Starting Wine In A Furnace Room?

[JoaniB]

Hi, everyone,

I am trying to find a place to start making wine. Sadly, the only non-carpetted area in our basement is the furnace room - is it even safe to have a fermenting product in there (possible heat issues notwithstanding)?

The other place is possibly our garage, once I reclaim some square footage from everything else in there. It's cool enough in the summer to the point of maybe being too cool, but will definitely be too cold in the winter.

Alternately, is it viable to move back and forth? Does anyone else do this?

Newbily yours,
JoaniB

 

[Jblyth]

In my humble opinion; any place is a good place!

I've stored my carboys all over the house over time and currently utilize my furnace room for aging many of my 1gal jugs. The only key is steady temperature control for aging and/or fermentation. Space can be a bit tight, but having a floor drain can definitely be a plus when an 'oops' occurs.

Welcome to a great and rewarding hobby.

 

[Turock]

It seems like you're asking about doing the ferments there--not storing it. Actually, you want to do cool ferments--70 degrees or so---on white wines or those fruits which have a lot of volatiles so you don't lose them during the ferment. Your cool ferment wines will have better nose and flavors.

Red fruits and grapes benefit from warm ferments of about 80 degrees because it extracts more color.

The only other temp considerations are when doing MLF's because the bacteria likes a very narrow temp range.

 

[JoaniB]

Thanks for your answers!

Turock: Yes, you're right, I was referring to the fermenting. I'll be doing more reds, for personal preference. Woot!

JBlyth: Cool! Have you ever used it for the primary fermentation?

And thanks, I'm really looking forward to it!

 

[Jblyth]

Yes, I've fermented in our furnace room which Happens to be subterranean, and covered by brick/concrete on two sides. The temp is actually quite stable at 65-67 degrees generally which is good for fermenting. Most of my aging is done cooler elsewhere though.

My wife 'advised' me to use the furnace room after a carboy got cracked once and a fine batch of blush Skeeter pee ended up coating our nice hardwood floors (big sticky oops). Let's just say that I take her advice to keep the marriage sane.