# Where do you ferment your wine



## murphyaii (Nov 5, 2015)

I'll get started.
during the summer i leave it out in the garden shed.
during the winter, i leave it in the boiler room with the light on.
turning off the light drops the temperature and can lead to a stuck ferment.


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## jgmann67 (Nov 5, 2015)

I only started wine making recently, but I do everything in one room in my basement. 

Winter temps drop to the low 60* and summer gets as high as the mid 70*'s. 

When the temps get too low for fermentation, I put the fermenter on a pad set on low.


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## Jc5066 (Nov 5, 2015)

Michigan basement with no heat. Stays cool all year round. I partitioned off a small section to use as my wine making area. I use a brew belt or portable heater to keep everything at the temp I need.


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## Rodnboro (Nov 5, 2015)

Unfortunately, I have no basement. I use a spare room which I've turned into an office/wine room. Temp stays at low 70's.


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## NorCal (Nov 5, 2015)

My winemaking buddy 4Score and I go big once per year. We ferment a ton at a time (3X this year) in the garage, in macro bins.


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## ibglowin (Nov 5, 2015)

Thats a funny looking "macro bin" in the foreground of that pic!


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## ibglowin (Nov 5, 2015)

I make mine in a small but VERY dedicated space….. LOL


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## JohnT (Nov 5, 2015)

My wife almost divorced me when buying our current home. 

Due to my winemaking requirements, purchasing the right home took a year..

I have a converted wood shop in the basement. Half of it is below grade for temperature control, and the other half is at grade level. It has double steel doors to the outside WITH NO STAIRS!!!!! 

This shop also has it's own heat zone. I can kick the temp to the wine's needs without any effect on the rest of the house. 

When it is finished, I simply go through a door to the finished portion of the basement (AKA, the man cave)...

I hit the jackpot on this one.


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## Rocky (Nov 5, 2015)

Sounds like a great place, JohnT. I do my work in the basement and I have to carry everything through most of the house to the cellar steps. I wish I had a "walk out" lower level but central Ohio is like a billiard table. When we built the house I wanted to put a Bilco Door access to the basement but I was shamed out of it by my daughter's idiot former husband who said, "You mean like they had in old farm houses?" I kick my self every time I have to hump stuff through the garage, mud room, kitchen and hall to the cellar steps. In Rochester, I had a second set of stairs in my garage and that was great. I could back into the garage by the steps and slide everything down a chute or carry them directly down the steps to the cellar. I also wanted to do that here but the design of the house did not allow it without major rearrangement.


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## heatherd (Nov 5, 2015)

In my kitchen. Luckily it is fairly roomy, but I am limited to a maximum of like 12 batches at any one time. Comfort is more like 4-6.

All the finished wine goes to the basement for storage.


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## JSquared (Nov 5, 2015)

NorCal said:


> My winemaking buddy 4Score and I go big once per year. We ferment a ton at a time (3X this year) in the garage, in macro bins.




My hubby wants to know where you got the Macro bins. He has been looking for them to purchase for his company and can't find them to order.


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## NorCal (Nov 5, 2015)

I got mine on Craigslist $75 each


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## bakervinyard (Nov 5, 2015)

I started out on one folding chair in a sun room off my livingroom. Then I moved down to my work bench in my work shop. Once my son went to collage I took over his bedroom in the basement. The room is about 16 X 20. has it's own heat. Some days It still isn't enough room. Bakervinyard


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## barbiek (Nov 5, 2015)

Everywhere! Where the temp is right depending on time of the year and phase of the wine. May be bedroom, kitchen, basement, basement hallway and closet! Primary ferm always in kitchen


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## JSquared (Nov 5, 2015)

My small supplies...chemicals and all are in boxes on the pantry shelf, my primary is always in the kitchen, my secondary are usually sitting in the kitchen floor, once bottles they go in my wine rack and I have stacks of donated bottles on the garage so yeah everywhere! But we are building a new house with a designated wine room off the garage with separate temperature control.


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## quiltertoo (Nov 5, 2015)

In the basement. It is actually cooler down there in the summer. Warmer in the winter with the furnace on. So cold in the summer with the A.C. on that I sometime turn the heat on in my sewing room which is also in the basement.

Mary Lou


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## Petti (Nov 5, 2015)

I keep my fermenting wine in the furnace room. Bulk aging corboys and bottles in the cellar. Much cooler temps


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## CGish (Nov 5, 2015)

In my basement. The temp varies from 65 in the winter to 75 in the summer. I have a chest freezer controlled by a BrewPi if I need precise temperature control.


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## PierreR (Nov 5, 2015)

Primary, always in the kitchen. Secondary as well till there is next to no bubbling in the airlock. Then into the basement. I have in floor radiant heat, so I could do everything down there, except I dont have a sink in the basement. My racks are in the storage room, always dark, no windows, always the same temp. Maybe 5 degrees difference summer to winter.


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## vernsgal (Nov 6, 2015)

Primary for me is in the basement "guest/music" room. When dry I move it to the room next door "lab" for racking/aging.I place my pails on one of those wheeled plant stands and just push it to the next room.
When building I thought I would have a room of my own for winemaking, but got into bulk aging and can't keep the room warm enough for fermenting.(poor hubby says I'm taking over the entire basement lol)
I store and age bottled wine under the stairs.


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## Arne (Nov 6, 2015)

Started out on my workbench in the basement. Wasn't long and wanted more room so went to town and bought another workbench. One winter day, went to town, bought some lumber and counter tops. Now one whole walll is workbench or counter. Gets too cold to ferment well down there in the winter, but make do with an electric heater. Have to get to bottling to make room for more. Arne.


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## JohnT (Nov 6, 2015)

*Definitions:*

*Powder Room:* a place to store tartaric acid, kmeta, nutrient, and all other powders..

*Utility Closet:* a place to store your press, destemmer, corker, and all other utilities. 

*Refrigerator:* A place to store your yeast and MLB until needed. 

*Spare Bedroom:* Sssshhh, this is where the wine sleeps.

*Closet: *A bottle storage area (both filled and empty).

*Stain Master Carpet: *The best thing since sliced bread! 



*Tips:*

*Women:* The husband really does not need a man cave. Share a bottle or two of the good stuff then, and only then, talk to him about it. If this fails, promise him that you will leave enough room for the big screen tv and keg-a-rator.

*Men:* Just build or buy a bigger house. Do not even THINK of putting a claim on her sewing room, reading room, craft room, home office, or nursery. Just give it up. 

One lesson I have learned over 25 years of marriage is this.. she needs her space to be content! A happy content wife is a happy wife. A happy wife has many, many fringe benefits!


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## GreenEnvy22 (Nov 9, 2015)

We have a fruit cellar in our basement, under the front porch (Niagara region, Ontario, Canada), so my wine goes in there. Temp in Sept/Oct when I started was around 20C, now it's down around 12-15C in there. If it gets cooler 

I believe thats ok as fermentation should be done, just aging a couple months before bottling, but if it cools down more I'll open the door from the furnace room which is a good deal warmer.


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## Larryh86GT (Nov 10, 2015)

I get a shelf in my wife's sewing room:


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## kryten (Nov 10, 2015)

Primary ferment on a small table in my bed room. Secondary ferment and bulk aging in a clothes closet, my glass bottles are in there also.


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## jgmann67 (Nov 19, 2015)

In a bucket. This seems like a trick question. [emoji12]


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## Arne (Nov 19, 2015)

kryten said:


> Primary ferment on a small table in my bed room. Secondary ferment and bulk aging in a clothes closet, my glass bottles are in there also.



Nice setup. One little hint if I may. Get a big tote like you have beside your carboys and set them in there. Mite save your tail if they decide to burp since they are sitting on nice carpet. If nothing else, a big garbage bag will work under them. Mine was over concrete when it decided to belch. Nothing hurt there but a abit of cleanup. Arne.


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## volldez (Nov 19, 2015)

4Ft Crawlspace!


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## JohnT (Nov 19, 2015)

Here is a shot of my winery. 

The model in the photo was expensive. I had to give her a hug in order to get this photo!


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## Rocky (Nov 19, 2015)

What a cutie, JohnT! I think she is doing one of my first jobs when I started helping my Grandfather, breaking up the cap. This is something that she will stay with her all her life and it will be a source of so many pleasant memories.


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## wineforfun (Nov 19, 2015)

JohnT said:


> Here is a shot of my winery.
> 
> The model in the photo was expensive. I had to give her a hug in order to get this photo!



Couple of questions John.
1. What are those covers over your carboys up on the left, kind of a khaki color? Are they for spillage?
2. What is that cute little girl stirring? Looks like coffee beans, or is it shriveled up grapes?


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## JohnT (Nov 19, 2015)

wineforfun said:


> Couple of questions John.
> 1. What are those covers over your carboys up on the left, kind of a khaki color? Are they for spillage?
> 2. What is that cute little girl stirring? Looks like coffee beans, or is it shriveled up grapes?


 
The covers are the funnel covers over demijohns (54 liter jugs that come complete with a plastic tub (to sit in) and a cone shaped cowel (or top). 

She is stirring a vat of merlot grapes, fresh from the destemmer.


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## wineforfun (Nov 19, 2015)

JohnT said:


> The covers are the funnel covers over demijohns (54 liter jugs that come complete with a plastic tub (to sit in) and a cone shaped cowel (or top).
> 
> She is stirring a vat of merlot grapes, fresh from the destemmer.



Very nice, thanks.

Merlot, yummy.


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## GreenEnvy22 (Jul 7, 2017)

Reviving this thread, My wife and I just revamped our cellar, so i now have a better area for making and storing our wine and our canned/preserved food.
I'm going to add a sink to the workbench area so I can do everything in here. That way I'm not dragging carboys over the house to the laundry room sink.


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## Scooter68 (Jul 7, 2017)

Currrently I do the fermenting at the Mother-in-laws house (Vacant since she passed in (2005)
We don't heat and cool it to 'normal' temps unless we have company staying there. So upstairs in the summer it can get into the lower 80s & in the winter 55 is way too cool for fermenting. So in the summer I ferment in the basement then where it gets up to 72-75 in late summer. I've tried doing fermentation at our house in a unused bathroom but that' a pain anytime to move supplies carboys etc across the field from one place to another. So I'm resolved to do fermentation only during the months when temps at the Mother-in-laws are within range for good fermentation. That means generally from April to October. Since I tend to do fresh fruit wines that works well. Which reminds me I need to run to the local roadside stands and see what, if any peaches, plums, etc they have 'over-ripe' that I can purchase cheap and turn into Wine.


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## garymc (Jul 8, 2017)

I do the primary in buckets in my kitchen, then carry the buckets downstairs to the basement and vacuum pump into carboys. Kitchen temperature is from 68 to 77 depending on season and the basement temperature is 64 to 68. If I want cooler I set the carboy directly on the concrete basement floor and for warmer I can put cardboard under it or up on a table.


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## jgmann67 (Jul 9, 2017)

I do everything in my wine room in the basement. Temps range from 68* in the summer to about 54* with the door closed in the winter (or 60* with the door open). It works just fine for me because (at least in my mind) a cooler temp means a slower ferment and longer time on the skins.


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