How to Build a Wine Cellar Shelf

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By JasneJ
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Salud

Storing your wine collection properly is important for your continued enjoyment. Properly installing a wine cellar shelf is easy to do with a few tools and some knowledge. We will discuss various types of wine racking - from inexpensive homemade to gorgeous wood shelving to display your wine collection.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

Portable Drill
Tape Measure
Wine Bottles
Racking

Step 1

Custom Wine Cellar

Planning The Space:
The wine racking you choose to design is based upon the space you have available for your wine cellar and the number of wine bottles you plan to collect. If you collect more than one size of wine bottles, you want to plan to properly store those bottles together. A wine cellar is a lot like a library, organize the bottles in a way to give maximum efficiency. Bottles you are holding for later drinking should be located apart from wine ready for drinking now.
Also, before you begin, consider installing a vapor barrier in the area where your shelving is installed.
Step 2

Wood Wine Racking

Your Wine Bottles:
Assuming you are collecting & drinking liter wine bottles, the depth of your shelves should be 10". Typically, pine wood is used, although unfinished maple and other fancy woods can be used - if money permits. Wine racking is built on a simple palletized system of uprights and cross pieces with a ladder like construction.
Step 3

Rack Drawing for proper spacing

Wine Racking Wood Dimensions:
Wine rack shelves are built with dimensional 1 inch x 2 inch unfinished pine or maple lumber on a 2 inch spacing. The supports beneath the rack are the same dimensional lumber, running the desired length of your shelf. Nail the boards in place using a 1 inch x 2 inch dimensional lumber for proper spacing. The distance separating the shelves should be a minimum of 6 inches to allow for proper air circulation.
Step 4

Our personal favorite for storing wine cheaply-commercial wire racks

Wine Racking: Commercial Wire
Wire racking is simple, cheap, portable and easy to install. We discovered simple commercial wine racking was a breeze to install. For approximately $36., a wire wine rack holds 72 bottles. No building, no fuss. Install with a power screw driver & a level.Wire racking is good for smaller amounts of wine in a limited space. Wood shelves are still the best solution for long term storage.
Step 5

Temperature Humidity Monitor- $12.

Temperature:
It is important to maintain a constant temperature & humidity for proper wine storage. Wine should be stored between 50-60 degrees and approximately 80 percent humidity. Install a temperature and humidity thermometer with a digital readout to monitor close to your shelving.
Step 6

Wine Tags to Identify Bottles without Remving them

Additional Equipment:
Keeping track of a variety of wines is easily accomplished with wine tags on the bottles. Constantly lifting bottles out to read the labels dries out the corks. Wine labels indicate age, variety and their shelf life.Serious collectors use spread sheets to track their wine inventory.

Regardless of the size or age of your wine collection, remember to open a bottle with friends and enjoy!