Magic Chef 30 bottle wine cooler

[macox700]

Hi - I am preparing for when I make cheese that needs to age a bit and have been reading a great deal on here about all the different cheese caves.   I'm not electrically inclined nor is my husband.  I told him last night he might have to learn a little about electrical things and he kind of turned a little pale.     jk..   

So... I've been trying to figure out what to use that would require the least amount of changes necessary so I don't accidentally blow myself up or the house :-)... anyway... I am a wine loving person too and I have two wine coolers in my house, one of which could be allocated to cheese making at the moment.  I was looking at the smaller one that holds 30 bottles by Magic Chef (Model : MCWC30MCG, if interested) and noticed it has adjustable temperature settings.  I set it in the middle on the thermostat and tested the temps and it looks like it is maintaining about 50 - 58 depending on the spot in the cooler.  It's a little cooler at bottom, a little warmer at top, which apparently is how it's made according to the manual.   I will have to remove the wavy wire shelves and put in other shelves, but it would seem to me that this might work.

Questions:

From what I've read on this fabulous forum, that seems to generally about the right temperature settings for most cheeses to age, correct? 

If it is, maybe I don't have to do anything else to it with an external thermostat, etc.?  I would just have to figure out the humidity settings at this point?

Is anyone else using this particular wine cooler as a cave?  Any problems/issues?

Thank you!
Mary-Austin  (double first name, which I probably didn't explain in my intro)

[steampwr8]

I am using two 8 bottle wine coolers and a 30 bottle wine cooler like yours with great success. Temperature is easy to control with the internal settings at first. they tend to vary 5 to 10 degrees when the cooler is running. For instance mine won't come ON until 62 degrees and may not shut off until 50 degrees. but it is more stable as you put more cheese in it.

Your biggest challenge is humidity as an cooler is a dehumidifier normally. You will have to play with methods to get the humidity high enough, 70% or so. I bought a table top humidifier for about $15 for the first go.

You will want to invest in a temperature humidity sensor like the following: http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1vZ1xno/R-100583371/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

This system works good and the base unit will support 3 tranmitters(sensors).

Good luck!

[ancksunamun]

I also use a wine chiller fridge and have had no problems with it. The unit I have has two temperature zones which allows me to store different cheeses at different temperatures.

It is designed to hold between 60 and 70% humidity but I also add a tray of water just to keep it up there.

From my experience this type of unit works well.

[macox700]

Thank you both!