old wine cooler

M

melcardona

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Aug 3, 2025
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steve
hello all.....have had a cedar wood humador for a few yrs..holds 100....i keep the wrapers on them but at some point want to get to good aging , with no wrapers..hence the wine cooler!!! picked it up loc used ..had a leak ,gutted the ref pump....its a topshelf unit dbl glass door top bottom temp stettings lights both levels...i think it held 48 bottles..? ok first i must say after reading on this site 5 min...my main issue was solved...i keep my house at 78...humador was 78...mind you in 4 yrs of storing sticks in 78 ive had no issues in a cooler or wood humador...i keep rh @ 72 ish as my ac in the house kill rh..to about 48-54%.....but with this wine cooler as its tight..i wanted the temp lower...so i walked around the house..no basement...with temp gun...boom my walk in clossett is 72../ 74.......im watching the numbers for a few days to see whats next.?? load or adj?? i do have plenty of cedar boxs inside a loaded sponge and 2 way humador bags....at any given point im swinging 200 plus sticks.....there is a circulation fan on this unit..but my test last wk showed it can bring the temp up 1-2 deg..@78 that was 80..so i no use.....question......do i need the fan on this tight unit??? ...on this type of humador...would you keep them in there wrapers ? just cut ends off? or unwrap them???? i will use this for main storage..but will keep useing cedar box for every day opening......please give your thoughts/ideas.....tks mel....
 
Id keep the wrappers on. I have a thread here for my "poormans tower of power" set up. In it is a link to some fans I found that Im happy with. Without a picture I dont have a feel for how big yours is. Beads are the way to go for humidification unless you have a large cabinet.

HT
 
Hi, Steve, and welcome! Pop on over the the new member introductions forum and let us know a little bit about you. This is a great community! Find it here.


That's a lot of questions there and a little hard for me to follow, but I think most of the experts here (not me, I'm not an expert) would suggest that RH is much more important than temperature, but 72/74 would likely be better than 80. If you are OK putting it in the walk in closet, that might be the spot for it.

I learned after joining here that lower RH than is generally seen recommended on the Internet is probably better, and that is from the real experts, many of whom have thousands of cigars and have been storing them successfully for years. I think you'd be better off aiming for less than the standard 70% RH, maybe around 67-ish? Others will chime in.

You are right about these units sealing very, very well. Several of us have coolers and they are super-stable. But the compressor can cause a lot of issues if you use the cooling. Not saying you can't, but it complicates things a bit. My coolers are in the basement which is 60-66* year round in my area and I run them at 67-68% RH. You'll also learn about colloidal silver here, which can help prevent mold.

Introduce yourself, and I bet you'll get some of the real experts in here shortly. It's amazing the stuff I've learned here in a short time. You can trust the long-term members here better than almost anything you'll turn up on the web, I've learned.

Again, welcome!
 
Oh, yes, wrappers on. I leave them on until I bring them up to smoke, but some like them off. I suggest that you get several months of stable storage at RH below 70% to make sure your environment is stable. You don't want them uncovered until you know that, but then it is probably OK. Some members here take the cello off, most, I think, leave them on for the most part, but the cello will help while you get your new system up and running.

@hydro-terp has one of the nicest beverage cooler setups I've seen, check out his thread in the storage forum.
 
hydro-terp said:
Id keep the wrappers on. I have a thread here for my "poormans tower of power" set up. In it is a link to some fans I found that Im happy with. Without a picture I dont have a feel for how big yours is. Beads are the way to go for humidification unless you have a large cabinet.

HT
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hey ht!! ive kept them on last 4 yrs......but read a guys ideas of just cutting the end so it can breath.....your thoughts??? my unit holds 46 bottles of wine...24 x 24 x36...not sure but should hold 3 to 400 sticks
 
I personally prefer to smoke the wrapper. But hey, to each their own…
 
I just went out and took a couple quick pics. I was going to take some pics of my cooledor as well, but didnt feel like moving it to be able to open in, move the shelves, and take pics.

Anyway....For my winedor.....I bought this for like 50 bucks, maybe 11 or 12 years ago. The guy I bought it from stated that it didnt get/stay cool anymore, so he bought a bigger one for his wine collection. I told him I didnt need it to work....just seal. The room I have this in stays between 70 and 74 degrees. (it may get a little cooler in the winter as I dont have the heat up in that room. Since I now do most of my cooking and baking in this space (long story....but this is ground level, and ease of use for my smoker and griddle), and since I cook down here, nobody bugs me when I am doing so, which leads to almost no bickering/arguments.anyway....ya'll didnt read this for my boring stuff...:)

I bought a piece of shelving, cut it to fit, and put in 2 shelves. I dont have an exact count, but there's somewhere between 750 and 900 sticks in there. Humidity stays 68 to 70%. Sometimes a little higher if it gets into the mid 70's temp-wise.

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nice...the old gal on mp was selling this one for 150....i sent a note...if it has a freeon leek...its only worth 40 bucks to me...she said fine come get it....oh my...i bet this half fridge is easy 120 lb..full dbl glass door all ss....6 ballbaring slides...i did gut the pump and ref system...the dule temps and all lights still work....if i plug it in the circ fan ups my temp 1-2 deg...so i keep it unpluged....in 4 years ive not had a issue with 78 deg at 72 rh...but then thats a cedar chest...............this thing is airtight......so she is sitting at 74-75.....@ 65 rh......so far not loaded her yet....
 
bfreebern said:
I thought this was about drinking an old wine cooler! I need more coffee.
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nice!!!.....im only a stick a day guy.....sorta.....i do have 2 stick days....i let my wife to be know....its her falt...but i thank her....her confusion makes me laugh!!!
 
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