My wine making crap hole

[winebreath]

Well....I've been going thru posts here and looking at some of your wine rooms and cellars and it's made me realize what a crap hole I have to work in.
This used to be my reloading bench but about a year ago I moved that all to my sons place, kinda combined all equipment at one spot.
In the one picture you can see my wine rack....pretty impressive huh.

Anyways you all have inspired me (and the wife has been on me for years to do something with our basement). This is an old farm house, about 100yrs. old that we totally remodeled back in '97 but never done anything to the basement, just storage and shelter from storms.
It has an area about 10X12 that is concrete(where my benches and storage are) but the rest is dirt. Part of this will stay dirt floor where the utilities are but I have an area about 13X16 that I am thinking about using pave stone for the floor. I will have to build one stud wall but this will give me much more room.....and be much nicer.

Thanks for the inspiration.
I can't believe I'm showing these pictures as I won't even take friends down there but figured this would make me Git 'er done!

Later........winebreath

 

[JohnT]

Man-o-man!

Lemme draw you a mental picture...


Its friday. all week long you have battled traffic, family, and coworkers. Your boss was a unrelenting SOB all week. to put it bluntly, your brain is fried.

You are finally driving home on Friday night. Friday night traffic has been especially BAD. Your patience is running thin and your stess level is through the roof. You pull into your driveway and then it hits you... THE CELLAR !!!!!

In your cellar (aka "the man cave") you get away from it all. You have all of the comforts a guy could need...

A leather chair,
A bit of capet to keep your feet warm,
a wide-screen tv (1080p, of course),
a fireplace,
a wine glass rack full of hand-polished glasses,
a fridge jam packed with hungarian salami and cheeses,
racks and racks of you best homemade wine,
and a door with a lock on it so that the wife and kids have no choice but to allow you some "decompression" time between work and home.

The above does not cost all together that much money, and (if you have the means) surpasses in its rewards.

Build a proper cellar. you will live longer!

 

[ibglowin]

You have a basement! It may not be much now but someday you will have something soon to be very proud of I am sure!

 

[djrockinsteve]

Be careful what you wish for! All of our places started like that in one way or another. Then comes along this thing called wine making.

As the addiction grows you will find more and more ways to expand your "lab".

I give you 2 years and look back at this post.

 

[Runningwolf]

You got a good place there. Think about all the folks that don't even have a basement in there house to work in or are trying to do this out of an apartment. You got it good!

 

[CCtex]

Wish we had basements in Texas.

 

[ibglowin]

You can it just takes lots o $$$$$

And where you live, a good sump pump!

 

[SarahRides]

My wine cellar is actually the breezeway coming into my house........my carboys are starting to overflow into my kitchen! (my husband doesn't know this yet, but I just bought 2 more too!) Unless we rent a dumpster, out basement isn't really fit for wine making right now! I find room where ever it fits.

 

[djrockinsteve]

Sarah, we need to show you how to disguise your carboys. Place a sweater over them, add a lampshade to them and place on a table. Use them as a centerpiece. Use any nook and cranny, use all those dark places that husbands never look into like the dishwasher, the hamper, the washing machine. Get creative and before long you will have amassed a ton of places to secure your carboys from wandering eyes.

 

[Wade E]

Winebreath, what you have now is way better then how I started and spent the first 4 years while I saved some money to get it down. I had a 3' little bench (2 shelves high so I could rack down from bucket to glass without moving anything) and every time it rained decent the cellar was a washout!!! I would have water shooting up through my floor literally about 2 1/2". Finally I saved up enough money to get a crew here and fix that then I built a wine making room(also my furnace room which keeps the temp just perfect for wine making) and also a cellar big enough to shelve 1250 bottles and also keep about 20 cases on the floor also. That room is almost all subterranean except for 1 wall which I used a lot of insulation and that room stays about 58* for 3 seasons of the year but during the extreme summer I have to run the dehumidifier as it gets too humid in there. that raises the temp up to about 64 or a little more if its a real heat spell.
Here is a pic of my old wine making area

Here is 2 pics of the new one

Here is the old floor

Here is one of the new

If you want to check out the whole process look into the other forum I run in the link below.
http://forum.finevinewines.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=3282&PN=1

 

[Runningwolf]

My wine cellar is actually the breezeway coming into my house........my carboys are starting to overflow into my kitchen! (my husband doesn't know this yet, but I just bought 2 more too!) Unless we rent a dumpster, out basement isn't really fit for wine making right now! I find room where ever it fits.

Sarah, I found out after you have 7-8 carboys you can start sneaking more in 1-2 at a time. When you get close to 15 carboys you can bring in all you want and the spouse doesn't even notice. That is unless you have a friend come over and says "oh I see you got those three new 6 gallon carboys". Busted! LOL

 

[winebreath]

Thanks for all the replies and encouragement.
I got busy today and started cleaning and rearranging and planning.
been pricing things I need and plan on making this happen.

Wade......you really need to come to my house for a vacation. When we get the 'man cave' done it will be time to cut wheat and you can help with that too

It is nice to have a basement, but ours has been ignored for too long. Just been a pit from H, but my own fault for letting it get that way.

Your encouragement has set me in a new direction, and I am enthused about getting this project done.

Thanks all........winebreath

 

[SarahRides]

I'm just telling him that I am buying them to age in. I have a bunch of one gallon jugs everywhere! Now I'm starting to bulk age the larger batches. I'm also a quilter, so I have started making "fermenter cozies" already to make my them a little more inconspicuous. We have already both put a lot of time and energy into my sewing room last year, I think that if I had a second room for my wine making before my husband got his man-cave, he wouldn't be too happy! Wade, the wine room looks great! Looks very well organized and clean.

 

[Minnesotamaker]

Most of us started this hobby in similar fashion. My first wine making area was a cement wall basement room where I used the top of the washer/dryer. I had a laundry sink there, so that helped. When we went shopping for new digs, I made sure that the house had "wine making potential". Now I have a comfy room dedicated to the craft.

 

[winebreath]

well....it's started

We went to the new Menard's store in the city which is having sales on about everything I need. Went in to just shop and price some materials.

I have decided to use pave stone to finish out my floor, kinda make it look like a patio floor I guess. I really don't have a water problem in the basement so I think it will work OK.

They also have unfinished oak front cabinets and counter tops on sale.

Did get a sink, just what I wanted for down there. Big enough to wash buckets and carboys and even to cool my beer brews. I think I will just put a small sump pump in a bucket under the sink to pump out the waste into a drain pipe right above where I am going to put the sink.
This will be so much nicer because now I have to lug my buckets up and down the stairs from the kitchen.

Here is my new sink....will get facet when they go on sale.
WB-out

 

[ibglowin]

I use one of those as well. Perfect for what we need. Also holds 30 bottles for soaking labels off!

 

[Runningwolf]

+2 I use the same. I also had to get a seperate sump to pump the discharge up to my waste pipe going outside.

 

[Airplanedoc]

I have decided to use pave stone to finish out my floor, kinda make it look like a patio floor I guess. I really don't have a water problem in the basement so I think it will work OK.

They also have unfinished oak front cabinets and counter tops on sale.

Just a thought, standing on concrete for extended periods of time is really hard on the lower joints and back. (I was a factory supervisor for a few years when I moved from a area with a wood floor on to the concrete floor I could really tell a difference at the end of the shift.)

I use the lock together rubber mats, they are much easier on the joints, insulate you from the floor, things don't always break if dropped, and they come out for cleaning.

Also if you are not really picky in my area they have reuse and habitat for humanity stores. They generally have some decent cabinets, someone has taken out during a recent remodel. Really depends if you are making a wine showroom or a just a nicer work room for you.

 

[winebreath]

Doc...the mats is a great idea, will add to my wish list.

Later.......WB-out

 

[Runningwolf]

I also have heavy mats. I bought them originally as a safety thing from setting down carboys. I have bought more since then after realizing what a difference they make standing on them. I have had bottles slip out of my hands when washing and bounce back up and hit me in the chins. I got mine at Lowe's for $20.00 each. Well worth it.