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Posted by: Racer Chris Jul 13 2015, 10:15 AM

I designed this free-standing wine rack for myself using stainless steel tubing.
The first one is 8 bottles high by 14 bottles wide for under counter used.
I can easily re-configure for full height by 5 bottles wide.

I'll be building this in the next couple of weeks and will post a picture of the completed unit.

Posted by: Racer Chris Aug 10 2015, 12:12 PM

Here's the unit nearly completed in my shop:



and loaded with bottles in my living room:





The white tubes at the back are hoses for coolant, strung through all the bottle hoops.

Here it is in its permanent location in my basement:



I'm prepared to custom make these in nearly any size. Contact me for details.

Posted by: JmuRiz Aug 25 2015, 03:25 PM

Very cool, wish I had the room and collection to justify it.

Posted by: Racer Chris Aug 26 2015, 02:44 PM

Its never too late to start a collection, and I can custom build a rack to fit wherever you have room.

Posted by: Racer Chris Aug 26 2015, 02:51 PM

If you noticed the plastic loops of tubing in the back, those are for the cooling system.
At present I have cold well water trickling through all the bottle support hoops. That is keeping the wine nearly 10 degrees below room temp.

I'll upgrade that to a solenoid operated setup with a thermostat for better efficiency.

I have an even better cooling system planned, one that is good enough to sell with the rack.
It will use a small thermoelectric heat exchanger and a small circulating pump for a closed loop system. The thermoelectric unit will be remotely located so the warm air isn't reintroduced into the storage location.

Posted by: kid914 Aug 26 2015, 04:58 PM

Niiiiiiiiiice work Chris.

What is the starting price..based on the model from the pics?

Posted by: Racer Chris Aug 27 2015, 06:19 AM

Approximately $2600 for the 122 bottle unit shown

Posted by: Racer Chris Oct 5 2015, 12:59 PM

I'm currently testing the thermoelectric closed loop cooling system.
The chilling unit I bought is listed as 50W capacity, but I'm actually drawing closer to 150 watts including the controller, transformer, fan, and circulating pump.
First tests were a little disappointing - the lowest temp reached was still above my desired setpoint and the unit was running constantly - but the rack is uninsulated, just protected from air currents. I did install a triple track sliding door with 1/4" birch plywood panels.
I found that by reducing the water flow rate my thermal transfer rate improved and the temp dropped some more.
I added minimal insulation where it was convenient, but still far from what a fully enclosed unit could be.
Now it reaches a lower setpoint (59.5 deg. F) and it holds the bottle temps to about half a degree variation.

The next step will be designing the cooling system to be compact and as an integrated part of the product.
I'm ready to build a fully enclosed rack next, with double glazed panels and a better prototype chiller attached.

Posted by: Racer Chris Dec 18 2015, 11:36 AM

I'm making these countertop racks right now.
They're available at a 15% discount thru Jan 1 2016.
Use Coupon Code "holiday15" at checkout.
http://stainlesswineracks.com/t/countertop