The new kitchen is mostly in..

We’ve treated ourselves to a wine fridge..jus cos..

The instructions say to STORE wine in it at 12 degrees..

Basically we want to fill it with fizzy vino to glug of an evening, or when hosting the ambassador… So should I just set out to 6 degrees I.e SERVING temperature???

Replies to my PA please….

DrP

I’ll ask the sommelier when he’s up from the cellar.

Likes… ^^

DrP

Clue in the name of the stuff you drink …. FROSTY Jacks

Sorry DrP, this is the least middle class post ever.

Very few wines should be served at 6 degrees.

https://www.wineware.co.uk/decanting/perfect-drinking-temperature-for-wine

Just keep your Stella in it and give up the pretence.:)

What you want is a hipster fridge full of overly hopped craft beers that need to be as close to freezing as possible because they are over strength and over hopped as the brewer is a bit shit.

over hopped as the brewer is a bit shit.

A 3.5 – 4.0% English Style Bitter Ale is one of the simplest beers to get right. There is not a lot to it.

A high strength hoppy beer is a lot more complex and it’s easy to get it wrong.

It seems 7 degree is THE temp to be at for champers and ‘secco…

Skol+ is probably fine at that temp too..

Sorted…

DrP

8C

What you mean you haven’t got a dual zone wine fridge for the red and white?

The wine fridge should be at 12-14 degrees, humidity controlled and ideally kept in the dark for storage. If you just want to keep a few bottles of lambrini cold ready to drink you want a normal fridge really (or a mini beer fridge type thing depending on space and chaviness), a proper wine fridge shouldn’t be getting any colder than 11 degrees, if it does it’s not doing it’s job.

Keep things in the wine fridge and move sparkling to a proper fridge to chill before drinking if you wish (12 is usually cold enough mind)

Bear in mind a lot of proper wine fridges at the lower end of the market may struggle with champagne bottles and certainly magnums.

If you want to be middle class you need one of these https://www.spiralcellars.co.uk or you need to hide it. Nothing says grasping like a glass fronted under-counter wine fridge stocked with bottles with labels on the back or a home gym without a pool.

😀

Of course isit a glad fronted under counter thing!!!

But hey… I guess we can live with that 😉

So I guess I’m wondering if I use the thing as a cooler/chiller (set at drinking temp) or as a store.. It’s a CDA wine fridge, so can set the temp from 5-18 degrees… Without breaking it!

DrP

The big question really is do you drink anything worth storing? The next question is do you drink red? If you can answer yes to either, 12 is about perfect tbh, cool enough for drinking white and sparkling, not so cold that red won’t be fine by the time you’ve decanted (certainly with a quick pop into the real fridge if you prefer colder white or sparkling). If the answer to both is no 10 is about as cold as your likely to want if what you’re drinking is much good, if it’s table plonk whack it right down.

Fwiw here we’re largely red drinkers but i do like a good white every now and again.

Most white lives in the beer fridge which runs at about 7 – full size fridge freezer in the garage with all my other workshop tools ;), it’s plonk and only for mass gatherings or guests i don’t really like.

Ditto sparkling.

2 bottles of good white and good sparkling in the wine fridge at 13.

Red lives by and large in the rack in the pantry but there’s 8 good bottles in the wine fridge.

The wine fridge lives in the the pantry.

Also i really want one of those spiral cellars

Useful post… TBH, previously we never really had any space to store, so it was just buy-> drink….

Hence, I suppose I thought I’d just treat three wine fridge like, well,a fridge…

Maybe I should follow your lead and store wine, READY to drink/chill…

Hmm…. DrP is learning….

DrP

Maybe I should follow your lead and store wine, READY to drink/chill

DrP. I think you may be missing the subtext that there’s  absolutely no point in storing the wine unless it’s the right wine to store.

😉

Ha…. The wife just tried some of the (sole) bottle of white that’s in there at 7 deg…

“That’s a bit cold”…

Sigh!!!

Will pop it at 12 (aka the default!) And try again tomorrow!!

So I guess it’s NOT just a booze fridge after all!!

DrP

(Also, would you, or would you not advise a cube of ice and a straw… 😉 )

Second edit… Re buying nice stuff to store, I’m open to that idea!! I know Prosecco isn’t to store, but might look at a few fancy bottles.. We’ve a lovely Indy merchant down the road who can offer good advice!!

Also, would you, or would you not advise a cube of ice and a straw

Yes, yes i would!

Re your edit: yes go see the Indy, they’re usually very helpful and happy to talk about and help with sampling, but, and it’s a big but, be careful what you buy to store. Decide what you want – a nice bottle to open on that particular evening that you may keep for 10 weeks or 10 years (all bar one of my good bottles fall into this category, they’re “rainy day bottles but I’m very keen on ensuring they do get drunk every now and again, be that because it’s Thursday or because it’s our anniversary, friends round whatever, there’s a couple that need laying down for a few years but they’re for drinking when they’re ready, most are bought ready to drink or age fur a few years) or bottles to keep, look at and fear even disturbing, (I’ve one of these, i want a matched one and then I’ll sell, they will not be drunk by me, a pair will be worth more than my (small non flash) car).

My fridge got filled slowly with visits to my local Indy for the most part and a few gifts. My rule for buying was 12 bottles for the rack and one for the fridge, the bottle for the fridge was the same as the total for other 12 to buy as a rule of thumb.

When I say no point. Obviously I mean apart fro a big party, being an alcy, seeing a good deal, living miles from the offie or having done a run to France.

@gobuchul your absolutely right. But what I’m after is a decently hopped low alcohol, session beer – now that requires some skill.

I bung the stuff in the freezer for an hour or so.

As others have alluded to, generally wine fridges exist to keep good wine. Think of it as a cellar. Thus, step 1 is to have some wine worthy of cellaring.

Yep, buy some decent wine, I hear Blue Nun is a rather nice tipple. That’s definitely worth chilling.

A high strength hoppy beer is a lot more complex and it’s easy to get it wrong.

Naaa, the hardest thing to brew is a proper lager. It actually takes real effort to make something as tasteless as Carling.

Throwing hops at beer just hides a multitude of sins. That is why IPA was invented, to keep beer stable enough for transporting halfway round the world in the days before pasteurisation. Ditto Belgian beers, all that souring bacteria and wild yeast that gives it it’s flavours is basically just another way of preserving it, it can’t accidentally get a wild yeast infection if it’s already at an FG the wild yeast can’t deal with (or pH bacteria can’t deal with in the case of sour beer).

Yup, agreed. Have a read of “Hops and Glory”

Different wines requires different temperatures. You’ve already exposed yourself so just stick with warm for red, cold for white and colder for fizzy.

Keep some ice for the Blue Nun. 😉