I’m looking to buy a small refrigerator to age cheeses in. I think some of you do this. Most models seem to come with freezer units. I’d rather not waste energy and money keeping a freezer unit down to temperature; can you disable the freezer unit while keeping the fridge running? Or have you gotten models without freezer units? Anything else you’d suggest bearing in mind as I look for an aging space?
I am useing an ordinary fridge with freezer compartment. To use the fridge as an ageing cave, you need an external thermostat unit/device to override the built-in one. I’ve checked the temp in the freezer, and as it is lower then the suitable temp for ageing, I don’t use it.
HI Joanna…
I use a small wine fridge as a cheese cave, but this setup (as well as a small dorm style fridge) does have it’s disadvantages.
First of all, I chose a wine fridge because the temperature setting does allow the cooler to remain at 51 - 53 degrees. Maybe not perfect but certainly better than a normal refrigerator.
My biggest problem is with controlling the humidity within the wine cooler.
Without any type of humidifier the fridge runs in the 40 - 45 percent range. This is probably fine for waxed or vacuum bagged cheeses, but it does not work at all for a cheese with a natural rind.
I have been experimenting with different types of humidifiers, using wicking filters and computer case and processor fans. So far I have been able to increase the humidity to 69% - 72% with one of these set ups.
I still have some more ideas to try and hopefully will eventually come up with something that takes up a small amount of room and still provides reasonable results. I can live with 70% humidity but I have to minimize the space this device takes up in the fridge.
Right now my setup has a short piece of 1-1/2” PVC pipe with several holes drilled around the circumference of the pipe, from top to bottom. This pipe sits vertically in a small child size plastic drinking glass with the computer fan taped to the top.
The wicking filter is rolled up inside of the PVC pipe and the drinking glass is filled with water and as the fan blows upward it draws air over the wicking filter and provides humidity. It is basically the same design as a cool mist humidifier but on a much smaller scale.
I use a 110 volt to 12 volt power converter to power the fan so the electrical usage is minimal.
As I said, I still have a little design work to make this unit as compact as possible but I do think I’m finally on the right track.
I just wanted to make you aware of the fact that you will need to address the low humidity problem if you do decide to use a small fridge as a cheese cave. If the fridge is large enough you can also purchase ultrasonic humidifiers which do the same thing as my design and are also fairly compact.
Hope this information helps.
Hello my cheese people!
Ugh! What about just a dish of water sitting in the bottom of the camper fridge?! I haven’t yet tried any cheeses that need humid conditions but thought I’d use a dish once I started down that road… your set-up seems complex. Am I delusional thinking I will have decent results with no humidity gauge?
Bobbie
Bobbie…..
My experience with a dish of water is that it does absolutely nothing. Now if you were to drape a piece of cheese cloth or a paper towel over the side of the dish it does help, slightly.
This method relies upon surface area and it’s only by using a “wick” that you will see any type of positive results. It also helps to add some salt to the dish.
From what I have found the only real solution to this problem is in using a commercially available , or home built humidifier.
I realize, (from re-reading my description) that my setup sounds complicated but it really is very simple. Sometime this week I will try to snap a couple of photos and post them to the forum. Just realize that this is still in the testing phase so it’s NOT a pretty sight. I’m just trying to make something that will work and then I will focus on the visual aspect.
All in all it is a very simple design and by working with the placement I’ve been averaging around 75% humidity over the past 24 hours.
As for the humidity guage…..
Well, this really depends on what types of cheese you make.
As I said before, if you are mainly dealing with waxed or vacuum bagged cheeses humidity is not really a problem.
I make a lot of blues, parmesan and Romano (unwaxed varieties) so controlling humidity is very important to me.
Hope this information helps and I really will try to upload some pics of my simple humidifier within the next couple of days.
Thanks all. I’m looking at mini-fridges to which I could add an external thermostat and also at wine fridges.
My cheeses are waxed so humidity isn’t quite as sensitive an issue as it is for you, Likesspace, though I’ll remember about having a wick in the water dish. I found the reviews on wine fridges confusing—the ones that WineCoolerExpert.com described as functioning well in a wide temperature range had some user reviews on Amazon alleging that they died after a year of service or didn’t maintain a consistent temp. Have you been using your wine fridge long? What kind do you use? I’m looking for something small, probably ~2 cu. ft.
Alex, do you have to do anything particular to keep your regular fridge from drying the cheeses out?
As you said, for waxed cheeses humidity is not an issue. I make a lot of french style cheeses, so I have to keep the desired humidity level for those cheeses. I have an ultrasonic humidifier in the fridge, connected through an ON/OFF timer that I’ve adjusted by trial and error.
Joanna,
I have both a Danby and a Haier brand wine cooler. They look very similar to one another and I wouldn’t be surprised if they come out of the same factory. I bought these because they were inexpensive and met my needs. The only downside that I’ve found is that they aren’t quite as large as I’d like for them to be.
Thanks, Dave; would love to see photos!
So far I’ve just done waxed cheeses so it hasn’t mattered yet, but this mystery of the humidity is one that has kept me procrastinating and not learning to make blues and others. I think I just need to remember there’s going to be a lot of trial and error anyway, so getting the humidity right will just be one element of the learning process.
Bobbie
(just used up the last corner of open shelf space in the camper fridge today- now what?!)
Okay, as promised here’s a couple of pics of the humidifier I built for my wine coolers.
I am averaging anywhere from 68% - 75% humidity, depending on how often the cooler is running. This is a major increase from what I was seeing before adding this to my cave.
Please remember that this is NOT supposed to be “pretty” at this point. I’m still working out what needs to be done to make these as efficient as possible so it’s still in the testing stage at this point. I’m thinking that I need to work on a model that uses 3” or 4” pipe to create more surface area over the wicking filter but as yet I haven’t found the time to test this theory.
The good news is that I have like 8 of these little computer fans which I purchased from NewEgg.com for a little over a dollar a piece. That gives me lots of chances to figure out what works best.
Anyway, here’s a couple of pics.
Just to give a quick explanation….
The computer fan blows upward, which creates an airflow that is drawn through the holes in the PVC pipe.
The humidifier wicking filter is fitted inside the PVC pipe (see photo #2) so the air is drawn across the wicking filter and exhausted out the top of the fan.
This works exactly as a cool mist humidifier that can be bought at any Wal Mart or Pharmacy yet this is a compact model that will fit inside my small wine fridge.
Also, the computer fan runs on 12v DC current so I simply used a universal AC adapter to power the fan. I’ve since built one using 2” PVC pipe but honestly the increase was not very substantial.
As I said before I think my next attempt will be made with either 3” or 4” PVC to increase the surface area over the wicking filter. I think I can make this with a couple of caps, joined by a short piece of pipe which will keep the footprint fairly small.
Anyway, as I find what works and what doesn’t I will keep everyone informed.
Bobbie, good question, but honestly that’s the easy part….
I just run it out of the hinge side of the door and it still seals perfectly. I do admit that I was a little concerned about this at first but it’s not been a problem at all.
The wires running to the humidifier are very small so the door seals around them without a problem.
Bobbie…..
I did a test on my digital hygrometer tonight and found that it was WAY off. I have recently checked my cave with a known good hygrometer and I am actually running 83 - 85% with this simple set up. In short it is working better than I had hoped for so now it’s time to start figuring out how to make it look better and take up less room in the fridge.
The reason I tested this with an analog hygrometer is because my cave was looking a LOT more humid than the 70+ readings I was showing, i.e. the front glass was showing heavy condensation. I’m glad I did give this a test since I was about to add a second humidifier to the cave to see if I could get into the 80% range.
Anyway, I just wanted to give an update. If and when I get something going that looks AND performs well I’ll give yet another update.
