Using upright freezer as cellar

[SteveL]

Since I come from a beer brewing background I have a currently unused upright freezer in my garage that I used to use as a fermentation chamber for my beers. I have since moved to a chest freezer for this so it is just kind of sitting there. The question I have is can this be used for a wine cellar? It has a dual stage temp controller on it so I can either cool it down or heat it up to the temp within 1 degree of where I set it.

Has anyone done this before? I was just thinking of the long term and realized I don't have any space available in my house where I can keep bottled wines at a near constant temp.

Thanks guys!

 

[RedNeckWino]

I have not tried it, but might have to. Can you set it for about 52 deg.? Think I'm gonna have to look closer at mine. Only use it for venison, but have not harvested one this year.

 

[Runningwolf]

I would set it closer to 30 degrees.

 

[Wade E]

Hes trying to cellar his wine not cold stabilize it Dan. The only thing I would be concerned with is vibrations and also not enough humidity This dryness can dry out the cork making it start to become much more pourous thuis letting your wine breathe way too much. If your taling short term storage like 1 year or less it hould do fine but if your talking longer terms Im betting its not a great idea. Also due to these colder temps you might want to cold stabilize some wines first if you dont like wine diamonds in your bottles.

 

[SteveL]

I can set the thing to 80 if I really wanted to. It is setup like this. I have a Ranco dual stage controller connected to the freezer and also to a porcelain lamp socket that has a reptile heat lamp screwed into it. The Ranco sits outside the freezer and a temp probe runs from it into the freezer. I then set the temp controller to say 52, if it drops below 52 the controller turns on the lamp, if it goes over 52 the lamp turns off and the freezer gets turned on, if it is right at 52 nothing is on.

Truth be told I was not too worries about the temp, but like Wade pointed out it was more of a humidity issue. For starters I live in Nevada, the high desert isnt really known for its wet air add in the freezer and I thought there may be issues. I know that it is not a frost free freezer, the thing is kind of old. Might there be a way to conteract this?

Also to answer the cold stabilization comments, I plan to do this before I bottle my wines anyway.

 

[Wade E]

Sonds better than any other optoins then and maybe you can just havea few open vessels of water in there if you check the humidity with a gauge. I have a Ranco controller on my 3 tiered brew sytem so am very aware of its capabilities. The thing is awesome.

 

[SteveL]

Wade, yeah those Rancos are like a little brewhouse magician. I have 3 of them that I use for all sorts of different things. As for the wine I am really hoping that the freezer will work. I don't have a place in the house that stays a constant temp and with the seasonal temp swings here in Northern Nevada I would go poor with cooling/heating costs.

I like the idea of just putting a jug of water in there and adding a hydrometer. What level of humidity would you shoot for? Would using synthetic corks help alleviate this problem?

If the freezer doesn't end up working out, guess I better get busy digging that cellar in the back yard!

 

[RedNeckWino]

OOOps. There goes my chance to use the freezer. Shot 2 bucks and a doe. Freezer seems to be in use again. A food wine all its own!

 

[Runningwolf]

OOOps. There goes my chance to use the freezer. Shot 2 bucks and a doe. Freezer seems to be in use again. A food wine all its own!

Way to go. Congratulations. I am assuming small bucks since you didn't post points.

 

[RedNeckWino]

Sorry for the slow reply. Been hunting still. 1 6point 3 year old buck. big body-ugly undersized rack. Out of the gene pool. #2 was an 8 point 2 year old limping bad. Wanted a different one, but could not let this one live like that. 3 antlerless tags left to fill. Hunting the cherry and apple orchards for the last few days.

 

[1ChuckGauthier]

Thinking about this freezer thing, could you not dip cork and bottle in liquid wax for a seal?