Author Topic: My new Cave - 1 still available  (Read 4679 times)

MarkShelton

  • Guest
My new Cave - 1 still available
« on: March 25, 2010, 12:12:13 AM »
I just found this steal on ebay, and since I've been scouring the globe for an affordable, appropriate cheese cave, this was like a dream come true.
It is a 18 bottle wine fridge with:
  • 2 temperature zones ranging from 46 - 64 F
  • electronic controls
  • internal fan
  • + a variety of other features
The only catch was that it is a scratch and dent, and no pictures are provided to show the extent of damage. For just $90 and free shipping, though, I think it's well worth it to replace my drippy, old dorm fridge cave.
There is currently one still available, so if anyone is interested, I wouldn't hesitate to snatch it up.
Or, if someone has had a good or bad experience with this or a similar product let me know.

Offline DeejayDebi

  • Old Cheese
  • *****
  • Location: Connecticut
  • Posts: 5,820
  • Cheeses: 106
    • Deejays Smoke Pit and DSP Forums
Re: My new Cave - 1 still available
« Reply #1 on: March 25, 2010, 02:04:40 AM »
Thanks Mark.

My mini cave is the thermo electric type and I love it. The glass front might be nice to watch my fermented or dry aged sausages cure in they can be a bit trickier than cheese sometimes.

MarkShelton

  • Guest
Re: My new Cave - 1 still available
« Reply #2 on: March 25, 2010, 02:12:14 AM »
Did you buy it? It looks like somebody did; it says the auction has ended.

Offline DeejayDebi

  • Old Cheese
  • *****
  • Location: Connecticut
  • Posts: 5,820
  • Cheeses: 106
    • Deejays Smoke Pit and DSP Forums
Re: My new Cave - 1 still available
« Reply #3 on: March 25, 2010, 02:20:08 AM »
Yep I did. Thanks again now we can compare notes!  ;)

I had a hard time getting through the pay thingy my popup blocker wouldn't turn off.

Majoofi

  • Guest
Re: My new Cave - 1 still available
« Reply #4 on: March 25, 2010, 05:42:30 AM »
Well, Mark, my first thought is that it's not very big. I've considered wine fridges which have very nice temp controls,  but I've always found the shelving to be very weird You'd have to take the shelves out and put something of your own device in. Perhaps with a huge wine fridge, but then they're very expensive.

I'm using a costco dorm fridge now and it doesn't take much to fill it up.

MarkShelton

  • Guest
Re: My new Cave - 1 still available
« Reply #5 on: March 25, 2010, 12:35:58 PM »
Yeah, I know it not the biggest, but it does come out to more space than the dorm fridge I have now, plus the fact that I don't need an external thermostat, and it doesn't drip, is nice. As for the shelving, the auction said that there are wooden shelves that are available. That's if I can't whip something up.
Here's a pic of the wooden shelves:

Majoofi

  • Guest
Re: My new Cave - 1 still available
« Reply #6 on: March 25, 2010, 03:18:02 PM »
actually those wooden shelves look pretty decent. Most wine coolers have wire shelves that wouldn't work. Still you'd have to pull out some of the shelves for a large cheese, but you could do lots of most 2 gallon batches.

homeacremom

  • Guest
Re: My new Cave - 1 still available
« Reply #7 on: March 25, 2010, 10:39:16 PM »
Thanks! I know this deal is gone, but I never thought of watching on ebay.   :P

Something like this is small, but I'm wanting an isolated cave for Brie.

MarkShelton

  • Guest
Re: My new Cave - 1 still available
« Reply #8 on: March 25, 2010, 11:01:44 PM »
I think its really nice to have 2 cooling zones that are separate. That way I can have optimum aging conditions for 2 types of cheeses. Or, store my wine in a separate compartment than cheese. (My best bottles at least :D)

Offline DeejayDebi

  • Old Cheese
  • *****
  • Location: Connecticut
  • Posts: 5,820
  • Cheeses: 106
    • Deejays Smoke Pit and DSP Forums
Re: My new Cave - 1 still available
« Reply #9 on: March 26, 2010, 12:24:45 AM »
I liked the two zone concept and that I didn't have to buy another therocontroler. Size is not a problem for me it's finding room to put it in the house - that is a problem!

MarkShelton

  • Guest
Re: My new Cave - 1 still available
« Reply #10 on: March 30, 2010, 12:40:39 PM »
I got mine in yesterday! It was a little smaller than I imagined, especially since when it arrived, the box was huge. Inside that box was another box surrounded with styrofoam and empty space. Inside that box was the fridge, wrapped up in about 4 layers of thick bubble wrap. I wasn't quite sure what the condition would be since it is a 'scratch-and-dent' but was pleased that it only had one minor dent on top in the back.
Plugged it in and it works fine. I threw some bottles of wine in to test it out and... well... some of the larger 750ml burgundy bottles don't quite fit :P I'll live with it since it's primarily for cheese.
Now I need to make some shelves for it. It came with the wavy wire shelves for bottles, and I'm not about to pay $50 for teak shelving. The local hardware/lumber store has 1/4 aspen that I'll lattice together to make the shelves for much less.
More pictures to come.

SANDQ

  • Guest
advice on caves
« Reply #11 on: March 30, 2010, 11:04:06 PM »
Hi guys,
 I very ignorantly let a little dorm fridge go for peanuts, before I learned I t would be good for a cave. Im using my kitchen fridge now, but as I go in and out of that regularly I cant keep the reguklar ambient temperature for aging cheese. Im now left with the dilema of spending more than I sold the old fridge for to replace it! So, if I have to do this and Im only producing cheddar, ant thoughts on what would be the best thindg to buy?

SANDQ

  • Guest
advice on caves
« Reply #12 on: March 30, 2010, 11:09:47 PM »
sorry for not proof reading the last message before posting it   >:(

MarkShelton

  • Guest
Re: My new Cave - 1 still available
« Reply #13 on: March 31, 2010, 01:37:28 AM »
I'd say that if you plan on making a lot of cheese, I mean a whole lot, a commercial-type fridge like Wayne's would be an excellent choice, assuming you have the space and plan on aging cheeses for a while, as I assume you would with your cheddars. If you make only 1 a week, thats 52 cheeses that will accumulate in your fridge until the first one is ready to break open if you're going to age them for a year. You'll need to install an external thermostat to keep the temp right, and devise a way to maintain the correct humidity (ie a small humidifier, or cookie sheets of water)

If that's a little big for your operations now, then I'd go with a smaller-ish household frigde without a freezer. Really you don't need the freezer for cheese, and you'd have to get a second external thermostat to control the freezer compartment. Stick with forced air, as I have found that increasing humidity is much easier than decreasing it. I'd avoid the small stand-up freezers, as a lot of them have the cooling coils throughout and at the temperatures for cheese aging, I assume they will constantly drip like my old dorm fridge.

I don't have any experience at all with chest freezers. I don't think they have coils inside that will drip, but I'm not sure how well they work. I know other members here have used them, maybe they will chime in.

After having a dorm fridge, I really don't recommend it, unless you make just a little cheese and it is all waxed and impervious to the constant dripping. The wine fridge I just got is smaller I think, but much more efficient in terms of space usage, so it kinda equals out. Wine fridges are much more expensive when compared to regular household fridges though, but mine will age at the right temperature without an external thermostat. I haven't had it long enough to determine how good it is at maintaining humidity.

I'm not electrically inclined, nor do I have an engineering background, but some other members are quite adept at making their own microcontrollers for humidity, temperature, air flow, etc that automate their whole aging process. There are plenty of topics in this category that address this, if this is something you can do.

If you really, REALLY want to make a lot of cheese, you could always build a cool room dedicated to aging cheeses. I have seen closet-sized ones that people have made to age wines. If this is the case, get all the bells and whistles. Automated controllers for everything! We all can dream...  ;D

and don't worry about proofreading! Nobody is going to deduct points for spelling or grammar ;)

Offline DeejayDebi

  • Old Cheese
  • *****
  • Location: Connecticut
  • Posts: 5,820
  • Cheeses: 106
    • Deejays Smoke Pit and DSP Forums
Re: My new Cave - 1 still available
« Reply #14 on: March 31, 2010, 03:36:06 AM »
A few people here tried chest freezers and gave it up. they are to difficult if not somewhat imposible to keep the humidty low enough. They tend to puddle. I believe Wayne was one of them. You'll find thread about it here somewhere.

For a smaller fridge I have have great luck with a small freeserless dorm fridge with electronic cooling made by Hairer (?) called Nucool.  Many people are having good luck with the wine coolers. I also have a large dorm fridge with a freezer and a theromcontroller. Neither of my dorm fridges drip.  I use the two dorm frdges for a 2 phase ripening process. First month it stays in the smaller electronic fridge in my kitchen (it sit on top of my microwave) for constant monitoring. Second phase I vaccuum seal and send to the basement in the larger dorm fridge which holds about 38, 4-5 pound cheese wheels. I plan to add a full size fridge as soon as the water in my basement recedes for the final aging.