ltmikey

[ltmikey]

Since I live on the second floor of an appartment building, I don't have a cellar. I keep my regular everyday drinking bottles in a dark closet that is somehow always 63-65 degrees Fahrenheit, but my treasures are in a cooler unit, which looks like a large fridge (holds about 60 btls.) without a freezer. If I turn the thermostat all the way down the temperature is about 51 degr. The humidity is also sufficient. However, since I keep many long term maturing candidates (10 years minimum)in there, I would like to jack up the temperature to about 61 degrees. Is there a way to "fool" to thermostat or some other trick that will raise the thermostat without causing fluctuations? Since I am not really good with machines I would welcome any input on this point.<BR>Thanks,<P>Mike

[Drew]

I think you mean when you turn the thermostat all the way up you get 51 deg. and if I understand, you wish to make it warmer. You'll probably have to install a thermostat that will allow the temp. ranges you desire and that shouldn't be too expensive.<P>Drew

[winoweenie]

itMikey, welcome to the board. Why would you want to turn the temp up to 61 from a very respectable 51-52 for ageing? If you have some very good bottles, the present temp should be advantageous to the development of the wine. A 10 degree advance would probably advance the optimum ageing of your wines up 10 to 17 percent. Leave your unit alone and if you want some bottles to get ready faster move them suckers to the closet. winoweenie<p>[This message has been edited by winoweenie (edited 10-23-2000).]

[barnesy]

There are also units out there that function as an independent thermostat. You plug them into the wall and then the fridge into the unit. It allows you to set the temp you want from like 50-65 degrees. It has a probe you stick in the fridge and runs the motor of the fridge to keep the inside temp at the desired one. You can order them over the net. If you want more info on them, I can scrounge it up. There is also a string on this topic earlier in the storage post.<P>Barnesy

[winoweenie]

Barnsey, you lil` fountain of trivia youse! WW