Wine Coolers

[Savana123]

Wine coolers are one the very important thing which is use for keeping the wine bottles properly cold and in a temperature which is required for the wines. Wine cellars are made with proper cooling that are made for residential as well as for winery.

Every person who is new to wine making should know and understand the importance of wine cellars or coolers well.

 

[Tom]

Also when you hear "room temp" They really mean CELLAR temps.

 

[JohnT]

A couple of points here.

Hold wine at a perfect 55 degrees (f) and 70 percent humidity is rather important for the LONG term storage of wine. It is far more important to maintain a constant, consistant cool temp with NO temp flux. this is more than fine for short term storage.

Humidity is only important when you are using cork closures. Far less important for synthetic and screwcap closures.

 

[Callum Dooley]

So wine coolers will not have a constant temperature, they are a fridge after all.

They have cooling phases and warming phases. The cooling phase is when the compressor is running to allow cooler air to enter the wine cooler and the warming phase during the off period.

Wine coolers work on the theory that it takes a long time and a lot of energy to change the internal temperature of a bottle of wine IE liquid. So, by ensuring the temperature is maintained at an average of 12 degrees C, its absolutely fine for the wine, when the temperature fluctuation is +/-2 degrees C.

The wine cooler will regulate the humidity between 55-85% usually and in most cases were the humidity is at the lower end, the wine cooler will include a water tray to increase the water density in the air. The way the wine cooler regulates the humidity is by allowing the excess water molecules to condense on the back wall of the wine cooler, during the cooling phase. If you have it set to a low temperature, the water may freeze. But during the off period, the ice or water will 'melt' and drip down the back wall of the wine cooler, here there will be a water passage which leads to a small container next to the compressor. As the compressor is the warmest part, the water will evaporate of outside the wine cooler.

The humidity levels will then therefore be kept at around 70%, its only when the door is opened frequently that the humidity will rise inside the cabinet.

From our readings, the humidity averages between 65 and 75%, but the main thing is that its not too dry (approx. 55%) as that's when we will start to get issues with the corks drying out.

 

[mainshipfred]

My cellar is 6 x 10 x 8 and I used an 8000 BTU window unit with an Inkbird to cool. I don't know how a true wine cellar unit differs but an AC unit by nature is a dehumidifer. My cellar is set at 57* with a 2* differential. I use a cool mist humdifier which maintains ~60% rh. I'm very happy with my numbers.