Storage

[ehammonds]

As my hobby progresses, I'm thinking of ways to store my bottled wine. I don't have any space to convert to a proper cellar and am reluctant to buy an expensive wine fridge to store 200 bottles. Also, I have no basement. That said, I'm worried about aging my bottles on regular racks or in boxes in the living room or closet, as the house temp is approx 70 deg. Have you found storage to be difficult? For those that have there bottles aging in boxes laid on their side or in the living room racks, have you experienced problems with this approach?

 

[ibglowin]

Biggest bang for the buck is one of the Seville Classics Wine Racks

 

[bkisel]

I do store/age my bottles in boxes, in my basement on shelves and often 2 cases high. My basement will get into the low seventies (F) around the summer months and I just live with it. This time of the year my basement is about 60F. I've read, maybe here on the forum, that the higher storage temps will accelerate aging.

 

[2020steve]

As my hobby progresses, I'm thinking of ways to store my bottled wine. I don't have any space to convert to a proper cellar and am reluctant to buy an expensive wine fridge to store 200 bottles. Also, I have no basement. That said, I'm worried about aging my bottles on regular racks or in boxes in the living room or closet, as the house temp is approx 70 deg. Have you found storage to be difficult? For those that have there bottles aging in boxes laid on their side or in the living room racks, have you experienced problems with this approach?

Apartment or Condo without a basement makes storage harder. The floor in a closet is the coolest spot in most homes. Milk crates will hold 16 bottles on their side and you can put them two deep across the bottom of the closet and still leave room for clothes. When you move to a house with a wine cellar they are already packed.

 

[jensmith]

I have a freind who rents a climet controled storage unit just for their wine. They just keep a few boxes of wine at home for drinking.
Luckily I have a celler for my wine storage.


Sent from my iPod touch using Wine Making

 

[beernutz]

I was able to pick up for free an upright freezer from my mother-in-law's estate. I already had an old analog single stage Johnson Controls temp controller.

So far that fridge setup is working great as the temp is holding very stable around 55 degrees plus or minus 2 degrees and it is right at 70% humidity per the outdoor thermometer/hygrometer I put in it.

Right now I have 29 super Tuscan bottles and some beer I'm aging in it which help minimize the temperature fluctuations.

 

[tbuck]

I took away our front entry closet - who needs to store jackets! Wine storage is much more important!

 

[tbuck]

Oh and we live in Houston, Texas. Keep our a/c on 70 throughout the summer and in the afternoon it may get up to 75 for a bit but inside the closet it stays around 70. Never had any problem with our wines not tasting great! Problem is we don't let them age enough!

 

[Kraffty]

tbuck: What are the circled numbers on your carboy tags and what do the strike-thrus mean?
Mike

 

[tbuck]

tbuck: What are the circled numbers on your carboy tags and what do the strike-thrus mean?
Mike

Those just give me a visual of what stage each batch is in. I strike thru a number when I complete that stage

 

[tbuck]

tbuck: What are the circled numbers on your carboy tags and what do the strike-thrus mean?
Mike

Those just give me a visual of what stage each batch is in. I cross thru a number when I complete that stage. I have a record book that I keep all my notes in but this is just a visual reminder.

 

[tbuck]

The tags are labeled with the wine type and how many stages thru bottling. I cross out each stage as I do it. I have a journal where I keep all my data on each batch but this is a good visual for me.

 

[tbuck]

Sorry for the duplicate posts (iPhone)

 

[JohnT]

TBuck,

I like your thinking.. Who needs jackets and coats in Houston anyway?

 

[ehammonds]

Tbuck, I'm in Houston too. Looking at doing something similar with a coat closet. This looks nice. Did you do this yourself or a contractor?