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Help! Wine cabinet problem - Wet racks - too humid?

 
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Help! Wine cabinet problem - Wet racks - too humid? - 11/3/2008 11:46:03 PM   
grafstrb

 

Posts: 507
Joined: 11/6/2007
From: Los Angeles, via Minnesota
Status: offline 		So, I just removed all the bottles from one of my stacking shelves in my Eurocave wine cabinet for the purposes of re-organizing and hopefully making more room ... while taking out my bottles I noticed many of them were rather wet. After I got all the bottles off the shelf I noticed the part of the shelf that was near the rear of the cabinet was very wet.

It seems to me that it would be a stupid idea to leave a wet wooden rack in the wine cabinet, so I've removed it and am hoping it will air-dry within the next 24 hours. My most prized bottles are sitting in the lone cooler I own, and the other bottles are packed tightly into a couple large suitcases.

A few questions ...

1. First and foremost, will my wine likely be alright sitting outside the cabinet for a day or two? (High temps in the area have been around low 70's the past couple days)

2. Is my wine cabinet too humid? (I don't have a humidity gauge, so I can't tell what the humidity level is, but I did have to towel-dry a generous amount of condensation from the inside cabinet walls)

3. Wet wooden racks are bad, right?

4. Has anyone experienced this problem before? If "yes," what did you do about it?

Thanks to all who chime in.

- Brian
Post #: 1
RE: Help! Wine cabinet problem - Wet racks - too humid? - 11/4/2008 12:02:36 AM   
Wrighty

 

Posts: 768
Joined: 10/3/2005
From: Hong Kong
Status: offline 		Brian,

Have the same problem, moisture condenses on the cooling unit at the back and drips down.  Most of it gets to a drip tray (I think) but some hits the shelves.  In HK the humidt gets over 95% in the summer so there is little I can do other than not open the fridge too often.  I haven't found the wet shelves to be a problem although they're damp, not sodden and taking the wine out every now and again to sort out the fridge doesn't seem to have affected any of the bottles I've had in there over the last 5 or 6 years.

I don't do much about this now, just try to ensure nothing is touching the back of the fridge so that any drips go down to the bottom and not onto the racks or bottles.

Not sure if my 'do little' answers have helped much but I wouldn't worry to much (unless lots of other people tell you to and then I will as well!)

Wrighty

(in reply to grafstrb)
Post #: 2
RE: Help! Wine cabinet problem - Wet racks - too humid? - 11/4/2008 12:08:41 AM   
grafstrb

 

Posts: 507
Joined: 11/6/2007
From: Los Angeles, via Minnesota
Status: offline 		Wrighty,

Thanks for the quick response ... will help me sleep better tonight.   Objectively speaking, I'm not horribly concerned ... however, the anal-retentive wine geek part of me is kinda freaking out right now ... I'll check in tomorrow to see what others have said ... then hopefully I'll know if all my freaking was for any good reason ... [my fingers are crossed]

-Brian

(in reply to Wrighty)
Post #: 3
RE: Help! Wine cabinet problem - Wet racks - too humid? - 11/4/2008 12:30:34 AM   
NiklasW

 

Posts: 509
Joined: 10/13/2007
From: Finland
Status: online 		I guess the humidity won't do anything to the wine, since they are experimenting with sinking wine bottles into the sea for long periods of time! The corks will keep the liquid outside as much as it does inside... On the other hand your labels will suffer for sure and that may be a problem (or irritating at most). That the racks get soaking wet can't be good in the long term, they'll start rotting and might break under the weight of the bottles! What a horror show if you one day opened your fridge to find several bottles crashing out onto the floor .

I had a slight flooding problem in my cellar a couple of months ago. There must have been 1-2 cm (less than an inch?) of water on the concrete floor of it. Humidity was up at 95% for a month as it dried out and is now down to 89% (normally it is between 70-85%). The only thing that worried me was that the cheap wooden shelving would start rotting at the base, but it looks like it's dried out now.

(in reply to grafstrb)
Post #: 4
RE: Help! Wine cabinet problem - Wet racks - too humid? - 11/4/2008 8:13:01 AM   
fingers

 

Posts: 736
Joined: 8/26/2006
From: Santa Ana, CA
Status: offline 		Brian,

Get one of these to monitor hydration:

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2049773


Easy, cheap, works well, and there's Radio Shack's everywhere.  I like that it has a remote sensor so I can have the unit outside of the cellar and read the inside values.  It also remembers the high and low values over time. 

_____________________________

"A glass of wine is great refreshment after a hard days work."

Ludwig Van Beethoven

(in reply to NiklasW)
Post #: 5
RE: Help! Wine cabinet problem - Wet racks - too humid? - 11/4/2008 9:40:55 AM   
rbazinet

 

Posts: 188
Joined: 4/13/2008
From: Toronto, Ontario
Status: offline 		I doubt your wine cabinet is too humid.  No doubt the air has a fair amount of water in it, and when it hits the temperature of your cellar, it condensates, dropping the humidity.  It is hard to make air at 55 F too humid, because the humidity keeps precipitating out.  A simple solution might be to leave a towel under the cooling unit, or even some paper towels.  You might have to change them every so long.  The water will likely collect nearest the cooling unit, especially any metal parts.

(in reply to grafstrb)
Post #: 6
RE: Help! Wine cabinet problem - Wet racks - too humid? - 11/4/2008 9:48:30 AM   
kelpcowboy

 

Posts: 95
Joined: 9/12/2008
From: Anacortes, WA
Status: offline 		Brian,

Last year a local diver came by the office for a glass of wine on a Friday afternoon (office manual says corks come out at 4PM sharp) and brought along a bottle of red that he found on the bottom of a marina while working.  After speculating as to it's drinkability, the cork came out and we all enjoyed a nice Cab-Merlot blend of unknown origin, the label having long been replaced by barnacles.  The empty still sits in the rack.

If you are concerned about moisture, you might want to place a Dry-Z-Air dehumidifier in the Eurocave.  They are about 6" in diameter and do a good job of pulling excessive moisture out of the air.  Most marine supply stores stock them.


_____________________________

terroir, terroir, terroir

(in reply to fingers)
Post #: 7
RE: Help! Wine cabinet problem - Wet racks - too humid? - 11/4/2008 12:13:54 PM   
grafstrb

 

Posts: 507
Joined: 11/6/2007
From: Los Angeles, via Minnesota
Status: offline 		Thank you for your replies, gentleman.  When I awoke this morning the rack was nearly completely dried-out (I kept a running fan pointed at it while I slept last night).  I'll probably have to repeat this process for the other two wooden racks in there, and then just be careful not to let the bottles touch the back wall from here on out.

fingers,
thanks for that link ... i'll have to get one of those ... i like the idea of it recording the high/low over time ... will be a good check on the temp and humidity swings my cabinet experiences.

niklas,
the label thing = no big deal, as long as they stay on there for identification purposes ... i'm not planning on selling any of 'em, so I don't care if the labels get messed-up (and some most definitely did).  My two main worries re: the racks themselves are (1) rotting, as you mention; and (2) possible mold growth, which would, I suppose, be an indicator of an even greater problem than the moisture itself.  I'm hoping that I've caught this problem early enough to avoid both problem (1) and problem (2).

Thanks again, all.

-Brian

(in reply to kelpcowboy)
Post #: 8
RE: Help! Wine cabinet problem - Wet racks - too humid? - 11/4/2008 12:16:57 PM   
grafstrb

 

Posts: 507
Joined: 11/6/2007
From: Los Angeles, via Minnesota
Status: offline 		kelpcowboy,

that's one hell of an awesome story ... that empty is a keeper for sure!  I'm sure i'm not the only one who would like to see some pics of that treasure!

i sure would like to work someplace with a mandatory 4pm "bottle time"... ya got any openings?


(in reply to grafstrb)
Post #: 9
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