Hi all I need some advice. Had a bad situation happen this weekend with my wine cellar. My cellar is a room in a in a corner of the basement, insulated etc. In the back of the cellar behind the wall is an ash cleanout shoot for the fireplace on the floor above that was there when the house was built…so couldn’t move it on the build and this was the only place I could put the cellar so worked around it. So my wife inadvertently left the ash shoot on the base of the fireplace open with an active fire… with hot coals falling down into the ash pit behind the wall behind my cellar. I caught it in time later that evening and made sure there were no active coals burning, nothing still smoking, but unfortunately the damage was done, cellar filled with the smell of ash.
So, I know this is way out in left field but does anyone have any recommendations on actions to take. I immediately removed most prized bottles, but there are 1000 bottles so I didn’t want to remove everything. I’ve shut off the cooling unit opened the cellar door to let the smell dissipate. I read online to place pans of white vinegar around the room to absorb the smoke smell. Anything else I can do or is my collection pretty much shot?
I’m with Alan – I wouldn’t worry about the smell affecting the wine.
As for getting rid of the smell, I read about a restaurant in San Francisco many years ago that moved into an old fishmonger’s building. The place reeked of fish, so they filled the space with sacks of potatoes, which absorbed the aromas. Cheap, so perhaps worth a try. Baking soda also absorbs odors.
Put in a gas log unit and burn the wood in a fire pit on the patio. I agree on the fan/baking soda/ozone treatment. Looks like you caught it soon enough.
A bit of a tangent - Baking soda’s use as an odour eliminator is highly overestimated. From what I understand it was used as the primary ‘cleaner’ (as a paste when mixed with water) in the mid 20th century for home refrigerators when refrigeration became common.
My understanding is that the idea of placing an open new container inside your fridge to help “eliminate” food odours was dreamed up by (SC Johnson?) in order to sell more of it to the public when use of baking soda stagnated as other cleaners came on the market and soda wasn’t being used as much due to pre-mixed cake (ie Betty Crocker) boxes.
Sodium Bicarb can help absorb a limited amount of odour compounds that are acidic in nature.
As to the cellar - I’d call a restoration company that uses ozone generators.
Honestly I think you’re making a mountain out of a molehill. The bottles are sealed and really in no danger from a temporary exposure. Just open the door to the cellar and the basement. Place one box fan at the cellar entrancer sucking out and one fan at the basement door blowing out. Within hours your cellar should have little to no odor.
Isn’t the purpose of the cork to keep wine in and gases out?
Any noxious stuff in smoke is going to be large molecules, at least larger than good old oxygen. You’re fine.
About 30 years ago I worked in the fire restoration business (at a dry cleaners cleaning repairing clothes exposed to smoke, puff back from boilers, ash from fireplaces, chemical exposure, etc).
1 buy or rent a free standing ozone machine (contact restoration cleaners to arrange for rental perhaps)
2 Remove all bottles and clean walls, floor, ceiling, racking throughly with a vinegar based solution or industrial product meant for smoke removal. We used to use ordorx 9-D-9 and it always did the trick. http://www.jondon.com/unsmoke-odorx-9-d-9-odor-conteractant.html
3. Back in the day I used ex-it to remove any and all odors from fabric based products but it also worked AWESOME for environmental/air deodorizing https://www.bigdind.com/ex-it
So to review (and if your truly concerned) remove all bottles and claen them as wel las everything within your cellar, then drop in an ozone machine for 6-24 hours depending on size or cellar and smell of soot/smoke and then black with ex-it if need be.
Good luck
To pile on here, in case it helps you to be more confident, your wine is fine. I’d air out the cellar a bit and place some pans of white vinegar in there. If the smell really lingers beyond a couple of days, the ozone suggestions will work. You can probably rent an ozone generator instead of hiring a service to come in.
I really wouldn’t worry about it Wade; to help put your mind at ease, and as someone who had the largest fire in CA history literally burning across the street, I shared your concern; we had the smell of smoke in every corner of our house for weeks, yet, none of the wine I have consumed since the fires has been affected
thanks all…great advice from all. with a few days of just airing out the smell is still strong so I think I have to go David Cohen’s suggestion and get the Ozone generator. A simple hepa filter isn’t even making a dent. I think the smoke got behind the walls too just due to the location of where the ash box was, behind the drywall barrier. Im hoping the Ozone gen can get everywhere. I rented a 5000 mg unit. I may have to go as extreme as removing everything and wiping down the walls but was going to try the unit first to see what improvement I get. Unfortunately I have to head out of town for 4 days so it’s going to have to just sit open till I get back. What a cluster. My wife is beside herself with regret. she feels like she killed my baby. Im please to hear most feel it’s not a big deal.