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My New Vinotemp: 21 Bottle Vinotemp

smokintexas

smokintexas

What have I gotton myself into?!
Joined
Aug 2, 2008
Messages
1,260
Alright everyone, I know there are many, many threads on various Vinotemp's and how people set them up, but seeing as not too many people have posted about the 21 bottle Vinotemp I thought it may be helpful to post a step by step setup while I break it in.

My first real step was to try to get the plastic smell out of the Vinotemp which I did with some soapy water and baking soda. I wiped down the interior of the Vinotemp and the shelves with soapy water first, then tap water, then dried everything off. After I had done that I threw in 3 dishes filled with baking soda as well.

IMG_3315.jpg


The Vinotemp is off and unplugged and hopefully by tomorrow the smell will be gone.

Next step is to put the beads and hygros in to see if I can stabilize the RH.

More information and pictures to come as I proceed.

If you have any questions/suggestions for me please feel free to post here or PM if you prefer.
 
bootown said:
Nice setup there Kyle, Looks like even your cat likes it :)
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Haha, when I had the shelves out Hobbs (not the one in the picture) decided to get in it. I shut the door on him for a few seconds but he wasn't bothered at all. When I opened the door he looked at me like "what the hell do you want? I like it in here and I'll leave whenever I damn well please.."
 
HA! You gotta love cats! Keep up the pics, I'm thinking about dropping the hammer on one. I wanna see Hobbs chillin in there too! :laugh:
 
Congrats on the Vino! I like the wood racks. What made you go for the 21 over the 28? I don't know if I want the answers or not. If I buy a Vinotemp, I might as well start listing my possessions on craigslist now. :laugh:
 
klipsch said:
Congrats on the Vino! I like the wood racks. What made you go for the 21 over the 28? I don't know if I want the answers or not. If I buy a Vinotemp, I might as well start listing my possessions on craigslist now. :laugh:
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Price. Unfortunately I missed out on the fantastic deal that Vinotemp was running last month on the 28 bottle. I searched all over the place but the cheapest I could find the 28 bottle was around 300-350 with shipping. Total I spent $229 for this Vinotemp. I sacrificed for space, but as of right now I think I'll be okay for a while and once I outgrow it I'll start a cooler.
 
It's really nice!!! I'm completely jealous. Looking forward to seeing the transformation as you turn it into a full fledged humi. Congrats again... :thumbs:
 
Very nice setup there! I think I am going to head to the Super Secret and pick up another one up.

Edited to add if anyone else wants one of these...Linky
 
Very nice! I have the 28 and it's wonderful...worry free storage. A hot wet towel held on the exterior 'Vinotemp' label will let you easily peel it off.
 
Great space with some nice wooden trays.

Me and a few other botl`s in the Netherlands have been thinking about buying something like you have but we were worried about condensation.
So i guess you have solved this issue?
Sorry if this has come up before but i`m new here.
 
Almost 2 days later and the plastic smell is still very prevalent which has me worried. I suppose I could give it a few extra days as I am in no rush, but am wondering if I need to wash it down again to see if that will help at all.

raleigh said:
...but we were worried about condensation...
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I have seen other Vinotemps where they just re-routed the condensation that forms on the back to the bowl of beads at the bottom of the Vinotemp. This way the Vinotemp replenishes itself and you don't have to spray the beads at all. I have not encountered any condensation yet with the Vinotemp, but I also do not have any humidification device in there yet. So we shall see if I need to re-route the condensation or not once I put the beads in.
 
When I was trying to get the plastic smell out of mine I placed a few pieces of Spanish cedar in it. After this I shut the door and turned it on, and in a few days the smell was gone. I also had baking soda in it for a few days.
 
smokintexas said:
Almost 2 days later and the plastic smell is still very prevalent which has me worried. I suppose I could give it a few extra days as I am in no rush, but am wondering if I need to wash it down again to see if that will help at all.

raleigh said:
...but we were worried about condensation...
Click to expand...


I have seen other Vinotemps where they just re-routed the condensation that forms on the back to the bowl of beads at the bottom of the Vinotemp. This way the Vinotemp replenishes itself and you don't have to spray the beads at all. I have not encountered any condensation yet with the Vinotemp, but I also do not have any humidification device in there yet. So we shall see if I need to re-route the condensation or not once I put the beads in.
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I'm in Austin and have never seen even a hint of condensation. With a similar climate I would expect the same for your setup.

Stick some cedar in there...the smell will go away very quickly. Without cedar it's about impossible to completely get rid of the plastic smell.
 
Well, yesterday I bought 4 empty cedar boxes to throw in the Vinotemp to see if that would help rid it of the smell, but now it just smells like a mix of plastic and cedar/smoke.. I'm thinking it's about time to wash it down again.
 
Wash the inside out again and take the unit outside. Leave it outside and open with the inside facing the sun if possible. I did this with mine for a day and that just about got the smell out. Be careful to watch it if you can as I left mine out in direct sunlight a little too long and got a little warp bubble in the back from the heat. Was just cosmetic but no telling the damage if I hadn't caught it.

You will still have a little bit of smell when all said in done and thats ok. You just don't want it as strong as when you first got it and opened it up.
 
smokintexas said:
I have seen other Vinotemps where they just re-routed the condensation that forms on the back to the bowl of beads at the bottom of the Vinotemp. This way the Vinotemp replenishes itself and you don't have to spray the beads at all. I have not encountered any condensation yet with the Vinotemp, but I also do not have any humidification device in there yet. So we shall see if I need to re-route the condensation or not once I put the beads in.
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Thanks for the answer.
Too late for me now.
I`m converting an old cabinet into my new humi.

Good luck with your new humi.
 
A quick update:

As I opened up the Vinotemp to wash it out again I realized that the plastic smell was about 95% gone. I went ahead and threw the beads in earlier today. I put 1LB (minus the beads that ended up on the carpet :blush: ) in a dish in the bottom compartment, and I put two 4 oz tubes from heartfelt in the top compartment (the pound is also from heartfelt and all of the beads are 65%.) I have one hygrometer in the top, and one in the bottom. I have had both in there from the get go and they have been consistently reading at around 51% RH. A few hours after adding the beads they are both reading at 64%.

As far as temperature goes I've noticed something a little odd. Both compartments have separate controls for temperature and I have both currently set at 66 degrees. The built in thermometer for the unit is reading at 66 degrees for both the top and the bottom, but the two hygros are telling me differently. The top is about 64 degrees and the bottom is right at 66 degrees. I am not worried about the difference in temperature, just something I noticed.

I am about to commission mtmouse to build some custom shelves for this beast and am very excited at the way this is progressing. Tim is and has been very busy lately so once I give him the go ahead I hope to get the shelves sometime within the next month or two. As of right now it looks like I'll have two singles drawers for the top compartment, and just two regular flat shelves for the bottom as that will be the area where I store my boxes.

I should have my first 3 box purchases sometime next week so I'm excited to throw them into the Vinotemp! :D
 
Thanks to the inclement weather in Dallas today I guess there was a power surge. I have found out that if the Vinotemp turns off and on it automatically resets the temperature in both the top and the bottom compartment to the lowest possible setting. I walked in to find that instead of the Vinotemp reading at 66 degrees, it was reading at around 55 :angry: The RH obviously dropped as well so I cranked the temperature back up, but three glasses of distilled water in there, and have watched the RH climb back up the past few hours. As of right now the RH is about 67% in the top and 71% in the bottom. I'll let the beads soak up some of the extra humidity the next day or so and then take out the glasses of distilled water. I'm expecting my first boxes to come in around Monday so hopefully everything is up and running by that time.
 
After three days with the distilled water in the Vinotemp the RH in the top compartment was reading around 74% and in the bottom it was reading around 77%. I took out the water yesterday morning, and by the night the RH was reading about 63% in the top, and 67% in the bottom. A day later and the RH in the top is 64% and the RH in the bottom is closer to 67% so it looks like things are holding steady. I got my first box purchases in the mail today and threw them in there, looks like this project is moving along quite nicely!
 
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