Wine Making Equipment Knowing What To Buy

Winemaking equipment is not complicated equipment. You may have some of what is required to make wine already in your cupboards. With the beer and wine making supply stores that have opened in recent years, getting the right wine making equipment should not be a problem. You can purchase a winemaking kit to go with your wine equipment from these stores and then all you will need is the bottles and a wait of about 28 days. Sounds good!

You can check out what equipment is in a winemaking equipment kit by either taking a look at your local brew shop or do a search online and then list out what the kit includes. Take a look at your cupboards and see if you already have some of the equipment, depending on how much you have, compare the prices for the extra you would need to see if the equipment kit would be a better option. Remember, anything plastic you use must be food safe quality, that's most important. Often times by purchasing the winemaking equipment kit you will come out in front and the other thing to remember is many of the items will be that purchase only, you won't have to replace each time you make your wine.

A good winemaking recipe book could be included in the equipment kit but if not then you may need to purchase one of these. You could finish up with many of them after a time, they are a little like cookbooks there is always a better recipe in the book on the shelf, you know "the grass is always greener". When you are starting out with your winemaking, then these wine making recipe books will not go to waste. You will soon get into your own way of making your own wine.

Your winemaking equipment kit should include these items or something similar:

· A 30-liter or larger food-grade plastic container (similar in shape to a garbage can) with a non-airtight lid and a mark at the 23-liter point

· A 23-liter glass or food-grade plastic carboy

· An airlock and bung (a rubber stopper with a hole in it) for the carboy

· A hydrometer to check the specific gravity (sp. gr.) of the wine

· A long, narrow tube or jar to hold the wine while you're checking its specific gravity (generally the tube the hydrometer comes in works fine)

· A dairy thermometer

· A long piece (at least 1.5m or five feet) of food-grade plastic tubing

· A long spoon that can fit into the neck of the carboy and reach to the bottom

· A wine thief to remove the developing wine from the carboy without having to tip it

You will also need apart from the grape juice or whatever you have chosen to make you wine with the following:

· Good quality water, this normally means filtered water, not the chlorinated water from many town water supplies.

· Wine Yeast, this is best tailored for the type of wine you want to produce, use bread yeast only if you can't get the wine yeast. The results with bread yeast are generally not as good.

· A wine 'settler', you can use sterilized bentonite or isinglass and they should be readily available from the winemaking stores.

· Potassium sorbate, to stop fermentation, you can get this also at the winemaking supply store.

· Bottles and corks

· Campden tablets, these are used to help kill all the naturally occurring wild yeasts and undesirable bacteria in must, but they can also be used to make a sanitizing solution.

Winemaking can be such an enjoyable experience, get your winemaking equipment together and get going. Once you make your first batch and you enjoy the taste then you will be well on your way to becoming a home vintner