What's going on in your winery today..

[Cellar_Rat]

blimey - are you allowed to do that in the kitchen!

Nice work. As much as I moan about bottling, the sight of a counter, packed full of you own wine is rather nice.

[robwrx]

Wow! That is a marvellous sight. It puts my 20 odd bottles to shame.

[Holly]

Where do you find the space to store all that wine?!

Speaking of storage, how do you store yours? Wine rack, boxes, apright, on there side.....in your stomach etc?!

After being given my mother in law's wine making stuff she was stunned to hear i'd overflowed a 90 bottle wine rack in 2.5 months. Obviously she didn't make wine with the intention of being self sufficient. Anyway, i'm now in need of more storage and was wondering what you guys thought was best.

[goldseal]

I have 3 x 90 bottle racks (two in the garage, one in a dining room cabinet) and one approx. 150 bottle rack under the stairs. Oh, and about 50 bottles in boxes.

Keep your bottles on their sides or upside down to keep the corks moist.

I found that ingenuity, cunning and desperation are useful tools in finding space to store your wine.

Ideally you want cellar temperatures for storage, but in my opinion anywhere that isn't above room temperature and doesn't suffer from wild temperature variations is OK.

[NorthernWiner]

blimey - are you allowed to do that in the kitchen!

Nice work. As much as I moan about bottling, the sight of a counter, packed full of you own wine is rather nice.

The missus helps bottle, which makes the work go faster. And I'm allowed to use the kitchen... as long as I clean up my mess.

[NorthernWiner]

Where do you find the space to store all that wine?!

Speaking of storage, how do you store yours? Wine rack, boxes, apright, on there side.....in your stomach etc?!

After being given my mother in law's wine making stuff she was stunned to hear i'd overflowed a 90 bottle wine rack in 2.5 months. Obviously she didn't make wine with the intention of being self sufficient. Anyway, i'm now in need of more storage and was wondering what you guys thought was best.

I have a 3 foot crawl space in the cellar where I can fit about 50-60 cases. After that, it goes into a couple of overflow wine racks (I paid very little for them on craigslist). All told, I think I have space for around 1000 or so bottles

[Holly]

Oh, to have that kind of set up!

Finding cheap wine racks is the thing i think. I don't have a cellar, but i've turned under the stairs into "fermentation central" and its storing my quick drinking wine's. I've cleared out an upstairs cupboard (don't panic, its a big cupboard) and thats going to be for my long term wines. Just needs those racks now.

[lockwood1956]

Beers and wines prepared for Saturdays Yorkshire Federation Show in Scarborough....

mixed bunch, some good , some just ok ish (but all i had for the class)

The sparkly that took 1st prize last year has had an extra year in the bottle and is very much better for it, so have reasonably high hopes for it......(so thats a last place coming then)

regards
Bob

[Cellar_Rat]

Winery's are like grapevines they just keep on growing.

Make no mistake however much space you have it is not enough.
I have no 'under the house' space. So when I got back into grape enhancing I quickly needed a shed, I am now on my second shed and its too full too.

I know someone who has a double garage and would also say he needs more space

[RTPFUN]

Where do you find the space to store all that wine?!

Speaking of storage, how do you store yours? Wine rack, boxes, apright, on there side.....in your stomach etc?!

After being given my mother in law's wine making stuff she was stunned to hear i'd overflowed a 90 bottle wine rack in 2.5 months. Obviously she didn't make wine with the intention of being self sufficient. Anyway, i'm now in need of more storage and was wondering what you guys thought was best.

hi Holly as we're all not for spending money on racks I buy the Albert Shelving unit £12.99 from IKEA move the shelves up allowing for 3 x 5 gallon carboys on the floor between the legs and on the shelves put stops at each end ( bits of wood to stop the bottles falling off) and i can get 120 or so bottles stacked on their sides. Don't worry about placing bottles on top of other bottles when they're on their side they'll be fine stacked 3 or 4 rows high. And don't forget to secure the shelving to the wall with the bracket that they provide.

[Holly]

hi Holly as we're all not for spending money on racks I buy the Albert Shelving unit £12.99 from IKEA move the shelves up allowing for 3 x 5 gallon carboys on the floor between the legs and on the shelves put stops at each end ( bits of wood to stop the bottles falling off) and i can get 120 or so bottles stacked on their sides. Don't worry about placing bottles on top of other bottles when they're on their side they'll be fine stacked 3 or 4 rows high. And don't forget to secure the shelving to the wall with the bracket that they provide.

Thank you! you've just saved me from an argument with the other half about the expense of wine racks!! All i need now is a trip to IKEA and a visit from my dad with a drill!!

What do you do if you need a bottle at the bottom?!

[RTPFUN]

bottled a "my version" of the Lychee wine ( it was nice going into the bottles if it turns out good in a couple of months I'll put the recipe on here)and the 2nd Torrontes Chardonnay all 30 bottles didn't drop any this time. Had a good tidy up of the cellar plenty on the drink me now shelf.
And Hi Holly there's a knack to getting a bottle from the bottom you pull the bottom one out slowly and encourage one from the row above to replace it, a little prayer helps too and whatever you do don't no don't do it when you've tested too many wines. But to be honest I always do 5 gallons at a time so that's a shelf full of the same wine. Then I collect a few and put them on the drink me now shelf saves messing and drink stuff too soon to.
Edit- Oh the drink me now shelf the bottles are upright supermarket style they're never there long so the corks don't dry out and it helps the dust/sediment in the reds go to the bottom of the bottle.

[RTPFUN]

well that's it the warm cupboard is empty all that was left has been racked, sorbated, sulphated, degassed and finings added and we can go on holiday leaving all the heaters off.

[lockwood1956]

Wines (mine and Martina's) loaded into the car....off to the Federation Show in Scarbotrough

Wish us luck

regards
Bob

[Cellar_Rat]

May the water go anywhere but not in your wine! good luck!