My cellar overflows . . .

[Professor Dragon]

Just a quick snapshot of one of my cellars. I think that many long time players will relate to this.

I'm in my main, single player, world. Food has not been an issue in some time. I have separate cellars overflowing with storage vessels of grains, vegetables and meals.

Anyway, I unlocked fruit press and distillation technologies, so what do you do? Well, use them of course. 

(I want to make it clear that I never intended to fill my cellar with more alcohol than I could possible drink.)

First it is on the obvious berries - they don't last long. May as well juice them. Well, it turns out that (a) you can't drink the juice quick enough and (b) there are many varieties, so you may as well press them all.

Then peaches and cherries don't keep long. So in they go. And it turns out that a few large trees of each gives you literal barrels of the stuff.

Then there is last year's apples and pears . . .

I hope that you see where this is going.

Okay, so you can't eat the fruit in time, can't drink the juice in time, can't drink the wine in any meaningful fashion (tipsy - seriously?), so what do you with all of this. Well, "Complete the set" and make up the distilled spirits of the alcohols.

In spite of all of this, the actual problem of consuming even a fraction of the output is not addressed.

I still want to collect them all, but to what end? They'll still rot anyway at some point, and then future harvests will come in.

It would be nice to display them (I understand there is a mod). 

Anyway, just wanted to share.

SUGGESTION: One small quibble that I have is that I can't close a barrel - visually, I mean. I look at all of these open barrels of fine drinks exposed to collecting dirt and grit, and it just doesn't seem right. I'd like the option for that, please. Or as well, nice big clear glass jars to display them in. I'd even be fine for a  display option of a big clear glass jug (or vat) that never expires, and can't be opened.  (A bit like mushrooms in a flowerpot.) You just look at the pretty liquid in a clear jug on your shelf, perhaps with a label. "Apple cider, Year 8." 

Thanks for reading.
Professor Dragon.

Edited October 17, 2025 by Professor Dragon
Attachment resized to save space. Ask if required.

[Aksha]

Yes, it's a pity that wine spoils after the expiration date, and does not become better, as it really is. Although there is a mod for wine production, it fixes this.

[lawn]

I've started using the different color jars to store the different spirits. It looks a lot better though holds a lot less generally. Enough for my winter fruit needs certainly and then some. 

[bwoodfield]

I think dehydrating/smoking would be an excellent addition for this, and other foods.  Meat could be salted and smoked to make jerky.  Fruit and vegetables could be dehydrated.  The satiety could be reduced by 1/4 to 1/2 but have the shelf life extended significantly.  

[Professor Dragon]

6 hours ago, bwoodfield said:

I think dehydrating/smoking would be an excellent addition for this, and other foods.  Meat could be salted and smoked to make jerky.  Fruit and vegetables could be dehydrated.  The satiety could be reduced by 1/4 to 1/2 but have the shelf life extended significantly.  

I guess it is a question of how much should be in base game and how much the mod community is to handle. There are already some pretty good food mods which cover more ground than the base game even intends to handle.

I like the idea of dried berries and fruit in the base game. Also re-working the default wine storage methods (add bottles, jars, vats etc), and the effect of alcohol on the player. There is definitely a need for the base game to make berries and fruit "better" while still leaving room for the modders to add flair and different directions.

FYI, we already have salted meat: https://wiki.vintagestory.at/Cured_meat

Edited August 1, 2025 by Professor Dragon

[Maelstrom]

11 hours ago, Professor Dragon said:

the effect of alcohol on the player.

That already exists in the base game.  Drink a liter or two of alcyhol to find out.   Be sure to try and type something in chat too.

[bwoodfield]

14 hours ago, Professor Dragon said:

FYI, we already have salted meat: https://wiki.vintagestory.at/Cured_meat

Ya, I guess as someone who does preservation IRL I see a differentiation between salted meat and jerky.  

[Professor Dragon]

On 8/1/2025 at 10:46 PM, Maelstrom said:

That already exists in the base game.  Drink a liter or two of alcohol to find out.   Be sure to try and type something in chat too.

Yes, I'm aware.  Let me rephrase.

I meant that the default effect of alcohol on the player could be reworked, such as less of intoxication effect on the player.
Something like the mod "SlowTox" - although I haven't used it yet: https://mods.vintagestory.at/show/mod/26245 - but without the other buffs.

You have to put in a fair amount of effort to get alcohol (growing, harvesting, copper collection for barrel construction and more if you want to go for distillation), and yet alcohol itself doesn't have a lot of point within the game. The alcoholic debuff is quite strong, and doesn't buff your fruit/satiation much.  So it is not great as a method of keeping fruit up in the winter. Well, you can, but take a single cup and you're dizzy. You may as well throw the same few stacks of apples or pears into a storage vessel and call it a day.

I'd recommend that you should be able to drink a litre or two with minimal effects on sobriety, so as to justify it is as fruit intake. But then ramp up the adverse impacts so that you can't guzzle it as a food source. 

Which is a pity, because there are so many different types, and they've all been rendered so that they are pretty. I'd happily collect them all if I could just display them on a shelf in a jar to see the pretty contents.

You either have no alcohol or are swimming in the stuff.

My point is that there should be more of a point to alcohol within the base game.

Edited August 2, 2025 by Professor Dragon

[Maelstrom]

I think alcohol will have a bigger place once herbalism is implemented.  Especially since bandages and their brother alcohol infused bandages using aqua vitae was implemented when alcohol was implemented in 1.17 or 1.18.

[Krougal]

Yeah, I wish the wine barrels would stay closed too. I also wish you could flip them sideways and stack them.

The jugs need to be fixed too since it seems they kept the original short lifespan.

I started fresh for 1.21 and I've got 21 barrels of wine and it is only Nov 1st.

I should probably stop making it.

[Professor Dragon]

 

5 hours ago, Maelstrom said:

I think alcohol will have a bigger place once herbalism is implemented.  Especially since bandages and their brother alcohol infused bandages using aqua vitae was implemented when alcohol was implemented in 1.17 or 1.18.

Oooh. Thanks - that sounds interesting! Hope you're right.
I've just visited the Roadmap (https://www.vintagestory.at/roadmap.html/) and have been now searching the forums for other mentions of herbalism to see what snippets are out there.

1 hour ago, Krougal said:

Yeah, I wish the wine barrels would stay closed too. I also wish you could flip them sideways and stack them.

The jugs need to be fixed too since it seems they kept the original short lifespan.

You and me both!

I came across a mod yesterday which looks like it might provide horizontal barrels, but it looks like it hasn't been updated (which is a pity), and then someone remade it, but apparently the remake has issues also. I haven't tried either, but might at some point.
The original: https://mods.vintagestory.at/show/mod/4848
The remake: https://mods.vintagestory.at/kegrevival

(And side note - I find it so hard to find things on the Mod site - even things I've seen before and know exist.)

There are a LOT of mods for storage, but they look a bit complex for my "mostly vanilla" game run through. Still, I might consider them at some point and they might help you:
Apparently this plays in the same space and maybe does barrels (??? There is a wiki): https://mods.vintagestory.at/show/mod/4151

And this one looks to be a great shelving system. https://mods.vintagestory.at/foodshelves