Author Topic: Cave decisions  (Read 1622 times)

Offline scasnerkay

  • Old Cheese
  • *****
  • Location: Sunnyvale, California
  • Posts: 853
  • Cheeses: 197
  • Default personal text
Cave decisions
« on: September 10, 2013, 04:38:55 AM »
ARggh...  My son's old "dorm frig" with the small freezer area now keeps dripping water all over my cheeses which are in their initial drying phase! It used to work pretty well, maintaining 50 degrees, but it was never big enough due to the freezer area.
So, I need help to decide... do I look for a wine/beverage refrigerator, or go for a freezer with a modification of temperature control?
Anyone out there have a vote to cast?  Reasons...?
Thank you,
Susan
Susan

Offline Tiarella

  • Old Cheese
  • *****
  • Location: Chester, MA, US
  • Posts: 1,748
  • Cheeses: 81
  • Default personal text
    • Farm Blog
Re: Cave decisions
« Reply #1 on: September 10, 2013, 11:01:56 AM »
Susan.......I'm in the same position.  Well, almost.  I do have a wine fridge that is dorm fridge sized.  t has no freezer area but still manages to drip water on my cheeses in certain parts of it's interior.  I just hooked up a Johnson controller to a small chest freezer and I'm happy with that for now but if I ever have lots of cheeses in there I'll need to rig some shelves.  Right now all cheeses are not in boxes but at some point I could imagine a few in boxes.  Could be a royal pain to do cheese care in there.  I scan Craig's List for an upright freezer.  from what I understand I need one that doesn't have the shelving racks made of the cooling coils because that'll create that condensation dripping issue.  I think we need freezers that circulate air.  I scrutinize the ad photos trying to determine......and then wimp out because I want one that doesn't use a LOT of electricity and I'm not sure how to figure that out before purchase when buying used.

Someone shared a photo of a nicely tricked out chest freezer.  I think he'd used plastic pipe and fittings to make shelves.  the photos are on the forum somewhere.  Perhaps in a thread I started about caves months ago?  I can't remember.  Good luck!  -Kathrin

Spoons

  • Guest
Re: Cave decisions
« Reply #2 on: September 10, 2013, 02:00:37 PM »
I'd like to see some wine cooler / beverage cooler comparisons too! I'm not quite ready for a cheese cellar yet (im sticking to fresh mozz and squeeky cheese curds ATM), but I've been shopping around and the wine cellar reviews often complain about temp control precision, especially on hotter days. Also, I live in a tiny 700sq foot condo, so i have limited space.

Hope we all find a solution

Offline Tiarella

  • Old Cheese
  • *****
  • Location: Chester, MA, US
  • Posts: 1,748
  • Cheeses: 81
  • Default personal text
    • Farm Blog
Re: Cave decisions
« Reply #3 on: September 10, 2013, 03:14:20 PM »
There's a thread I started on this board titled something like " Will you share photos of your cave?". There are a lot of cool posts there.  Check it out.   :)