Chiller / Humidity

I am not sure as to what to call you, so I will get right down to just giving you my answer to your question. I am not in the camp of those who say that wines have to be kept at a certain humidity level. I do think that unless one is keeping wines in a very dry almost desert like dry air, then regular humidity in nature will be fine. I have kept my wine in a 450 bottle wine cabinet for several years and do not use any additional moisture. I also have some overflow that I can't get in the cabinet and keep those in a static (basement) rack(s) no problems in many years.


Added thoughts:

If I wanted to add moisture to the chiller I think what I would do instead of a glass of water is to put a small dish like a saucer with a damp/wet wash cloth. That moisture would then evaporate into the interior keeping humidity quite high, it might be a better solution than a glass and be less likely to get tipped over making a mess.

Two things:

1) There's some new research which indicates that humidity might not be as important as people once thought:

WS: Kramer On Closures...

2) With the small wine fridges, your big problem will be ice buildup within the fridge [and bottles freezing, for that matter].

To the extent that more moisture means even more ice buildup, I'd forgo the moisture.

Thanks DJ hope all continues well with your wines, as I am sure they will. My wife is from Abilene, so I understand about the dry air. We hope you will stay around and talk wine with us.

Bob,

This is D.J. here ... I had to re-register because my account was locked. It's probably better ... I actually read the forum rules so my nickname is now more appropriate.

Thanks for all the advice! My biggest fear is that I'll save a wine for 15 years and it will be completely destroyed.

Thanks for the clarifier DJ. In your original you didn't say how cool your chiller is keeping your wine, but if it is around 60-65 or even in the mid 50's you are just fine for many years to come. The main thing is to watch that there are no temperature spikes. By that I mean no sudden temperature changes like say 65 today and 74 tomorrow and back to 68 the day after. Consistency is what we are looking for. Also, bear in mind that wines age slower at lower temps and faster at higher readings. 55 degrees is reported to be the optimum temperature and it is what I set my wine cabinet for. If I understand though when you move to NH most of your wine storage problems will all disappear? will you have a passive cellar there? Or will you have a temp controlled cellar? the latter is best, but if you can keep away from temperature spikes all will be well.

Bob,

Right now I the cooler is set to stay between 55 and 60 degrees. It has a digital readout and I've never seen it get above 60.

My wife and I are building a house in new hampshire next year. I've drawn up initial plans for a cellar in the basement. The walls will be insulated and I will be putting in a wine refrigeration unit to keep the temperature around 60 degrees.

So it's not that New Hampshire will necessarily solve my problems, but the new cellar will certainly solve a few of them.

By the way, I'm also into home winemaking ... so the cellar will have a working wine making area with sink and shelves for carboys and 6-gallon oak barrels.

You are a lucky man DJ McQuade! Stick around and tell us how it all goes. I envy anyone with a walk in wine cellar. How many bottles capacity do you envision for your cellar?