Weekend Warrior: DIY Wine Cellar

great idea - much more classy than buying some electricity-consuming above ground stainless steel wine-cooler nonsesne. Just needs a few cobwebs to really finish it off.

Posted by: guest at January 9, 2008 11:44 AM

Awesome. Way to use the extra space as well as the chandelier. Glad you used the original door. So, when's the party?

BTW, you can also find hygrometers at many cigar stores. I suggest a digital one since the analog type have a tendency to be less accurate and also need calibration every once and a while.

Posted by: guest at January 9, 2008 11:48 AM

It puts the lotion on its skin then puts it in the basket or it get the hose again.
"silence of the lambs"

Posted by: guest at January 9, 2008 12:05 PM

Very cool--love the chandelier.

Posted by: guest at January 9, 2008 12:53 PM

ONE WORD (repeated): Insulate, insulate, insulate!

We see the waste pipe going through the space--a source of heat, or at least a factor that will make the temp fluxuate.

Insulate the ceiling, walls and door!

As long as the temp does not go sky high, by keeping it stable and having it fluxuate over slowly over long stretches, you should be okay.

Question: Does the furnace and pipes/ducts or hot water pipes throw a lot of heat into the basement during the heating season?

Posted by: guest at January 9, 2008 2:09 PM

Screams out Alcoholic.

Posted by: guest at January 9, 2008 3:11 PM

I've been wanting to do something like this but can't get it together. We keep cartons on the floor and piled up. Not great, I know...

But, one of the best wine cellars I have been in is in a small town in the Jura region. The family used to be been wine merchants but ended the business. They were left with a huge stock with bottles going back 50 and 80 years. The place would strike anyone as a huge mess in the cellars. There were boxes disintegrating in all directions. The dad would rummage around for a good bottle like one might fish around in a huge, unsightly pile of clothes looking for something to wear and then pulling out a sable coat. Unbelievable.

I was asked: what year was your mother born? (in the 20s) Voila, a bottle of wine from that year.

We had a bottle of champagne form the 19-teens that had aged to brown and was, of course, flat.

Again, this huge wine cellar was a mess by the time I saw it and the cellars were being converted to making Gruyere. They were stone and deep so they had a very even temperature with slow changes through the year.

Posted by: guest at January 9, 2008 4:54 PM

Alcoholic owner, here. Thanks for kind words. We intend to insulate the ceiling, and I suppose could do the walls that face out into the warm basement. Would be counterproductive to insulate the wall to the right, which is exterior. interesting question about whether the drain pipes could radiate heat from hot water drainage--seems to me it would be an infintesimal [sic] amount of heat by the time any hot water got there. Personally I think the pipes look cool, and wouldn't want to cover them.

What will be interesting to see is how warm the room gets in summertime. Hopefully not much.

One of the earlier posters particularly got to our point for doing this: We used to have a 150-bottle wine fridge when we lived in the city, which meant we were wasting $$$ to chill every bottle we owned, red and white, which pissed us off. We're going to get a little fridge for whites and sparklers, and that's it.

Oh, and per the poster who said all we need are some cobwebs--trust me, we have 'em...

Posted by: guest at January 9, 2008 5:29 PM

Cave Owner,
The room should really not get hot in the summer. Oddly enough, with heating systems, many basements are much warmer in during the heating season (now...at least last week).

The issue most important to wine conservation and aging is to have very slowly changing temps. It can actually go much higher than we are usually told wine should be kept at, but it has to increase very slowly.

When you write a wall is "exterior" do you mean it is the front stone foundation wall?

Posted by: guest at January 9, 2008 6:49 PM

Love it, however, I drink my wine too fast, don't need anyplace to store it. Great job!

Posted by: guest at January 9, 2008 7:52 PM

Wino cave owner, here, 6:59 (and since you mention the word "cave," now I'm thinking I should age some cheddar in here while I'm at it):

Yes, when I say "exterior" wall, I mean the front foundation. Which, on my house, is brick, inside and out.

I think you're absolutely right that the cellar will be warmer in winter, even though I've insulated my heating pipes. I mean, my cellar is completely below grade--by a foot or two.

Posted by: guest at January 9, 2008 9:42 PM

Hal, sounds okay, as long as the temp change is slow. Wine can go to 72 but down and down into the 40s though I would like the lower end to be higher. If it only went down to the 50s you'd be better off.
I'm wondering why the temp drops into the 40s with three walls below grade and one facing into the main basement. Three things you might think of: a low heat source in winter that could stabilize the temp upward from that 40-degree mark (lots of options including those heating cables used for cold frames for seed starting or wound around pipes to keep them from freezing).

Better, try sticking water bottles (the type that go on water coolers), full, into the room...fill up available space. The bottles come in crates that stack. Water acts well as a temperature swing modifier. In fact, most dense things like stones, bricks, etc. will work but water may be your best bet. Plus, in case you need the water, it'll be there...though not sure how long you can store water in those plastic bottles before it "goes". It's hard to find water in glass carboys these days...in fact, you can buy carboys (not expensive) and fill them with tap water (with a touch of hydrogen peroxide or unscented chlorine bleach...just a touch...added before sealing).

The third, but probably least doable option: insulate the extension foundation...now, when people hear this they envision, deep digging and insulation board going right up against the outer wall surface. This is not necessary. No matter what, you probably have paving or flags or some such near the house so really this is not an option, but a way to use less insulation material and not have to dig down very far is to insulate the ground up to the extension like you're covering it with a blanket. Method: dig down 10 to 12 inches and remove material to about 3 to 4 feet away from the extension all around the perimeter (unfortunately, the extension is surely on one side of the property line so one wall is up against your neighbor's and you won't be able to dig on that side). Lay down insulation board in one layer with edges abutting and then cover it all over with the soil. Now...if you're thinking of redoing the patio area on the back of your house...with a little planning, you can work the insulation board into the work. You'd be amazed at the temperature modulation in your extensions cellar...and the floor would probably be warmer in winter in the aboveground room.

This last option is easier in the country and burbs and with new construction, but it *is* an option in cities as well.

Oh, one word to all, including the Wine/Cave Owner on this thread: don't put bottles down near the floor because all sorts of things can happen water-wise (sewer line cracks, pipe splits indoors, furnace spews out, water table rises...a number of friends awoke to flooded basements when we had that big ol' storm last year. Luckily, we didn't have any...but just hearing all the nightmares of family and friends with basements flooding for the first time (and then they get sump pumps put in after the fact of course) is scary. So much damage so quickly.

Posted by: guest at January 10, 2008 12:07 PM