Would a wine fridge work?

Discussion in 'Cellaring / Aging Beer' started by torr99, Apr 26, 2015.

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  1. torr99

    torr99 Initiate (0) Apr 15, 2015 Nevada

    I want something on the cheaper side as a starter cellar. Would a temp controlled wine fridge be ok? The issue I'm seeing is that the bottles would be stored horizontal instead of vertical...

    Or could I just buy a cheap mini fridge and set the cold dial really low? Just use my best guess as to being somewhere around 55°?
     
  2. RDMII

    RDMII Initiate (0) Apr 11, 2010 Georgia

    Plenty of people do both of those options.
     
  3. billandsuz

    billandsuz Pooh-Bah (2,097) Sep 1, 2004 New York
    Pooh-Bah

    a good solution for cellaring on the cheap is to spend your time on Craigslist looking for used refrigerators. they come up all the time. if you live near a college town you will find many smaller fridges this time of year. sometimes they are almost free.

    spend some money on an outboard temp controller. the dial kind work great. digital is nice but not really required.
    http://www.amazon.com/Johnson-Contr...r_1_2?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1430074524&sr=1-2

    that will be all you need until your cellar bets too big.
    Cheers.
     
    Monkeyknife and Rsqrd1 like this.
  4. Eriktheipaman

    Eriktheipaman Pooh-Bah (2,303) Sep 4, 2010 California
    Pooh-Bah

    If you get a mini fridge you'll need an external thermostat to adjust the temp. Even if the fridge is set at the highest temp possible it will still most likely be in the safe food temp range and too cold to truly hit cellar temps.
     
    billandsuz likes this.
  5. torr99

    torr99 Initiate (0) Apr 15, 2015 Nevada

    Thanks billandsuz. So I can just purchase that temp controller and hook it up to my mini fridge? Or does it have to be on a regular size fridge?
     
  6. torr99

    torr99 Initiate (0) Apr 15, 2015 Nevada

    Also, are these temp controllers easy to understand and hook up? I'm not the best handyman lol
     
  7. billandsuz

    billandsuz Pooh-Bah (2,097) Sep 1, 2004 New York
    Pooh-Bah

    the temperature controller could not be easier to use.

    place the temp controller senor in the fridge. this is a thin wire that will slip beneath the rubber seal of the fridge door. just place it against a wall and not directly onto the cold plate. tape it to a shelf if you like.
    set the thermostat in the fridge to the coldest.
    plug the fridge into the thermostat.
    plug the thermostat into the receptacle.
    set your temp on the dial.
    the outboard controller over rides the internal fridge temp. when you get to the desired temp the fridge turns off. once you get 3 degrees above the set temp it turns back on. the electronic controller allows you to set the differential (more or less than 3 degrees...) but that is about it.

    Cheers.
     
  8. torr99

    torr99 Initiate (0) Apr 15, 2015 Nevada

    Thanks. Huge help
     
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