Cellar Build in Established House

[Scotty vino]

That's looking great scotty!
Holding 19-20deg with those heatwaves I reckon you are doing very well.
is there a natural draft moving through the area now the fans removed?

I think it's stabilised now. Sits pretty much bang on 20.0
I took a reading back in September and it was 18 so I'm hoping it can hold 20 for another 6 weeks
then I imagine it will start to drop again. If it cycles thru 15-20 over a year I'll be satisfied.
The next 6 weeks will be interesting as there's more heat on the way.
The best thing about it is it hardly varies in temp while the upstairs temp gauge goes up and down like a yo-yo.
As for air flow there's small amount from where I knocked out the brick to put the ducting
to the outside of the house.
Seems to be doing the trick. The bricks are a lot less damp.

[Chuck]

Temperature close to what mine does. It gets down to around 15 in winter and all my older wines are drinking well. As per my post on another thread a 1998 Penfolds Bin 389 and a 1998 Mildara Cabernet drunk recently were in fine form.

Now all you have to do is wait for everything to mature

[Scotty vino]

Temperature close to what mine does. It gets down to around 15 in winter and all my older wines are drinking well. As per my post on another thread a 1998 Penfolds Bin 389 and a 1998 Mildara Cabernet drunk recently were in fine form.

Now all you have to do is wait for everything to mature

Good to know. It's still holding high 19's to low 20's temperature wise. We've had some hot days but I'm still
anticipating a week of low to mid 40's to see how it copes. Once I'm into mid march-april Ill start loading it up.

I'm running 2 wine fridges but I'd like to consolidate them into one and put the rest down in the cellar.
The super long term/anniversary/iconic gear can stay in the vintec and sleep soundly
at 13 degrees but everything else can go into the man cave.

[Chuck]

Scotty,

Storing stelvin closed recent vintage wines that need aging at 13C may just about see you out age wise. Worth thinking about. Perhaps some time in the cellar to advance the aging process a bit then into the vintec for the long slumber. I'm a great fan of stelvin but geez they age slowly. I had a 2007 K1 By Geoff Hardy Cabernet last night and it was still a spring chicken just starting to show some developed characteristics. Still a very nice nice drop but the rest will be left for another 3 years or so before even thinking of opening one.

Thank god Grange isn't under stelvin!

Carl

[Scotty vino]

Scotty,

Storing stelvin closed recent vintage wines that need aging at 13C may just about see you out age wise. Worth thinking about. Perhaps some time in the cellar to advance the aging process a bit then into the vintec for the long slumber. I'm a great fan of stelvin but geez they age slowly. I had a 2007 K1 By Geoff Hardy Cabernet last night and it was still a spring chicken just starting to show some developed characteristics. Still a very nice nice drop but the rest will be left for another 3 years or so before even thinking of opening one.

Thank god Grange isn't under stelvin!

Carl

Good advice. Suddenly having more storage than I anticipated has me rethinking my whole inventory setup.
I use cellar tracker, but lately as my collection grows I've had a few bottles go missing or end up in the wrong bin etc etc.
I'll go thru my entire collection and reestablish some sort of organisation once the cellar is in full effect.
At that point I'll also be considering ageing prospects of some of my wine and what should go where.
I would say at this point 70% of my collection will live happily in the cellar. My other issue is the boss has no interest in
lifting a heavy hatch and descending steep steps to grab a bottle. She has 'requested' that a percentage
(yet to be determined) of our collection remains within easy reach in the wine fridge.

[Chuck]

I'll go thru my entire collection and reestablish some sort of organisation once the cellar is in full effect.
At that point I'll also be considering ageing prospects of some of my wine and what should go where.
I would say at this point 70% of my collection will live happily in the cellar. My other issue is the boss has no interest in
lifting a heavy hatch and descending steep steps to grab a bottle. She has 'requested' that a percentage
(yet to be determined) of our collection remains within easy reach in the wine fridge.

Good luck on organising the cellar. My attempts have inevitably failed but the upside is finding those lost gems.

On the the boss issue all our wins are in the cellar and SWMBO loathes going down there particularly after adding lead weights to the trapdoor Is leaving some within easy reach such a good idea?

Carl

[Scotty vino]

I'll go thru my entire collection and reestablish some sort of organisation once the cellar is in full effect.
At that point I'll also be considering ageing prospects of some of my wine and what should go where.
I would say at this point 70% of my collection will live happily in the cellar. My other issue is the boss has no interest in
lifting a heavy hatch and descending steep steps to grab a bottle. She has 'requested' that a percentage
(yet to be determined) of our collection remains within easy reach in the wine fridge.

Good luck on organising the cellar. My attempts have inevitably failed but the upside is finding those lost gems.

On the the boss issue all our wins are in the cellar and SWMBO loathes going down there particularly after adding lead weights to the trapdoor Is leaving some within easy reach such a good idea?

Carl

I find cellar tracker pretty good as long as the wines that are actually consumed or moved are recorded as such.
It's those late night soirées that are usually the culprit. The boss and I generally try to remind each other to 'drink' any bottles
from cellar tracker otherwise in 3 months time we have a mystery on our hands.
To access my cellar requires the use of a cordless drill and the removal of 3 screws. It's a pain in the backside and something
which the better half will not do.
The floor/room where the cellar is located is yet to be renovated which doesn't allow me to complete the hatch properly.
I plan to build a box frame hatch with gas struts etc etc and level it up to the floor.

[Chuck]

Scotty,

How's the temperature holding inthe dungeon. It's been mighty warm in Adelaide of late with 40C today and 41C tomorrow. Third straight stinker of a weekend but it has cooled down during the week. My passive cellar is at 22C with no variation.

Carl

[Scotty vino]

Scotty,

How's the temperature holding inthe dungeon. It's been mighty warm in Adelaide of late with 40C today and 41C tomorrow. Third straight stinker of a weekend but it has cooled down during the week. My passive cellar is at 22C with no variation.

Carl

Holding steady at 20C. the last three months it has ranged from 19.5 to 20.5.
It sat on 19.9 for about 6 weeks straight I reckon.
I was down there friday night putting in my last rack and it was nice and cool.
194 bottles capacity at this stage.
But it looks a bit sad with only 12 bottles in it. I'll fix that when all the gear I bought from the cellar door festival
yesterday goes down there.

[Scotty vino]

Let there be light!! Got a sparky in to install a power point and a bunker light.
used some old vintage gal conduit in an effort to maintain the 'old ' feel.
Now no more bumbling around in the dark looking for the switch as I wired a switch upstairs.

[Croquet King]

I'm using cellar tracker as well.

My cellar is through a trap door in the floor.
I have a fridge that holds about 40 bottles which I've set up as a bin in cellar tracker. When I move bottles between the cellar and the fridge I just need to relocate the bottle in CT.
The majority of wines are drunk from the fridge.

The other storage areas are shelves with boxes on it plus some open racks that hold about 120 bottles.
So longer term storage in the boxes, then I move them to the open racks, then finally up into the wine fridge - ready for consumption.
My wife knows anything in the fridge or open racks are fair game - boxes must not be touched.

In CT there is a report by location which I find useful for spot checking.

[Howie7289]

Hi guys,
I just read your conversation and am always interested in what people are doing when they build cellars. If you're interested, I can share my latest experience of building mine. I live in Brisbane and created a room off our garage which is centrally located and a reasonable size. I'm very happy with how it's come out. I've attached couple aphoto of the finished result but have more if you want to see progress photos and materials.
Cheers
Howie

Cellar 1.jpg

[rossmckay]

Hi guys,
I just read your conversation and am always interested in what people are doing when they build cellars. If you're interested, I can share my latest experience of building mine. I live in Brisbane and created a room off our garage which is centrally located and a reasonable size. I'm very happy with how it's come out. I've attached couple aphoto of the finished result but have more if you want to see progress photos and materials.
Cheers
Howie

Cellar 1.jpg

swish

[Hacker]

Hi guys,
I just read your conversation and am always interested in what people are doing when they build cellars. If you're interested, I can share my latest experience of building mine. I live in Brisbane and created a room off our garage which is centrally located and a reasonable size. I'm very happy with how it's come out. I've attached couple aphoto of the finished result but have more if you want to see progress photos and materials.
Cheers
Howie

Cellar 1.jpg

swish

Hope you have left yourself some brass to fill it!

[Howie7289]

Cost of cellar was $11500 but I did opt for an expensive cellar conditioner. The Eurocave Inoa 25 was $5500. Tassie oak timber was $4300. Refrigeration panels were about $1000. And then a few bits and pieces. I certainly could have saved on the Conditioner but I have used conventional air conditioners before and had problems. I really wanted security of mind knowing that it was going to do the job without breaking down and warranty issues etc. now that it's done, I don't regret spending the money. I'll send some photos with wine in the racks when I get home later.

[Howie7289]

More photos

[Howie7289]

A different angle

[Rocky]

Great shots, thanks. Where did you source the Tasmania racks?

[Howie7289]

I built them from scratch. I just bought lengths on 42x19 for the uprights and 19x19 for the pieces that the bottles sit on. Timber was sourced from a place in Brisbane. Not hard to find. Make up a jig so they are consistent and away you go. It's not difficult. Just very repetitive. The diamond bins are two lengths of oak laminated to make one board of 290x19. Then I used Google sketchup to draw the whole cellar so I knew it would work perfectly and then got the nail gun out. I'll post a view using sketchup.

[Rocky]

Well done. The handyman gene missed me.

[Howie7289]

A view from Sketchup. You make move this around to view it from any angle and it's millimetre perfect.

[Michael McNally]

Bravo Sir!!

Cheers

Michael

[Bobthebuilder]

wow, that's fantastic!
your carpentry skills and design skills are very impressive

[michel]

More photos

lets pick what wines he has

Wirra Wirra I can see
?st huberts
Teusner
Yabby Lake
Howard Park

[redwhiteandrose]

Superb. Deserves mood lighting to bring out its beauty.

[Croquet King]

More photos

lets pick what wines he has

Wirra Wirra I can see
?st huberts
Teusner
Yabby Lake
Howard Park

I can see some Wynns black label, Penfolds plus a couple of sneaky bottle of noble one in the corner.

[Howie7289]

wow, that's fantastic!
your carpentry skills and design skills are very impressive

Seriously, I'm not a carpenter's bootlace. Any mug with a nail gun and a drop saw can do it. There are many things I could have done in a more refined way but when you start putting it together, the imperfections are softened by the overall look of the room. This is the second one I have built. The first one had the same general look but I didn't install a vapour barrier and I used a Fujitsu air conditioner. I had constant problems with the A/C which is why I wanted to have the reassurance of the Eurocave unit. Once the money is spent, you won't regret it. I never look back and think, "Gee I paid too much for that". But when you under spend, you are constantly reminded of it when it breaks down or loses gas, or leaks- which is what kept happening to me.

[Scotty vino]

awesome timber work mate. I need you to fit out the rest of mine. chapeau!

[Howie7289]

awesome timber work mate. I need you to fit out the rest of mine. chapeau!

Shout me a trip to Adelaide and put me up for a few days and I'll see what I can do...

[Scotty vino]

awesome timber work mate. I need you to fit out the rest of mine. chapeau!

Shout me a trip to Adelaide and put me up for a few days and I'll see what I can do...

Can you bring your own timber and tools?

My cellar has been sitting at 18.5 over the last couple of weeks. It's dropped from 20.5 since the height of summer.
Once the cool weather rolled thru it started to creep down.
I guess the best part is that it's a very slow gradual change.
I'm thinking of changing the vintec temp from 13 up to 15.
The default is 12 but I always change it to 13 so I know if we've had an outage.