Your Guide to Building a Home Bar: Refrigeration, Part 2
Welcome back to our Guide to Building a Home Bar Series. Thus far, we’ve covered the following topics:
1. Exploring Your Options
2. Layout and Design
3. Building Yourself vs. Hiring Out
4. Refrigeration, Part 1: Standard Refrigeration and Draft Beer Systems
Today we’ll look at other refrigeration options to keep in mind.
If you’re a wine connoisseur or someone who does a lot of entertaining, you might want to consider including refrigeration that’s specifically for wine. There are different styles and sizes of wine chillers, so you’ll want to have an idea of how many bottles you’ll be chilling, as well as what kinds of wines you’re likely to have. Smaller wine chillers hold approximately 16 bottles and large wine refrigerators can hold over 100 bottles! The smaller models fit right on your back bar or counter top easily, so they’re often ideal for home bars.
Use the following chart to help you decide which type of wine refrigerator might be best for you:
Wine Serving Temperature Chart
| Notes | Temp °F | Temp °C |
| Vintage Port | 66° | 19° |
| Bordeaux, Shiraz | 64° | 18° |
| Red Burgundy, Cabernet | 63° | 17° |
| Pinot Noir, Rioja | 61° | 16° |
| Chinti, Zinfandel | 59° | 15° |
| Tawny/NV Port, Maderia | 57° | 14° |
| Ideal storage for all wines | 55° | 13° |
| Beaujolais, Rose | 54° | 12° |
| Viognier, Sauternes | 52° | 11° |
| Chardonnay | 48° | 9° |
| Riesling | 47° | 8° |
| Champagne | 45° | 7° |
| Ice Wines | 43° | 6° |
| Asti Spumanti | 41° | 5° |
| Standard Fridge Temperature | 35° | 2° |
If you’re planning on serving canned or bottled beer, wine, malt beverages, soda and/or juice, you’ll probably want to consider a beverage center. Beverage centers come in various sizes and are often built into the cabinet system of your back bar. Most of these guys have a glass door so you can proudly display your extensive selection. Great for keeping mixers cold, too.
Most people don’t really think much about installing an ice maker, until their 16th trip up the stairs to refill an ice bucket. Small, portable, under-the-counter ice makers are available for home use and some of them don’t even require a drain line. If you buy a lot of bagged ice, one of these super convenient ice machines will pay for itself in no time.
Our next post in the series will cover the Look and Feel of your home bar. Check back soon!
TAGS [ HOME BAR | HOME BARS | BUILDING A HOME BAR | WINE REFRIGERATORS | WINE CHILLERS | BEVERAGE CENTERS | ICE MACHINES | HOME BAR TIPS ]
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