Beer Cellar thread - real cellars, closet cellars, fridge cellars, freezer cellars, wine coolers

[gnarleybarley]

Finally got around to clean and organize my happy place

 

[maca1028]

Not much, but it's a start

 

[DanzBorin]

Not much, but it's a start

I love the Half Acre label. Peel it back for a surprise.

 

[GreenMtnMike]

It's getting there. They used to sell these racks at Ikea for $10. It looks like I'll take some tips from here to build my next one. I'm looking at a QBD fridge for smaller bottles/stuff on deck. Does anyone have any experience with the brand?

 

[PeelBacks]

Peel it back for a surprise.

 

[Adam Jackson]

Moved into my new place. Took some ****** photos:

 

[regularjohn]

Moved into my new place. Took some ****** photos:

see what you really wanna do to maximize space is remove one of those LP's from the rack and send it to me, because its taking up way too much room

 

[xscottypx]

converted freezer

mini wine fridge for my nicer stuff

glasses cus glasses

cabinet with stuff that wont fit in freezer fridge

lambic rack, lower lever, glasses. bottles on top are empty

 

[ridglens]

boy, if i ever need to feel inadequate, i come to this thread.... works every time!

 

[xscottypx]

I'm genuinely interested as to why you've angled the shelves downward like that. I'm usually a store standing up, but am happy to store horizontally as well, but I imagine with lambics that angling them downward like that would put all the sediment and gunk right at the base of the cork? I'll be building my new shelving soon I'll be having the woodshop kids build my new shelving soon, so I was curious.

i checked my Armand Series bottles since they are the worst bottles ever and slant when horizontal. sediment was indeed going to the cork. was not backing up there but was indeed moving. i gave mine a swish and move them all horizontal.

 

[stakem1]

Oh this thread...such beauty. Meni organizational skills in full effect. Wow the finesse and glorious eye candy.

Meanwhile my basement be the beer version of this:

 

[stupac2]

Oh this thread...such beauty. Meni organizational skills in full effect. Wow the finesse and glorious eye candy.

Meanwhile my basement be the beer version of this:

I actually want to see that. There's beauty in chaos.

 

[stakem1]

I actually want to see that. There's beauty in chaos.

No, its embarrassing.

 

[ckobes]

No, its embarrassing.

 

[stupac2]

It's 85 outside right now, the interior of my house has to be 10 degrees hotter (I'm sweating wearing only shorts and in the breeze of two fans), and my basement cellar is still below 70. Hurray!

 

[bdogg1]

What is a basement, LOL. Some of those collections are rather impressive.

 

[oregonskibum1]

My winter 2014 project, almost complete. Replacing two terribly inefficient coolers with one cool cedar cellar. In my 24x32 shop.

Before:

Exterior, just missing cooling unit:

And the interior. The ceramic heater is installed. Both cooling and heating are run off a dual stage temp controller running to two outlets. Back left is the lambic shelf. Room is lined and shelves are cedar.

 

[xscottypx]

My winter 2014 project, almost complete. Replacing two terribly inefficient coolers with one cool cedar cellar. In my 24x32 shop.

Before:

Exterior, just missing cooling unit:

And the interior. The ceramic heater is installed. Both cooling and heating are run off a dual stage temp controller running to two outlets. Back left is the lambic shelf. Room is lined and shelves are cedar.

you win the internet today. beautiful

 

[xscottypx]

with that, question.... that cedar is dope. cedar has a very strong smell. has anyone ever long term or had long term aged gueuze / lambic that picked up odors from a cellar? we know oxygen can get into bottles, hoes dow this affect taste?

 

[oregonskibum1]

I laid the cedar boards out to dry for a couple days before hanging them. I should have left them out for a week or two, as I learned after the fact that they were still moist. It added to the humidity in the room. And I don't have an exhaust fan (not sure if I should). So that moisture and strong cedar aroma lasted for a bit. But in the past week or so, the smell has started to subside. I think if I had properly dried the boards, this would have been less of an issue. But I have wondered whether I'm making a new humidor series of Cantillons.

One thing to consider. Outside of letting the room air out for an extended period of time, any interior is going to off gas. My first option was mildew resistant sheetrock and paint. That would have added a heavy chemical smell to the air. Then I realized cedar was only $50 more expensive than sheetrock and paint, so went with the natural unfinished route.

 

[stupac2]

with that, question.... that cedar is dope. cedar has a very strong smell. has anyone ever long term or had long term aged gueuze / lambic that picked up odors from a cellar? we know oxygen can get into bottles, hoes dow this affect taste?

Do we know that? We know bottles can oxidize, but:

1) Oxidation doesn't require oxygen (and from what I've read some of the primary aging pathways use other oxidants).
2) There's already plenty of oxygen in the headspace.

Anyway, even if oxygen can diffuse into bottles at a reasonable, the odor molecules are going to be a lot bigger and so will diffuse into bottles much more slowly. (I don't know the exact equation for diffusion through a barrier based on size, but my guess is it scales at something like size^2.)

Oh, another thing to consider is that even if the odor gets into the bottles brett might be able to break it down. This is just wild-ass speculation on part but brett seems to be able to eat pretty much anything organic, so maybe it can!

 

[xscottypx]

i have not aged much past 5-6 years, i know older bottles can have that musty dank basement flavor. pure curiosity.

 

[stupac2]

i have not aged much past 5-6 years, i know older bottles can have that musty dank basement flavor. pure curiosity.

I think that's not from the smell moving in, but just how they oxidize. Could also be brett strains, they're known to be musty sometimes.

 

[parkingphi]

My winter 2014 project, almost complete. Replacing two terribly inefficient coolers with one cool cedar cellar. In my 24x32 shop.

Before:

Exterior, just missing cooling unit:

And the interior. The ceramic heater is installed. Both cooling and heating are run off a dual stage temp controller running to two outlets. Back left is the lambic shelf. Room is lined and shelves are cedar.

Tour next time I'm back in PDX?

 

[oregonskibum1]

Tour next time I'm back in PDX?

Sure, if you're willing to drive all the way down here. Just don't bring Ralph - don't trust that guy.

 

[parkingphi]

Sure, if you're willing to drive all the way down here. Just don't bring Ralph - don't trust that guy.

He's got some sketchy looking eyes.

 

[gueuze_goon]

Not near the level of most in here, but my humble collection. Just moved it all into these racks in a properly controlled unit this weekend. My AC units have been struggling all spring, this summer would have been the summer they died. Safe and secure. Mostly Crooke Stave, Avery and lambic, but many other goodies in there as well, and some junk I was given.

 

[jtmartino1]

Did some spring cleaning of my "cellar" a couple weeks back - I'm over capacity by about 100 bottles so I had to prioritize what goes into the fridge. Took out all my Black Tuesday because it will hold up better against temperature fluctuations.

Also had to reinforce the shelves a bit. Everything worked out well, but I forgot to take an "after" pic.

 

[stupac2]

Did some spring cleaning of my "cellar" a couple weeks back - I'm over capacity by about 100 bottles so I had to prioritize what goes into the fridge. Took out all my Black Tuesday because it will hold up better against temperature fluctuations.

Also had to reinforce the shelves a bit. Everything worked out well, but I forgot to take an "after" pic.

Liked for the toolbox. One like that is one of my biggest house-related wants.

 

[jtmartino1]

Liked for the toolbox. One like that is one of my biggest house-related wants.

I have another one just out of the picture on the left. Between bikes, cars, furniture projects and general household maintenance stuff, they've been put to good use.

If you're going to fill it up, get one with ball-bearing drawers.