Storing Wine at Home - Any tips for reducing temp variations

[action2096]

All,

As my wine collection slowly starts to expand i'm having more & more trouble storing it.. I have an offsite facility in which i can store about 14 cases in ideal conditions but even with that i'm getting short of space so i'm now looking at options for storing a small quantity of decent wine (5-6 cases) at home.

Living in a small unit in sydney i don't have too many options for locating the wine and it looks like the best place is a wardrobe in the 2nd' bedroom. This is the coolest part of the house in summer and not to cold in the winter. Problem is that even here there is a pretty big temp & humidity variation ( 27c/91% humdity - 15c/46% humidity over a 6 month period)

Currently i just have some cheaper wine stored in standard racks but i was wondering if anyone here has any ideas for improving the storage conditions inside the wardrobe I was thinking of trying styrofoam/polystyerene but not sure what if any difference this will make.

Any ideas anyone ???

Cheers
Chris

[Red Bigot]

Chris,

Without going to the expense of buying a refrigerated wine cabinet, the simplest technique that might work if you are not intending to keep these bottles in these conditions for a long period is to source some polystyrene containers. You can possibly get these from the fruit/vege markets or a Pet Supplies store that stocks fish, these are often delivered in polystyrene containers with lids.
A little more expensive is to buy some specialised wine shipping boxes that have individual polystyrene-lined bottle-holders. I've got one that came via Pack & Send http://www.packsend.com.au/index_a.htm

[Attila]

Every bottle of mine that I keep at home, wrapped in 3 layers of newspaper from (purchase)day one.
It protects the wine from sudden temperature changes and light, also label eating moisture. All the labels look new, even after a decade.
Certainly worked for me in the last 10 years or so in the cellar and at home as well.
Cheers,
Attila

[Broughy]

Certainly keeping wine in several layers of boxs helps to insulate from temperature fluctuations. How much so it is hard to say. Also consider keeping screw capped wines at home. One of the problems with temp and humidity fluctuation is the potential for corks to allow air into the wine and therefore oxidation occurs. Other problems associated with these fluctuations however won't be avoided.

[707]

Te more packing surrounding your bottles the better. Avoid open racks and try to source foam boxes. Newspaper is a good insulator for individual wrapping.

Keep your cupboard closed during warm spells, open it up whenever it's cool to reduce heart build up.

Keep short term wines at home, cellar your long termers at the storage facility. Don't waste space there with white wines!

[amcv]

Chris,
Hit your Storage provider for some of the many spare used packing boxes they should have.
Otherwise email me and I will get you a couple.
You collect and make a donation to a charity of our choice.
Cheers

Andrew

[Vickie]

Hi Chris,

re: Pack & Send - (Brian's suggestion)

the dozen box costs $26.00 and the single bottle box costs $8.50.

Cheers,
Vickie

[Brucer]

You could store wine in your wardrobe, and line the inside with polystyrene, cut from sheets.
There is sheets available with foil each side, with a good R rating.
There is plenty of companies selling polystryene sheets, see yellow pages.
I found it worked well, and then went on to actually line a full room with it, ceiling and all.
Bruce

[bigkid]

Hi Chris,

You may recall I use polstyrene boxes at home for short term storage (up to 5 years) and off-site storage for the long term.

The boxes I use come from a certain red wine drinker with a pet shop south of Sydney. They hold a neat two cases each. If your lucky he might notice your post.

According to Tyson Stelzer's research, polystyrene should reduce daily fluctuations to 1 degree C with less than 2 degrees C over any week. However, over a year, temperature may vary up to 12.5 degrees. (I seem to recall that Tyson is a Brisbane boy, so the fluctuations over the year may not be as significant in Sydney).

I am yet to maintain in polystyrene for 5 years, but others here seem to have done so quite successfully.

bacchaebabe offered some suggestions on reduced storage times (in less than perfect conditions) in an earlier post of mine on the same subject which you might find helpful.

http://forum.auswine.com.au/viewtopic.p ... highlight=

Regards,

Allan

[TORB]

The boxes I use come from a certain red wine drinker with a pet shop south of Sydney. They hold a neat two cases each. If your lucky he might notice your post.

Chris,

If you want any boxes, email me; you can have as many as you want free, as long as you collect them. I am happy to get rid of them, they breed faster than rabbits in my shop.

[action2096]

Guys

Thanks for the responses. I might take you up on that offer of the boxes Torb.

One other option i had though of was converting an old linen chest by lining it with some of the EPS polystyrene sheetings that can be purchased. Having a look at a couple of web sites seem to suggest that 35-40mm of lining provides the same kind of insulation as 1200-1250mm of concrete

Has anyone ever had any success with this ?

[bigkid]

I've read somewhere on the net that, in terms of insultation, 4 inches of polystyrene is the equivalent of 1m of earth - it was either at a site where they were discussing huts built for the south pole with polystyrene walls or a wine site - not sure, it was during my obsessive polystyrene research phase before Ric came to the rescue.

Regards,

Allan