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GENERAL CHEESE MAKING BOARDS (Specific Cheese Making in Boards above) => EQUIPMENT - Aging Cheese, Caves => Topic started by: Dorchestercheese on May 13, 2018, 02:28:18 PM
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I have a wine fridge and found that it is to small if you are making many cheeses. There is only room for a few cheeses and one container of Brine. Also for some reason it cost me $45.00 US to run it for one month. I am going to use it for blues or washed rind cheese only and then shut it down. I don't know if its just the brand that I bought that uses this much elec. or if it's the same with all wine fridges. I last week I bought a Frigidaire model FFFH21F4QW freezer that I am using with a temp controller. Doesn't come on nearly as much as the wine cave and doesn't run as long to cool it down with plenty of space for a lot of cheeses.
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That's a nice one! For whatever reasons wine fridges seem to be a little harder to keep at %RH targets though. Not sure why and no scientific data to support that, just anecdotal feedback from customers. Hopefully someone with a similar cooler can comment.
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I've had the same experience with my wine fridge. When it comes on, I get a fluctuation of 25-30 % RH.
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I like that a lot--especially the wooden shelving.
It's about 1.5X the size of my wine fridges--I use three of them. (I can have cheeses at three different temps and humidities)
They're great for being able to choose temps in the ranges that are perfect for cheeses. And the compressors are very small and cycle for only short times.
I don't know why Panamamike had such high energy usage--together my three wine coolers don't change my electric bill by more than $15/month.
But like others have said, the cooling function sucks the humidity right out--as any refrigerator does.
I've found that by using the kind of mister/fogger that people use for reptile tanks and a humidity controller, I can keep RH levels stable wherever I want--typically 85%.
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Thanks everyone on your thoughts. I'll consider what everyone has said. I need more space so I can age longer and biggier wheels.