Apartment Vintiner

[xanxer82]

Me and Kat have the In-Law apartment of a house until after the wedding. We don't really have a wine room per say. We use a corner of the apartment.
We store our finished wine in a chest in the bedroom. That chest is pretty full now and I'll to find a solution very soon as I'll have about 60 bottles to age in a couple weeks.
I have some photos but looks like the image uploader is acting funny.

 

[robie]

Leave the wine in the carboys until you have more room. They take up less space and are easier to move than 60 bottles.
Bulk aging works well, anyway.
Before moving filled Better Bottles, be sure to remove air locks and their bungs and replace them with solid stoppers.

 

[pracz]

Hey Dan -

Whatever works!!!

I'm relegated to our 1st floor bathroom (actually just the bathtub). I currently have 2 carboys bulk aging and a third in secondary. When I first started (about a month and a half ago) I had two primary's bubbling away. The entire house smelled great (at least to me). I have told the kids when I am working in there it is no longer a bathroom but a winery. They just roll there eyes and use a different bathroom.

At one point my wife let the piano teacher use the bathroom (during the initial fermentation period of my first two kits). The fermentation smell was so strong I don't know how he could stand it...He doesn't drink either. Probably thought we were very weird as my wife neglected to tell him why it smelled like that in there...

At any rate, I am of the opinion that if you have a open corner, go for it! You don't need anything fancy to make wine.

Good luck!

Pete

 

[MaineGal]

lol...love the chest idea. I have a couple of those!
We currently have 14 batches of wine going... Have no clue where they will go when we're ready to bottle. We have lots of room in the barn, but it's not heated. We also have lots of room in the cellar.

Even thought the cellar stays at a constant 50* year round, I'm thinking it might be too damp down there.

 

[xanxer82]

Got an image of my storage chest. Soon, I think I will build some racks.

 

[AlFulchino]

this is how it all starts

 

[xanxer82]

this is how it all starts

Al, they are trying to pass direct shipment laws in MD. Currently, it's a felony. As soon as they make it legal, I'm going to order a bottle from you.

 

[MaineGal]

Dan, you call it a storage chest..... Looks more like a treasure chest to me!!

 

[xanxer82]

Dan, you call it a storage chest..... Looks more like a treasure chest to me!!

I have to agree with you there.

 

[MaineGal]

That picture has a nice rustic look to it..... I think it would be neat to incorporate it on a label sometime....

 

[nursejohn]

I second the "treasure chest" name.

 

[robie]

Wow! Be careful picking that chest up when you move. Got to be a lot of weight in it.

 

[xanxer82]

Wow! Be careful picking that chest up when you move. Got to be a lot of weight in it.

When we move, I'll moving them in milk crates. Hopefully I'll have enough to put some decent racks into the new place wherever that may be.

 

[intoxicating]

Remember that the corks will transfer smells from the environment into tastes in the wine. So if that chest full of wine bottles is cedar lined, expect the wine to taste of cedar. A wine snob friend of mine several years ago told of someone they knew, who had to throw out a whole case of expensive European wine because he had stored it in his laundry room and it tasted like Surf detergent!

 

[Tom]

Hmm.... Does the word OBSESSION come to mind? Worry more about the wine than decorating new digs... LOL !

 

[ibglowin]

Looking good!

I remember those young married days of long ago......

Our first apartment was so small you could vacuum they entire place from a single plug. It was only 630 square feet and a single bedroom. Can't imagine trying to make wine in that place.

Your fiance is a keeper for sure if she lets you make wine in the corner!

 

[intoxicating]

Check your local grocery stores and wine stores for the wooden crates that some of the vineyards ship their wines in from Europe or California. I am picking up a couple a week, and they hold 12 bottles each, on their side. Stack nice, John gives me the lids and divider inserts when they don't get destroyed in the opening. If you ask nice, they might save them back for you to come and ask for. Maybe offer a bottle of your home made stuff to sweeten the deal? Some places just put them out front and you have to scrap through the crowd for yourself.