convert a coat closet into a wine locker and am looking for any hints, tips or tricks you might have to share. The closet has two walls that border our laundry room. My plan is to install a small window ac unit with the 'outside' part in the laundry room with the condensate drain tubed down to the drain for the washing machine.

So......hit me with that advice.

Thanks in advance.

Alan

 

[sour_grapes]

And a humidifier? Or will you just use a cinderblocks-in-pans-of-water type arrangement?

 

[Calamity Cellars]

Never needed a humidifier in the winery do I doubt this will need one. We have decent humidity year round here in western Washington


Sent from my iPhone using Wine Making

 

[ibglowin]

That is basically what I have used for 5 years now only I have a back portion of my 2 car garage that was enclosed by the original owner way back when the house was built in the mid 70's. I have a ~10'X20' combination Winery and Cellar. They had duct work run to the room, gas for a Kiln I am told as well as Hot and Cold running water. I shut off the Heat ducts in the Winter and the room stays ~55F for like 6 months of the year, I added a small AC Window unit that keeps the room ~65 degrees in the Summer. I added 12" of attic blanket insulation over the room to dampen any temp changes. That REALLY helped a lot to keep temps much much more constant. No dehumidifier needed as I live at altitude in the desert southwest.

I have ~350 bottles of commercial wine, ~500 bottles of my personal wine made from Kits and fresh grapes as well as ~100G of wine bulk aging in small barrels and carboys from my 2012 and 2013 Crush at the moment.

Somehow I still have plenty of room to work!

 

[sour_grapes]

No humidifier needed as I live at altitude in the desert southwest.

Wouldn't those be reasons that you WOULD want a humidifier? (I.e., I am not talking about a dehumidifier.)

 

[ibglowin]

Sorry I meant dehumidifier! With no heat in the Winter to dry things out constantly and the big Mop Sink in routine use plus the Monsoon season that starts in July and runs through August (which pushes our humidity way up) things are not as dry as you might think in there. All bottles are stored on their sides.

 

[Runningwolf]

First off congratulations on the move. Living in NW PA., my wine closet maintains 66° +-2° year round being in a basement. I have very little commercial wine in it but way too much of my own wine in it. I do run a dehumidifier year round but I rarely hear it come on. CC how big is this closet? It sounds like you have all finished interior walls so insulation will probably be foam boards on the inside. Please post pictures during this journey.