Firstly, why on earth would you do this? There are some very good reasons. At first it would seem obvious to save your pennies and buy a lovely Vintec or Eurocave fridge. Sure, they’re pricey but they look great. Sure to impress your guests. If money is not an object for you then sure, go ahead and splash the cash.
For the rest of us things are a little more interesting. You see those lovely wine fridges with the smoked glass doors have some big down sides. They are designed primarily to look good – which they do. But they skimp on the insulation. Take a look at how thin the sides are. Add the glass front and you’ve got a very inefficient fridge. An average size unit can cost $400 a year to run. Now take a look at any fridge – thicker insulation and a proper door that keeps the cool inside. Now look at a freezer – better again.
As houses get smaller and power gets more expensive people can’t get rid of their upright freezers fast enough. The “pigeon pair” fridge/freezer no longer fits in most houses. Enter the enterprising DIY wine fridge builder. Get ye to Gumtree!
But before snapping up the first thing that comes up we need to consider a couple of things. Main ones being that we don’t want to freeze our wine. And we need to be able to arrange the wine in some sort of rack system inside the cabinet.
The first one is easy. Modified thermostats can be bought on eBay for under $50 with instructions. These will keep your fridge at somewhere between 5 and 20 degrees instead of sub-zero. The key here is to grab a freezer with the older mechanical thermostats. Most use the same type, so installation is plug-n-play. The newer ones that use electronic control are not as easy. If you see a digital display then it’s easier to avoid that unit. Likewise “frost-free” units – these can be made to play the game by disabling the heating cycle but it’s another complication that is good to avoid if you can.
*** Fitting of thermostat involves working with 240V wiring. If you’re not up for this sort of shenanigans then get a proper sparky to help ***
OK, so now we have a lovely wine fridge that keeps a perfect temperature year round. But piling your precious wine in the plastic freezer baskets is less than ideal. This is where you get to exercise your creative flair and skills with hand tools. The key is to choose carefully. Some freezers lend themselves very nicely to our little plan. Others not so much. Nice flat sides with lots of slots are ideal.
I spent a lot of time converting my first freezer. So for the second one I proved that I am a learning animal and bought some bang-together wines racks from eBay and adapted them to fit. You wanna do your sums first. The eBay wine racks come in various sizes, so get your rack measurements noted down and then go freezer hunting with your tape measure in hand. A 200 litre upright freezer should give you room for about 50 bottles. My latest is a Kelvinator 380 litre unit and I’ve squeezed 91 bottles in, courtesy of two eBay 42 bottle (7×6) racks. And a few along the bottom. Held in by some of the horizontal pieces engaging with the slots in the freezer, some construction adhesive and some wooden bracing to the floor of the freezer. Wine is heavy so secure the racks properly.
Example
Freezer was purchased off Gumtree locally for $175 delivered. It was clean, it worked and seals were in good condition. Kelvinator FJ383. 383 litres. Upright. Friendly slots in the side for rack attachment.
Thermostat from eBay for $45 delivered.
Remember these old wineracks?
And here’s the wine fridge with the racks inside
A post by BWU$20 subscriber Pete L