My cellar/ workspace

[nucjd]

Hey guys. Thought I would post up some pics and info about my cellar I built.

First our house ( on our horse farm) had a storm shelter built into the basement that is 12 ft tall 20 feet long and 6 feet wide. It was drab and I decided when I started my vineyard to turn it into my cellar. It is set into the ground on three walls with a concrete roof with reinforced steel and a concrete floor. The wall adjoining the basement is reinforced cinderblock with a veneer of brick and mortar on the inside. The door is a heavy steel reinforced door that is air gapped and sealed.

So I cleaned out the space and treated the concrete and steel then painted the ceiling, walls and stained the floor. Then I re ran the electrics and lights. I made a work table/tasting table out of concrete and polished it smooth and mounted it to the wall with reinforced steel. Finally I sealed the door way with an o-ring. Then I demolished a 1.5 foot bu 2 foot rectangle in the wall (reinforced with header boards ) and installed a breezair wine cooling unit. I then installed wine bins and racks to hold about 1000 bottles. It gets to about 60 degrees in the heat of the summer and lowest to about 50 degrees in the dead of the winter with an average of about 55 degrees. Hope you guys like it.

 

[nucjd]

BTW, that is my grape press I built. It uses a 2 ton car jack and works AWESOME!!!!
Last pic is a couple of batches actually in my garage finishing up secondary ferment and then heading into the cellar

 

[pjd]

It's very nice!

 

[LoveTheWine]

nice space.
I really like the press!

 

[Hokapsig]

Just a bunch of carboys taking up room in the basement while aging and waiting for bottling....

 

[nucjd]

Holy smokes Hokap. You have quite a collection! Thanks LTW. I built it myself and it works great. thanks pjd. it is utilitarian but works great

 

[DaveL]

I really like you set up. was the cooling unit really needed? I'll bet it doesn't run much. But where are you?
I would like more pics of the press. That is my next project I think. Do you place blocks under the press as it recedes?
What type of wood sre your racks made of? Oak?

 

[nucjd]

Hey DaveL
Thanks for the compliments
I live in north central Alabama just outside of Birmingham so our summers are smoking hot. I monitored the space a whole season to check the temp flux and during mid summer to late summer it would bump up to high 60s and I just did not like that type of temp flux. So the unit runs intermittent in the mid summer during the day and that is about it.

As for the press I built it with 2x10 pressure treated wood and 1/2 lag bolts. The bucket is oak slats and the metal band is stainless steel. The jack is a standard car jack ( 2ton) As I press down I add 4x4 stacked cut to the dimension of the cap. I added some pics of my press.

As for my wine racks and bins they are unfinished mahogany.

 

[Bearpaw]

Unbelievable!!!

How can you ever have so much wine?
I only have 24 bottles XD...
Nice job!!

Bearpaw

 

[bakervinyard]

nucjd, Love the press! I need to make one. Racks and bins look awesome also. Do you have dimensions for the bins? Nice work. Bakervinyard

 

[pjd]

What is that little barrell in the bin next to the press? It looks like it has a spigot like what is on boxed wine but I have never seen one like that.

 

[nucjd]

HA pjd good eye. It was some a cheap Gigondas Wine from a few years ago. I really liked the fake metal barrel and just kept it around

 

[Runningwolf]

Great press and wine room!

 

[rob]

Hokapsig I tried to count those carboys and lost track...is there like 33 there...that would be something like a 1000 bottles????

 

[nucjd]

nucjd, Love the press! I need to make one. Racks and bins look awesome also. Do you have dimensions for the bins? Nice work. Bakervinyard

Hey baker. I will get them today. I have forgotten off the top of my head.

Thank you everyone for the compliments. It is utilitarian but it does the job.

 

[DaveL]

Just curious. It appears your jack is fully extended at the top of the basin. Couldnt you lower the cross member to an elevation just over the top of the compressed jack? Or would tis inhibit loading the basin w/ fruit?
also where did you get the stainless pan?

 

[nucjd]

Hey DaveL The hight is needed for loading. So I just slip 4x4 blocks between the jack and the basket. I got the pan from amazon and cut the v in it.

 

[DaveL]

Thanks, planning for the future, smart!

 

[Hokapsig]

24 six gallons, 9 fives, 5 threes, 3 ones and a demijohn, with two 6 gallon buckets waiting in the wings....

and one empty demi, and three open 5 gallons waiting for more....

 

[DaveL]

24 six gallons, 9 fives, 5 threes, 3 ones and a demijohn, with two 6 gallon buckets waiting in the wings....

and one empty demi, and three open 5 gallons waiting for more....

Obviously some have been aging for moe than a year? lol
I wondr how they would track that should they want to make an issue of it?