For a new wine maker or in my case for my jump back into the hobby in the late fall when hand picked fruit is not readily available, I would recommend that you try a wine kit.   There are a lot of these out there from various manufacturers.   They contain virtually everything (except equipment and bottles)  that you will need to make a batch of wine.

In this post I will spend a few minutes talking about the equipment.  This may seem like a lot of stuff but really it isn’t and for usually less than $100.00 you can get yourself setup pretty well.

Equipment List:

Primary Fermentation Container – for standard 6 gal Carboys this should be a food grade container that is around 10 gallons in size and has a cover.  Primary fermentation will “foam” as it release CO2 and depending on the juice, the amount of foam varies.  You also want to keep airborne things out of your juices which is why you need a cover.

Carboy – This is the glass (sometimes plastic) container used for Secondary Fermentation.  Usually 6 gallons in capacity.  Narrow neck.  You are going to put an airlock on this container during secondary fermentation to keep out the oxygen.

Airlock and Stopper – These come in various shapes and sizes.  You will want a stopper with a hole drilled in the middle that will accommodate the airlock.  The purpose of the airlock is to allow gasses to escape from the Carboy but to not let any air back in.  Most versions I’ve seen float a plastic “cap” in a sulfite solution over a hard plastic tube that exits the carboy.

Long Handle Spoon – bet you know what this is for.  If you guessed stirring you are absolutely correct.  You should be able to reach to the bottom of your primary fermentation container with this spoon.  There is also a version of a “stirrer” that you can connect to a drill.   This is useful as it takes the work out of mixing things into the wine in future stages and can help to assure that the carbon dioxide gasses are being dissipated.

Hydrometer – You use the hydrometer to check specific gravity.  This is important in determining the sugar in your juices.  You can also use it to tell you the alcohol content.  Specific gravity readings are temperature sensitive.  I like to have a thermometer in my hydrometer as well.

Graduated Cylinder – This is probably not a requirement but I find it the best container to hold a small sample, float my hydrometer and have it at eye level to obtain the reading.

Thermometer – Temperature is important in fermentation.  Too high or low and the yeast will not do their job.  If your hydrometer doesn’t have one you will want to make sure you get one.

Wine Thief – This is a glass or plastic device that will allow you to collect a small sample of your wine.  You will use these samples to check specific gravity or for tasting.  Basically it is a long tube with a hole in both ends… You slide it into the wine and then put a finger over the hole on the end you are holding… this keeps the wine from coming out of the tube… When you place the end over the container you remove your finger and the wine flows out.

Rubber Tubing and Stop – You will do some siphoning as you move your wine from fermenting container to carboy(s) to bottles.  Good quality rubber tubing is a must.  You can also get a stopping device to place over the tubing that will “pinch” the tubing for you to stop the flow.  If you don’t want to use the “mouth suck” method to create the initial suction you can also get devices that will do this for you.

Carboy Brush – You will need to get the carboy clean.  This is basically a big brush with an angle in it that allows you to clean the neck and walls of the carboy.

Wine Bottle Cleaner – In addition to your carboy you will also need to make sure that your wine bottles are clean.   There is a pressurized system you can use, or you can use the good ol’ brush method.

For the most part I think this is everything… You may want to make sure that you save a few smaller glass containers to hold wine that you will be removing from the carboy in later stages, and I like to use the gallon size milk jugs for cleaning solutions.

Home wine making has really changed very little from when I did it then to now.  The basic equipment is still the same, and the chemistry and process certainly hasn’t changed.  What I do find to be different is the availability and quality of wine making kits.

A wine making kit contains all of the necessary juices, flavorings, chemicals and other additives to turn juices into wine.  The kit certainly takes away any of the relatively minor complexities that you would have found in wine making.  You no longer need to worry about acid content, brix (amount of sugar in juices), and pH.  If you can read and follow simple instructions – Step by Step – you too could be an at home winemaker.

The general process involves:

• 1. Primary fermentation – where the majority of the sugars are turned into alcohol by yeast.
• 2. Secondary fermentation – where the yeast continues to consume the sugars and
• 3. Clarifying – get rid of any residual “cloudiness”.
• 4. Bottling – taking your large batch and putting it into individual bottles for further aging and future drinking and gifting.

Since I am renewing my interest and it is late in the year making fruit difficult to gather I decided I was going to make a few different kits over the course of the winter.  Keep in mind that wines, particularly the reds will need a bit of time to age and may not be ready for consumption for many months after you bottle them. You also want to keep in mind that the fermentation of the batches can take varying amounts of time based on many variables.  Don’t try to rush the process!

Over the next few posts I will take you through my experiences with a couple different wine kits… step by step.  My next post will be on Getting Ready – A Wine Makers Equipment.