Dual purpose wine/cigar fridge

[herfdog]

Planning to move (hopefully) soon, and planning what goes where led to discussing both wine choosing and cigar storage. Ideally we need both and could have both at the same location on twin units.

At the store they have a two door wine cooling unit... 20-something bottes each side.
Wondering if one side could be converted to wineador and the other still be used for wine.

Anyone looked at that before?

 

[jonesry09]

I looked at the same thing before I moved in to my new house which has a wine cellar. What I came up with and what the general consensus around here is, is that anything with a condenser is way more hassle than its worth, cigar storage wise. When the condenser turns on, the RH goes way down which leads to you have huge fluctuations in your compartment.
If it's a thermoelectric unit then you are fine. In my searching I didn't find anything of size that was a thermoelectric. The larger the cooler, the more chance that it is a condenser cooling unit.

Do you have a brand and model number?

 

[StogieNinja]

Yeah, and it would work fine since they're basically two wine coolers sharing a wall, like a duplex. The main issue for me would be that the shape of most of the two-sided wine coolers results in a thin interior space, meaning the each drawers is thinner and holds fewer cigars. Basically a lot of wasted space. However if you have a small stash, it would work just fine.

 

[Senor Perfecto]

Dog, I am currently putting the last touches on a Newair 281E wineador, the bottom of which I am making available for my GF to put 4-5 bottles of her best wine into.

At this time, she's not worried about the cigar aroma seeping in through the cork, so we will simply put her bottles into the bottom and I will use the remainder for cigars and media (kitty litter).

Aside: shelves arrived from Forrest last week and they're very good. Ordered a couple of 1-slot drawers that you can only use with the 281E and I love those. The 2-slot double-depth drawer is nice too, and I can use dividers with it or my pull-out shelf to make it 2 layers deep without piling sticks directly on top of each other; but if I get more drawers it'll be singles. I love being able to pull out drawer after drawer of 1-deep cigars, with room for boxes on cedar shelves at the top. This is fun.

I'll let you know if there are any issues with storing the wine and cigars in the same space.

Paulo

 

[herfdog]

Thanks Paulo. Having both in a single place would surely be easier.

Jonesry you are right the good unit with separation is narrow but I figure I might put boxes and narrow shelves. The look would be awesome.

My stash is currently rather thin, but as mentionned, this will change (hopefully) soon. I might plan an extra coolerdor if I am short in space...

 

[herfdog]

Looking online, what I find to be the correct consensus is that wine wont be harmed by cigars.

http://www.winespectator.com/drvinny/show/id/5319

So a big enough cellar converted to humidor would be good; as long as we can keep the température and rh adequate.

What's the word on temps? Most wine fridge like 55-60 degrees...

 

[plumber1965]

As far as temps go. Most of the winedor builds i see are here aim for 65 degrees. I am nowhere near this stage yet but i do like to read!

 

[StogieNinja]

What's the word on temps? Most wine fridge like 55-60 degrees...

You're gonna want to shoot for 65-69, somewhere in there. The problem is most wine coolers won't let you hit that, so your best bet is to hook up an ETC. This will allow you to more accurately control the temp, as well as set certain buffers (like not turning on too often, giving a range of temp that's ok, etc)

 

[herfdog]

Would it be simpler to just make a cabinet from scratch and add an ETC?

Or perhaps convert a preexisting fournitures to a humidor

 

[StogieNinja]

Would it be simpler to just make a cabinet from scratch and add an ETC?

The only thing the etc does is turn power on or off depending on temp.

Your wine cooler is the airtight unit with the cooler and fan. To get that from scratch, you'd have to build a cabinet out of wood lined with Spanish cedar, then purchase a peltier cooler, run power to it,and then rig that to an etc.

 

[Senor Perfecto]

My Newair goes to 65, and usually reads 66. Plenty cool for red wine, and plenty warm for my stoges

 

[herfdog]

Perhaps I'll look into thermally contrôlables pelletier units. Seems like a good solution in all cases.

 

[DocDrake]

Great thread; I want a wineador but my wife is not a fan of tobacco and on the other side of this she likes wine and I don't (Whiskey any day) but now I think I have a solution where we both win. Thank ya'll, I'm gonna try and push her towards getting 32 BTL Electric Wine Cooler Cellar Chiller Single Zone Blk AZ-ea45ec-75 off Amazon with the tax return this year now.

 

[mdwest]

Perhaps I'll look into thermally contrôlables pelletier units. Seems like a good solution in all cases.

Way late commenting on this.... but.. the above is exactly what I am in the process of doing..

you can buy commercial peltier units.. but.. they are outrageously expensive (several hundred to several thousand dollars for one that would cool even a small cabinet... more expensive than just outright buying a wine cooler)..

But.. I found that they are relatively easy to build on your own.. and you can build one large enough to bring down the temperature in a small space (up to a medium sized cabinet) for well less than $100, including the cost of the ETC..

Lots of information on youtube and plenty of places that sell the individual parts if you google...

 

[NJHarley]

I found a a used wine fridge at a local restore for $300. I did have more wine in it at one time but my cigars are taking over.

 

[mdwest]

looks like a condenser type cooling unit on the top... do you use it to control temp? if so, how does it impact your RH?

For $300 thats a very good find nonetheless.. lots of size.. and love the compartmentalization..

 

[NJHarley]

I can set the temp to 70, the only thing I changed was instead of the Moist n Air which is a beast to control I went with the Cigar Oasis Magna which is always spot on. I like the fact that I can stack my smokes similar to an aging room.

 

[mdwest]

Perhaps I'll look into thermally contrôlables pelletier units. Seems like a good solution in all cases.

http://www.adafruit.com/product/1335

this unit got really good reviews.. and is pretty much preassembled.. all you would have to do is add in a power source.. and an ETC.. (which they show in a couple of different videos).. and is only a couple of bucks more expensive than buying the individual parts (the peltier, heatsink, etc..)..

Most of the reviews I read recommended a heatsink on the cold side as well to help disperse the cool air, cover the icy side of the peltier, etc..etc.. but thats only about another $6-$10 depending on what you want to do..